Nicholas Tse's tip for looking young: Have a zest for life
Hong Kong superstar Nicholas Tse shares the secret of his forever-young looks and what drives his kitchen exploits
At 36, Nicholas Tse does not look a day older than when he made his showbiz debut as a Cantopop singer in 1996.
Handsome, chiselled and stoic, the father of two - he has two sons, aged nine and six, with his ex-wife, Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung - attributed his fit and ageless appearance to one simple thing: a zest for life.
"You got to have passion, be it for living or for work," Tse said in an e-mail interview with The New Paper to promote his new movie, the hard-hitting thriller Heartfall Arises, when quizzed if he had any tips for male fans who yearn to look as good as he does.
Heartfall Arises, opening tomorrow in local cinemas, features Tse in the role of hard-working cop John Ma (Tse), who took a bullet to his heart and had to undergo a heart transplant.
A year-and-a-half later, as the number of murders committed by a mysterious serial killer starts to multiply, Ma and Calvin Che (Lau Ching Wan), a criminal psychologist, are brought together to catch the baddie.
The movie delves into the pseudoscientific hypothesis of cellular memory, but Tse is slightly sceptical about the idea that organ transplants can change a person's personality.
"At this point, it's still a speculative notion. There is no concrete evidence," he said.
"But our movie director (Ken Wu) told us that there were real-life examples and cases of cellular memory.
"There are many things in science that are yet to be explored. Perhaps, cellular memory does exist."
Notoriously private, Tse declined to answer any of our questions about his children or current relationship.
He is dating an ex-girlfriend, the twice-divorced Chinese singer Faye Wong, 47.
Tse, however, did share a little about his latest successful venture into the world of TV chefs.
His own China-produced cooking programme Chef Nic, which started in 2014, is airing its third season on China's Zhejiang Satellite TV.
Part-reality, part-travelogue and part-infotainment, Chef Nic follows Tse as he goes to different countries with guest celebrities in search of delicious, culturally unique food.
When asked if he had aspirations to become Asia's version of Jamie Oliver, Tse said: "I did (the cooking show) entirely out of interest, not for lofty ambitions.
"At this point, I don't have plans to open a restaurant."
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