Kevin Tsai

Kevin Tsai (Chinese: 蔡康永; pinyin: Cài Kāngyǒng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhòa Khong-éng; born 1 March 1962) is a Taiwanese television host and writer. He is best known for co-hosting Chung T'ien Television's Kangsi Coming (2004–2016) with Dee Hsu.

Early life

Tsai was born in Taipei to a wealthy family of Shanghai parentage. His father, Tsai Tien-duo, was a Fudan-educated lawyer who co-owned Chonglian Steamship Company, until the sinking of the Taiping Steamer in 1949 forced the company into bankruptcy.

Tsai went to private schools for his pre–bachelor education, and entered Tunghai University in 1984 to major in social work before switching to English. Tsai then went to study films at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television, where he helped Taiwanese writer Pai Hsien-yung to adapt his short story about the Taiping into a film script, which would become The Last Aristocrats directed by Xie Jin. In 1990, upon graduation from UCLA, Tsai moved back to Taiwan.

Career

Tsai started his career as a columnist and film critic for the China Times. He then wrote several film scripts, including Fong Sai-Yuk (1993) and Ming Ghost (1999). He has since become a best-selling author, known for his self-help book series Ways of Speaking.

In 1996, Tsai had his career breakthrough as he became the creative director of Voice of Taipei radio station, the first editor-in-chief of GQ Taiwan and the host of his first TV show, Fanshu Chudian Wang, all in the same year. In 2004, Tsai was joined by Dee Hsu in co-hosting the talk show Kangsi Coming, which became a runaway success across the Chinese-speaking world. Meanwhile, Tsai frequently hosted award shows, including twice at the Golden Bell Awards and seven times at the Golden Horse Awards.

After Kangsi wrapped in 2016, Tsai wrote and directed his first feature film, Didi's Dream (2017), starring Hsu. The film received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office. Since then, Tsai has mainly been involved in mainland Chinese productions, frequently collaborating with Ma Dong on shows such as the popular online debate show I Can I BB. Tsai reunited with Hsu in 2018 for the mainland China-produced variety show Zhenxiang ba! Huahua Wanwu for three seasons, but they failed to replicate the popularity of Kangsi.

Personal life

Tsai is openly gay. During a program hosted by Li Ao in 2002, Tsai openly acknowledged his sexual orientation while pointing out that there was still much work to be done in Taiwan's LGBT social movements.

Bibliography

Tsai has written seven books, including:

• Chinese: 流浪記
• Chinese: 痛快日記, published 1996
• Chinese: 再錯也要談戀愛, published 1996
• Those brilliant things the guys gave to me (Chinese: 那些男孩教我的事), published 2004

Filmography

Film

Hosting

Awards ceremony

Variety show

Music video appearances

Awards and nominations

Golden Bell Awards

References

External links

• Kevin Tsai's Sina Microblog （蔡康永 新浪微博）
• KangXi Lai Le’s Official Website
• Kevin Tsai related Videos on YouTube