Ruco Chan

Ruco Chan Chin-pang (born 14 January 1977) is a Hong Kong actor and singer.

Chan graduated from TVB's Seventh Artiste Training Class of 1994.

Chan's television debut was in the serial drama Instinct in 1994, where he briefly appeared as the young friend of Ekin Cheng's character Pao Man-lung.

Weeks later, he made a brief appearance in the sitcom A Kindred Spirit as the friend of Andy, portrayed by Hawick Lau, who was Chan's training class classmate.

For the next three years, Chan performed in minor roles in over eighteen TVB television dramas.

Chan left TVB in 1998 after signing a record deal with PolyGram.

Prior to the release of his debut EP, Universal acquired PolyGram and Chan's contract with PolyGram became defunct.

For the next few years, Chan won several small supporting roles in various Hong Kong films.

When he had no filming jobs, he would work as a renovation worker, earning only 300 HKD per day.

In 2001, Chan signed with ATV to start working on television acting again.

According to Chan, his first two years at ATV were "rough, uncomfortable, and filled with regret."

Despite his past acting experiences in both television and film, ATV only gave him minor roles and spots in music videos.

Chan's first major role was in the 2004 period drama Love in a Miracle, playing the main antagonist.

He was then given a major supporting role in My Date with a Vampire III (2004).

Besides performing in television dramas, Chan also made appearances in many variety shows, and hosted many gala ceremonies for ATV.

Unsatisfied with his career at ATV, Chan returned to TVB in 2008 and signed an eight-year management contract with the company.

Chan began a romantic relationship with Miss Asia winner Eunis Yiu in 2008.

He was cast into supporting roles in several successful television dramas, such as The Threshold of a Persona (2009), Burning Flame III (2009), The Mysteries of Love (2010), Ghost Writer (2010), When Lanes Merge (2010), and Every Move You Make (2010), most of them being villainous roles.

They broke up in 2010.

In the next few years, there were rumours of Chan dating actresses, but none have resulted in quite as much media attention as his Brother's Keeper and All That is Bitter is Sweet partner Linda Chung and later, A Fist Within Four Walls and The Unholy Alliance partner Nancy Wu.

In 2011, Chan garnered media attention and critical acclaim for his portrayal of barrister Keith Lau in the television legal drama The Other Truth.

He earned his first nominations for Best Actor and My Favourite Male Character at the 2011 TVB Anniversary Awards.

Chan's subsequent performances won him critical acclaim, most notably in Brother's Keeper (2013), Ruse of Engagement (2014), and Captain of Destiny (2015), the latter winning him the TVB Anniversary Award for Most Popular Male Character.

Chan is the first TVB actor to win My Favourite TVB Actor at the StarHub TVB Awards for three consecutive years (2014, 2015, 2016), and is also the first actor to make two consecutive wins for Favourite TVB Actor at the TVB Star Awards Malaysia (2015, 2016).

He is the first actor to win My Favourite TVB Actor at the StarHub TVB Awards for three consecutive years (2014, 2015, 2016), and is also the first actor to make two consecutive wins for My Favourite TVB Actor at the TVB Star Awards Malaysia (2015, 2016).

In 2016, Chan won the TVB Anniversary Award for Best Actor with his performance in the action drama A Fist Within Four Walls.

Chan was born in Hong Kong with ancestral roots from Xiamen, Fujian.

His father was a firefighter and his mother was a tailor.

Influenced by his father at a young age, Chan developed a love for table tennis and joined the Hong Kong Table Tennis team after receiving rigorous training at the Jubilee Sports Academy when he was thirteen.

He was the youngest player to represent Hong Kong in overseas competitions at the time.

After five years of committing to the sport, Chan left the team upon finishing his high school education exams.

After graduation, Chan was accepted into a technical institution and, attracted by the 3,000 HKD monthly income, also joined TVB's Artiste Training Class.

Being only seventeen at the time, Chan was required to have his parents' signed approval before signing a management contract with TVB.

His father initially refused, but later gave in when TVB offered an automatic contract cancellation if Chan didn't do well in his classes.

In 2016, Chan won the TVB Anniversary Award for Best Actor for A Fist Within Four Walls.

In 2016, while a guest judge for Miss Hong Kong, he met contestant Phoebe Sin and subsequently in March 2017, was photographed in a car with her on The Peak.

The media highlighted this relationship, with the vast majority of public response taking negative views of Phoebe and also Chan's handling of the matter.

On 10 September 2018, Chan announced his engagement to Phoebe.

They were married on 13 October the same year.

On 10 November 2018, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child via Instagram.