Unassuming and down-to-earth Donnie Yen Chi Tan is Hong Kong’s new master of kung fu.
Just saw him in his brilliant new film 14 Blades.
Read all about him here.
Thanks Wikipedia.
Donnie Yen Chi Tan (born July 27, 1963) is a Hong Kong martial artist, actor, director, fight choreographer and producer.
He is hugely popular in his home country and the West, having starred in blockbuster films with Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li.
Born in Guangzhou, China to newspaper editor Klyster Yen and his wife Mak Bow Sim, a martial arts exponent, Yen moved to Hong Kong when he was 2.
He has a younger sister Chris Yen Chi Ching who is also good in martial arts and recently starred in The Adventures Of Johnny Tao.
Influenced by his mother, Yen became interested in martial arts such as wushu and taekwondo at a young age.
He later joined the Beijing Wushu Team and was trained by Lee Yu Man.
Later, he was trained by fight choreographer Yuen Woo Ping of Hong Kong.
Yen became a stuntman for several Hong Kong films including Shaolin Drunkard (1983).
He had his first acting role in Drunken Tai Chi (1984).
Throughout the 1980s he acted in detective series on Hong Kong Television Broadcasts (HKTVB) alongside popular actors Stephen Chow, Pauline Yeung and David Siu.
His breakthrough role came in Once Upon A Time In China 2 (1992) which also starred Jet Li.
They were reunited in Hero (2002).
In 1997, Yen started a production company Bullet Films.
He choreographed the Hollywood films Highlander: Endgame (2000) and Blade 2 (2002).
In 2003, Yen starred with Jackie Chan in Shanghai Knights.
He also worked as action choreographer in the film Stormbreaker.
The film Flash Point in 2007 won him Best Action Choreography at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
In 2008, Yen starred as Ip Man in a semi-biographical movie about Ip Man, the Wing Chun master who taught Bruce Lee.
Ip Man was his best selling film.
Yen has been married to Cecilia Wang Ci Ci since 2003. She was the winner of the Miss Chinese Toronto 2000. They have two children.
