Profile | How Cantopop singer Ronald Cheng went from troublemaker to Charlene Choi’s secret husband to one of Hong Kong’s best-loved comic actors
- There are few Cantopop singers with as colourful a past as Ronald Cheng, once arrested for smoking on an aeroplane and putting a woman in a headlock
- A troublemaker who was constantly in the tabloids and once married to pop singer Charlene Choi, Cheng is now one of Hong Kong’s most popular comedy film stars
In Chinese, there is an expression that goes: “A wayward son who turns back is more precious than gold”. In other words, it is never too late for a prodigal son to return.
In Hong Kong, there is arguably no celebrity who embodies this saying as well as Ronald Cheng Chung-kei.
Cheng’s life has been eventful: there was a drink-fuelled rampage that led to his arrest and a career nosedive, and his secret marriage to one of Hong Kong’s then-biggest pop idols.
Nevertheless, this wild child has managed to turn it all around.
Cheng was born in 1972, the only child of Norman Cheng Tung-hon, a record label tycoon in Hong Kong and Taiwan. He was often in his father’s office and recording studios, and was well acquainted with several music producers in his father’s company.
