Ng was born in Xiamen, Fujian. His father ran a traditional Chinese herb store to support his family.

Ng started taking acting classes in Hong Kong’s broadcasting company TVB when he was 19, and would tell his parents that he went for support classes instead, in fear of them forbidding him to do so. He graduated his batch of trainees with the top grade, alongside veteran actor Chow Yun-fat, and first debuted when he was 22.

Career

Ng worked with Hong Kong actor and director Stephen Chow in a series of "mo lei tau" films, a genre of slapstick comedy unique to Hong Kong. Ng co-starred with Chow in a Hong Kong TVB television series called The Final Combat (蓋世豪俠) in 1989, and also the popular 1990 film All for the Winner, where he played the role of Chow's uncle. From then on, the two collaborated in numerous "mo lei tau" films in the same style as All for the Winner. He was best known for co-starring with Chow in comedy films that broke Hong Kong box office charts in the 1990s. Ng stars in four of Hong Kong’s highest-grossing films of all time.^{[citation needed]}

Although Ng Man-tat owes much of his popularity from co-starring in comedy films, he has shown to be a versatile actor to successfully portray various roles. An example of such is in his portrayal of Sister 13's father in Portland Street Blues, where he played a man who could not feel anything but abuse and rejection. It proved to be the perfect complement to his usual "mo lei tau" style with Chow. He also played Andy Lau's sidekick in the Lee Rock series in a more serious role, which won him Best Supporting Actor at the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards. In Hong Kong, Ng was often known as "Uncle Tat", a nickname most likely influenced from his roles as Stephen Chow's sidekick (often as his uncle) in their films. Ng was sometimes credited as Richard Ng.

In 2001, Ng and Chow collaborated for the last time on Shaolin Soccer, Hong Kong’s fourth highest-grossing film.

In 2006 Ng starred in Taiwanese drama The Hospital as Tang Guotai (唐國泰) a professor and director of surgery. He was subsequently nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 42nd Golden Bell Awards in 2007.

In 2019, Ng starred in the science fiction film The Wandering Earth, which is China’s third highest-grossing film of all time and the third highest-grossing non-English film to date.^{[citation needed]}

Illness and death

Ng was admitted to the hospital in 2013 for heart failure due to a viral infection. Since then, he was in poor health. In February 2021, he confirmed that he suffered from liver cancer, would have been under going chemotherapy and rest and recuperation, but his condition turned critical, cancer cells spread to multiple organ failure.

Ng died peacefully in his sleep at 5:16pm at Tai Wai's Union Hospital, Hong Kong at the age of 70 due to liver cancer on 27 February 2021 accompanied by his wife and children.

Filmography

Television

• God of River Lok (1975)
• The Legend of the Book and the Sword (1976)
• The Romantic Swordsman (1978)
• Chor Lau-heung (1979)
• Police Cadet '84 (1984)
• The Duke of Mount Deer (1984)
• Police Cadet '85 (1985)
• Sword Stained with Royal Blood (1985)
• The Battlefield (1985)
• Heir to the Throne Is... (1986)
• The Legend of the Book and the Sword (1987)
• The Final Combat (1989)
• The Justice of Life (1989)
• The Witty Attorney (1999)
• The Duke of Mount Deer (2000)
• The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung (2001)
• The Hospital (2006)
• Love Strategy (2008)
• OCTB (2017)