Alex ToAlex To

After graduating from secondary school, Alex To moved with his family to Ottawa, Canada, where he first attended Bell High School and later studied advertising design at Humber College in Toronto. While studying, he also joined a dance troupe and learned disco dancing; after watching the third New Talent Singing Awards in 1984, To began to imagine himself on that stage.

His opportunity to enter the industry came from the fourth New Talent Singing Awards: Alex To returned to Hong Kong for the 1985 competition and won the Gold Award with the English song "Hello," then signed an eight-year contract with Capital Artists. To later said in an interview that he initially kept his participation secret from his mother, and his family learned about it only when he appeared in televised publicity for the competition.

The first album Alex To helped produce was the 1986 release "華星新秀新節奏," and his first solo album, "只想留下," was released in April 1987. His songs were mainly uptempo and often had a Western pop style.

The Mandarin-language market became another strand of his career, with Alex To releasing his first Mandarin album, "談情說愛," in Taiwan on May 8, 1990. To had already planned to develop the Taiwan market from the late 1980s to the early 1990s; when a local entertainment company approached him, he gradually shifted the focus of his work to Taiwan.

Alongside singing, Alex To continued to perform as an actor. His early television dramas included the 1986 productions "黃金十年" and "城市故事," and he later played 閻立海 in the film "不夜天."

Alex To played 左自傑 in "流氓醫生" in 1995 and 龍龍 in "今天不回家" in 1996; in 2003, he starred in the television drama "第8號當鋪" as 韓諾.

His collaboration with Rock Records moved the focus of his career further toward Taiwan. Alex To signed with Taiwan's Rock Records in 1995 and thereafter worked mainly in Taiwan. After his contract with Rock Records ended in 2004, To began reducing his output. Looking back in a later interview, he said that after releasing "脫掉" he felt the need to stop and seek inspiration, while also wanting to spend more time caring for his parents, who had developed health problems; he ultimately took a break of about ten years.

During his hiatus from music, Alex To turned his interest to fashion design and founded the clothing brand MNA in 2009, personally taking part in design and production. After his full return to the music industry in 2015, the brand temporarily stopped production; it was relaunched in 2019 and staged a fashion show in Hangzhou.

Alex To released the Mandarin album "好樣" in August 2013 and took part in events in Taiwan and Hong Kong. On August 16 and 17, 2014, To held two shows of "杜德偉極杜世界巡迴演唱會" at the Hong Kong Coliseum. In 2017, he released "妳在我的愛情裏," featuring B. Howard on vocals and in the music video.

Alex To received the Icon Award at the Billboard Radio Awards in Hong Kong on January 19, 2018. He appeared in "再見UFO" in 2019 and played 歐陽鋒 in the 2021 online film "射鵰英雄傳之降龍十八掌." In the 2025 film "風林火山," To played 李文狄; for that film, he won Best Supporting Actor at the 2026 Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild Awards and the 44th Hong Kong Film Awards.

"起來 Get Up 世界巡迴演唱會" reached Taipei Arena on May 18, 2024. Now.com reported that the tour had completed more than ten stops across Mainland China, Singapore, the Americas, and other locations.