He entered show business in the early 1980s, signing a contract with television station TVB. He won the third annual New Talent Singing Awards in 1984. Up until the mid-90s, Dicky struggled for many years working as a low-paid actor, singer and appeared occasionally in films. It was not until his brilliant portrayal of the Monkey King character in the 1996 TVB drama Journey to the West, an adaptation of the classical Chinese novel "Journey to the West", that his popularity began to skyrocket. A sequel to the TV adaptation was planned, but due to a contract dispute with TVB, Cheung left before production began. Benny Chan Ho Man took over the role of the Monkey King in the sequel. Cheung then went abroad to Taiwan to continue his career.