Kenneth Ma

Kenneth Ma
Born	(1974-02-13) 13 February 1974 (age 47) Hong Kong
Nationality	Canada
Alma mater	Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999–present
Partner(s)	Nancy Wu (2008–2010) Jacqueline Wong (2017–2019) Roxanne Tong (2020–present)
Awards	TVB Anniversary Awards – Most Improved Male Artiste 2006 The Herbalist's Manual ; La Femme Desperado ; Love Guaranteed ; To Grow With Love Most Popular Male Character 2012 The Hippocratic Crush 2017 The Exorcist's Meter 2018 Deep in the Realm of Conscience Best Show Host 2017 DoDo Goes Shopping sr 2 Best Actor 2019 Big White Duel
Musical career
Also known as	Ma Ming (馬明)
Musical artist
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	馬國明
Simplified Chinese	马国明
showTranscriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Mǎ Guómíng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Maa5 Gwok3 Ming4

Kenneth Ma Kwok-ming (born 13 February 1974) is a Hong Kong actor.^[1] He speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and English.

Early life[]

As the youngest of a family of three children, Kenneth Ma has two older twin sisters. He attended Salesian English School before immigrating with his family to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1992. His father, who worked as a mechanical engineer, would travel back and forth between Hong Kong and Vancouver for work. At first his family lived in Richmond before settling in Port Coquitlam. After attending one semester at Douglas College, he transferred to University of British Columbia majoring in mechanical engineering. During college, Ma joined an acting troupe that would perform sketches. After graduating from college in 1998, Ma and his entire family decided to return to Hong Kong.^[2]

When Ma returned to Hong Kong, he initially worked at a glass manufacturing company as a quality surveillance inspector but found his job boring.^[3] Hoping to find something more of his interest, he sent out over 70 resumes but only received a response from TVB for an interview notice to their 14th Artist Training Class. His starting salary at TVB was a meager estimated HK$4000.00 a month, one third of his former job salary, but since he found acting to be more suitable for him, he decided to join TVB.

Career[]

In the beginning of Ma’s career at TVB, he often played extras, passers-by and fill ins. One of Ma's early roles was playing the giant cockroach Siu Keung in Dayo Wong's music video "Blue Sky". Within 5 years since graduating from TVB's training course, the company started to promote him when he was chosen as one of the S4's in 2003 drama Triumph in the Skies^[4] and later as one of the six "siu sangs" to be the "Olympic 6" (the other five being Sammul Chan, Ron Ng, Bosco Wong, Raymond Lam and Lai Lok-yi) during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

In 2006, Ma won the Most Improved Artiste award at the TVB Anniversary Awards. He was handed his first leading role in the 2008 drama serial Survivor's Law II opposite Hong Kong singer Ella Koon.

In 2012, Ma gained recognition with his role as Dr. Cheung Yat-kin in the critical acclaimed medical drama The Hippocratic Crush, winning awards from both Malaysia (Most Favorite Leading Actor) and Hong Kong (My Favorite Male Character).

After starring in the hit 2013 drama Triumph in the Skies II, Ma caught the eye of international star Jackie Chan and was invited to star in the romantic comedy Fate Is a Game.^[5]

In 2017, Ma starred in the critically acclaimed supernatural drama The Exorcist's Meter as the taxi driver and exorcist Ma Kwai (Siu Ma). Acknowledging his strong performance in that series, Ma was labelled as "citizen's best actor pick" and became a strong contender for the Best Actor award at the 2017 TVB Anniversary Awards. He won the Most Popular TV Male Character award, which was his second win in that category. In addition, Ma won Best Actor in a Leading Role awards in both the People's Choice TV Awards 2017 and the Hong Kong Television Awards 2017, which served as a public recognition, as all awardees were 100% voted for by audience and netizens.

In 2018, Ma starred in the ancient drama Deep in the Realm of Conscience and won the Most Popular TV Male Character award at the TVB Anniversary Awards, which is his third win in that category.

In 2019, Ma starred in critical acclaimed medical drama Big White Duel, eventually winning the Best Actor award at the TVB Anniversary Awards.

Personal life[]

Kenneth Ma lives with his parents in a 900 square feet flat located in Tai Koo City, Hong Kong. He has said that his future wife must get along with his parents and be able to live together with them.^[6]

During his youth, Ma and his mother were fans of Leslie Cheung. Ma's mother adopted her western name after Cheung's hit song "Monica". At age 14, Ma was featured in Cheung's 1988 Pepsi commercial.^[7]

Ma is known to commute to work via mass transit even though he owns a car.^[8] He is an avid soccer fan. His favorite teams are Real Madrid, Manchester United, and AC Milan.^[9]

Ma met Jacqueline Wong in 2015 during the filming of Inspector Gourmet. The two announced their relationship in 2017^{[citation needed]}, but broke up after Wong was spotted kissing married star Andy Hui in April 2019.^[10][11][12]

In June 2020, Ma and Roxanne Tong were found to be dating in Hung Hom. They admitted their relationship on the next day via Instagram.

Filmography[]

Television dramas[]

Films[]

References[]

External links[]

• Kenneth Ma at IMDb