--- name: "Derek Tsang" canonical: "https://film.one/person/derek-tsang-kwok-cheung" fi1m_id: "derek-tsang-kwok-cheung" imdb_id: "nm1229124" tmdb_id: 125105 wikidata_id: "Q1321598" roles: ["Producer","Director"] born: "8 November 1979" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "producer" average_over: 0 updated: "2026-09-22T21:51:28.569159+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Derek Tsang ## Identity Derek Tsang - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/derek-tsang-kwok-cheung - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** derek-tsang-kwok-cheung - **IMDb ID:** nm1229124 - **TMDB ID:** 125105 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1321598 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Tsang, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1321598, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1229124/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/125105 Producer and director. Born 8 November 1979 in Hong Kong, China. ## Details - **Work:** Producer, Director - **Born:** 8 November 1979, Hong Kong, China - **Also known as:** Derek Tsang Kwok-Cheung, 曾國祥, Kwok Cheung Tsang, 曾国祥, 증국상 - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Tsang, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1321598, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1229124/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/125105 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*3 Body Problem*](https://film.one/tv/3-body-problem.md) (65) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Derek Tsang > A Hong Kong director who came up through arthouse and acting rather than the comedy associated with his father, Tsang makes quiet, close-held films about young women. We have seen too little of them to be sure of him, and we would like to see more. Derek Tsang's camera stays close and, more often than not, in the hand, and the young women in front of it say less than they feel. He has called empathy the most fundamental requirement of a director, and his films behave as though he meant it: Jing-Pin Yu, the cinematographer who has shot three of them, follows faces rather than events, and the silences are trusted to carry what the dialogue will not. In *Better Days* (2019), the film about school bullying that made his name, the effect is of a documentary that happens to have a plot. He did not begin behind the camera. After university in Toronto he went back to Hong Kong and into production at Peter Chan's Applause Pictures, then acted in films from 2003, and his influences were Wong Kar-wai and the French New Wave rather than the mainstream comedy associated with his father. *Lover's Discourse* (2010) was a co-directed debut; *Soul Mate* (2016) was his first film alone; *Better Days* followed three years later. Then in 2021 he was hired to direct the first two episodes of *3 Body Problem* (2024) and to co-executive produce it, which is where we came in. That series is the only work of his we have reviewed, and we gave it 65. Tsang's episodes are the ones that carry the Cultural Revolution material, and the 1960s scenes were, along with the game inside the headset, the part we called superb. We went in braced for eight hours of scientists explaining things to each other and instead spent the opening stretch unsettled, because the past is filmed at close range and without comment, and the dread is left to arrive by itself. The same review found the present-day scientists thin and over-served, and since the first two episodes are where they are introduced, Tsang does not get to walk away from that. His features shift tone, social drama tipping into thriller inside a single story, with the shift meant to grow out of the material rather than be bolted on, and the producer Jojo Hui has been alongside him for two of them. We have not seen enough of that work to judge it for ourselves, and we would like to; a director who can hold a schoolgirl's face for a minute and then turn the film under her feet is rarer than he should be. Asked about his style in 2024, Tsang said: "I don't have a concrete and unique style. I'm still learning and evolving." Directors who say that usually have one and are being modest. The evidence so far is a close camera, a closed mouth and a long look at a young face, and we will take that over a signature. ## Biography Derek Tsang Kwok-Cheung (also credited as Derek Tsang) is a Hong Kong film director and actor. He is the son of actor Eric Tsang. After graduating from the University of Toronto Scarborough in 2001, he began working in the Hong Kong film industry for director Peter Chan Ho-Sun. Tsang made his acting debut in *Men Suddenly in Black* (2003). His directorial debut was the co-directed *Lover's Discourse* (2010), which received a nomination for Best New Director at the Golden Horse Awards. His solo directorial debut was *Soul Mate* (2016). *Better Days* (2019) was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards. He directed two episodes of the Netflix series *3 Body Problem* (2024) and served as co-executive producer on the series. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *3 Body Problem* (2024), Fi1m 65, Director, Co-Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/3-body-problem.md) ## Complete filmography (58) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *As Written* (2025), Director - *3 Body Problem* (2024), series, Director, Co-Executive Producer — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/3-body-problem.md) - *Anita* (2021), as ENT Doctor - *A New Awakening* (2021), Director - *Unspeakable Love* (2020), Director - *Three Gold Coins* (2020), Director - *Stoma* (2020), as Lim's Brother - *Better Days* (2019), Director - *Missbehavior* (2019), as Security Officer - *The Brink* (2017), as Sheng - *Love Off the Cuff* (2017), as Cherie's Younger Brother - *SoulMate* (2016), Director - *S Storm* (2016), as Joe Ma - *Robbery* (2016), as Lau Kin-Ping - *Good Take!* (2016), Director - *From Vegas to Macau III* (2016), as Interpol - *House of Wolves* (2016), as Steve Shit - *Lazy Hazy Crazy* (2015), as Madame Glaze - *The Challenge* (2014), series, Actor - *Two for the Night* (2014), Actor - *Zombie Fight Club* (2014), as David - *Z Storm* (2014), as Joe Ma - *Aberdeen* (2014), Actor - *Naked Ambition 3D* (2014), as Simon Yuen - *Golden Chickensss* (2014), as Male Prostitute - *SDU: Sex Duties Unit* (2013), as Dried Shrimp - *My Sassy Hubby* (2012), as Robber - *Triad* (2012), as Xiang - *The Thieves* (2012), as Johnny - *Lacuna* (2012), Director - *Love in the Buff* (2012), as Cherie's Brother - *Lover's Discourse* (2010), Director, Writer - *Devil Nail Clippers* (2010), Director - *Girl$* (2010), as Chun - *Ex* (2010), as Sol - *Once a Gangster* (2010), as Young Roast Pork - *Dream Home* (2010), as Cheung Jai · Screenplay - *Crossing Hennessy* (2010), as Doctor at Emergency Ward - *Claustrophobia* (2008), as John - *Ocean Flame* (2008), as Third Brother's Assistant - *Tactical Unit - No Way Out* (2008), as Fai - *Run Papa Run* (2008), as Chicken - *Scare 2 Die* (2008), as Mahjong Player B - *Dead Air* (2007), as Rock/Lok Chun - *Single Blog* (2007), Actor - *My Name Is Fame* (2006), as Lok - *On the Edge* (2006), as Mini B - *Midnight Running* (2006), as Peter - *The Third Eye* (2006), as Gum - *Isabella* (2006), as Yan's Suitor · Writer - *Cocktail* (2006), as Kuen - *AV* (2005), as Band-Aid - *It Had To Be You* (2005), Actor - *Room* (2004), Producer, Editor - *The Eye 2* (2004), as Joey's Co-Worker - *The Park* (2003), as Dan - *Men Suddenly in Black* (2003), as Young Tin Yau - *Shadow* (2001), Actor ## Gallery - ![Derek Tsang at the 2010 Hong Kong International Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/1295080/gallery-8a9d87b95ac2.jpg) Derek Tsang at the 2010 Hong Kong International Film Festival — alanine, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Derektsang2010_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Derek Tsang at the 2010 Hong Kong International Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/1295080/gallery-3b2b13c7ae54.jpg) Derek Tsang at the 2010 Hong Kong International Film Festival — alanine, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Derektsang2010.jpg/1280px-Derektsang2010.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Derek Tsang](https://film.one/media/person/1295080/gallery-ba01b665aec4.jpg) Derek Tsang — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 2 won - Gen.T 2021: Gen.T (won) - Tatler Most Influential Hong Kong 2021: Tatler Most Influential Hong Kong (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/derek-tsang-kwok-cheung