Veteran Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang – who starred in several Hollywood films such as Memoirs of a Geisha – died while undergoing quarantine for COVID-19 in a hotel in the city, local media reported on Wednesday.
Police said they received a report at around 12:15pm on Wednesday from a staff member of The Kowloon Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui that a man was found lying in his room.
Officers arrived at the scene moments later. A man with the surname Tsang, aged 87, was pronounced dead at the scene, the police added.
They said the official cause of death will be determined after an autopsy.
The Kowloon Hotel is one of Hong Kong’s COVID-19 designated quarantine hotels.
Chinese-language daily Ming Pao reported that the deceased man was indeed Kenneth Tsang.
He had returned to Hong Kong from Singapore on Monday and arrived by himself. His rapid antigen test result on Tuesday was negative, the daily reported.
According to the report, Tsang was found unconscious after Department of Health personnel doing their checks at the quarantine hotel did not get a response from him.
After that, a member of the hotel staff opened the door and found the actor unconscious in his room. Paramedics later certified him dead at the scene, the report noted.
With a career spanning more than 60 years, Tsang has starred in many famous Hong Kong films and television series including A Better Tomorrow, Last Romance and The Legend of the Condor Heroes.
For his performance in Overheard 3, he won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2015.
Tsang has also acted in several Hollywood films, including Rush Hour 2, Die Another Day and Memoirs of a Geisha.
During the 1990s, he filmed several Singaporean Chinese dramas, including The Teochew Family and The Unbeatables II.
Tsang is also known for his commercial for Japanese hair color brand Bigen, which has been aired in Hong Kong for around 40 years.
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