One of Hong Kong’s most prolific actors, Kenneth Tsang, passed away on Wednesday, April 27, at the age of 87. Having been in over 200 films and television shows in a career that spanned nearly seven decades, it’s hard to pinpoint just a few memorable performances by the late actor. He was excellent at playing villains and found success in Hollywood as well as being one of Hong Kong’s top stars. But looking back over his career reveals certain milestones that cemented his status as one of the original members of Hong Kong’s film industry in its golden years. Here are a few worth noting. 6 Hong Kong celebrity restaurateurs who lost millions due to Covid-19 The Cantonese film era Tsang began his showbiz career as a contract actor for Shaw Brothers and Cathay Organisation. In the 1960s alone, he acted in almost a hundred films, appearing with iconic starlets like Suet Nay, Pauline Chan and Nancy Siu. In Lung Kong’s 1969 social drama Teddy Girls , Tsang played the head of a girls’ reformatory who tried to bring troubled young women back to the straight and narrow. In the final scene, Tsang’s character brings the film’s messages home with a long, didactic monologue detailing all the societal ills that send young women on a wayward path. Playing an upright mentor in a wild story about bad behaviour, Tsang brought a sense of dignity to the film. The films of John Woo Overseas fans of Hong Kong cinema are likely to best remember Tsang for his reliable supporting performances in several of John Woo’s hit action films. In both A Better Tomorrow and its sequel, Tsang played the tough, but kind-hearted taxi firm owner who takes in a reformed prisoner (played by Ti Lung) when no one else would. In 1989’s The Killer , he played the partner of Danny Lee’s detective character. In 1991’s Once a Thief , he played the villainous master thief who trains three orphans (played by Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung) to steal for him. 5 Hong Kong celebrity couples who broke up and got back together On television Tsang was equally prolific on television. In 1983, he was in TVB’s adaptations of Jin Rong’s classic wuxia novels Legend of the Condor Heroes and Return of the Condor Heroes as Huang Yaoshi, the wuxia master that would later be played by Leslie Cheung in Wong Kar-wai’s Ashes of Time . One of Tsang’s many memorable television roles is Luk Kwok-wing in The Final Verdict , the 1988 hit series written by Wai Ka-fai, who later co-founded Milkyway Image with director Johnnie To. In a scene so violent that TVB had to pay a fine to the broadcast authorities, Luk brutally murders his uncle’s entire family and pins it on the protagonist, played by Adam Cheng. Featuring Tsang in full-on sneering baddy mode, Luk is certainly one of the most maniacal villains in Hong Kong television history. In the West Born in Singapore and educated in the US, Tsang acted in multiple high-profile English-language films and television series thanks to his English fluency. In The Replacement Killers , Chow Yun-fat’s American film debut, Tsang played a crime boss who becomes the nemesis of Chow’s character. In the James Bond film Die Another Day , he played a North Korean general who secretly wants peace for the two Koreas. His final English-language role was in 2018 British television series White Dragon (titled Strangers in some regions), playing a Hong Kong property tycoon. How Eileen Gu made over US$30 million in luxury endorsements Final roles Tsang features in at least two unreleased films at the time of his passing. One of his final roles was in legal thriller The Attorney , in which he played a powerful political party leader with shady business dealings. As he had always done in his villainous roles, Tsang lent a larger-than-life presence to his performance, especially in a heated confrontation opposite Liu Kai-chi, another character actor who passed away last year. Many local film buffs consider his exclusion from the nominations for this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards a snub, but to those who have followed his career and enjoyed his numerous performances, Tsang will always be a winner. Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter .