Ekin was born in a clinic next to a famous temple in Mean Street in Hong Kong. He is the middle child of the family and the naughtiest as well. His dad, who just wanted Ekin to grow up healthily, decided to make up a name with 'Kin' (which means healthy in Chinese) in it. Ekin's middle character (in his Chinese name), came from his ancestor who passed down the 'Yi' character for generations to all the male child of their 'Cheng' family. Ekin's bigger brother is called 'Yi-Zhun' and his older cousin is called "Yi-Neng".

Ekin began his entertainment career during a singing competition that he and his friends decided to enter in 1987. Unfortunately, he didn't win (boo hoo), but he was recognized by people in TVB and was asked to attend a 3 month -acting course. To enter this acting course, Ekin must first past certain tests (which he passed of course) and today, this course is still extremely hard to get in. At first, Ekin was really shy (he was the youngest student there) and didn't like acting as he always became nervous and forgot his lines, so he failed the course at the end of the 3 months. But don't get disappointed because he soon went to study that course again (he realized that he didn't like other jobs) and this time, Ekin passed with flying colors. This was the beginning of his acting career. His singing career, however, began later in 1991, when he signed his first contract with BMG (which is still his music company today) and from then on, Ekin made 16 albums, 3 Eps (singles) and 8 soundtracks. Ekin's also made more then 10 TV drama series and over 20 movies. Opps! All most forgot, he made 8 different commercials too.