Whenever i watch a movie which involves Yuen Wah, i am never disappointed by his performance. He can play the role of a good guy or the villain, he always gives 100% in every role he portrays.
Birth date: 2/9/1950
Nationality: China
Other names:
元華
容志
Wong Yuen Wah
Yu Wah
Yuan Hua
Yuen Wah (born 2 September 1950) is a Hong Kong based Chinese action film actor, action choreographer, stuntman and martial artist who has appeared in over 160 films and over 20 television series.
CAREER
Yuen Wah is known as one of the 7 little fortunes, who studied at the Peking opera school along with fellow kung fu legends such as Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. He was instructed by Master Yu Jim Yuen and like the other students, he took his sifu’s given name – “Yuen”. In his biography, Jackie Chan stated that Yuen Wah’s martial arts ability was well respected among his fellow students. After leaving the opera school, many of the students entered the Hong Kong film industry. Yuen Wah was given an anglicized stage name, Sam Yuen, but like Yuen Biao (Bill Yuen / Jimmy Yuen), the name was not used. Rather than reverting back to their birth names, both retained their opera school names, as did several other former students.
During this time, Yuen got a chance to appear in some movies as a child, such as Eighteen Darts (1966), part 1-2. He also had some brief appearances in movies such as The Comet Strikes (1971), Hapkido (1972) and even appeared in movies a long side legend Bruce Lee, in movies like Fist Of Fury (1972), and Enter The Dragon (1973).
In the Bruce Lee movies, he also worked as a stuntman and also a stunt double, doubling for Bruce Lee himself in the fight against Bob Wall for the back flip kick and in the opening sequence where Bruce flips over the monks. Wah was very well known at that time for his brilliant acrobatic movements and doubled lots of people during this time.
His first movie as an action director was in 1973 with Death Blow (Chin Yuet Sang, Meng Hoi), after this he made small appearances in a few Shaw Brothers flicks. Throughout the 70’s, he made a good number of movies, but it wasn’t really until the 80’s when Sammo Hung used him, that we got to see the best of Yuen Wah. He first worked with Sammo as an action director on movies such as Owl VS Bumbo (1984), Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985), My Lucky Stars (1985) and Paper Marriage (1986).
There was no doubt behind the scene’s, Yuen had bags of talent and thank god Sammo spotted this, as quickly we got to see him as a villain in movies like Eastern Condors (1987), Dragons Forever (1988), and even played the main vampire in the movie Mr.Vampire (1985). He is known for playing some great villains, each time giving his character a different edge to the last and also a different disguise.
THE YUEN WAH VS YUEN BIAO SHOWDOWNS
It is always great to see these two kung fu brothers go toe to toe in any movie, they always deliver high impact scenes and work very well together on screen. Both these guys have fought against each other in movies such as Eastern Condors (1987), Iceman Cometh (1989), Kickboxer (1993) and A Kid From Tibet (1993). All these movies bring us top notch action with both guys trying to out do each other with excellent acrobatic kung fu.
Other projects they have starred together in are:
1986: Millionaire’s Express
1988: Picture Of A Nymph (As a demon)
1988: On The Run
1995: Tough Beauty And Sloppy Slop
1997: Hero
2005: Real Kung Fu (TV Series)
2007: The Ultimate Crime Fighter (Small part)
2000 – Present Day
In the early 2000’s, Wah starred more in TV shows than anything else such as A Chinese Ghost Story (2003) and Real Kung Fu (2995), but he finally got his big break back into movies with a role in the massive hit Kung Fu Hustle (2004). This role was perfect for Yuen Wah, delivering a great and memorable performance.
Since the, he as appeared along some of the biggest names in kung fu cinema, Dragon Tiger Gate (Donnie Yen), Twins Mission ( Sammo Hung, Wu Jing) and other movies such as Looking For Jackie (2009), Vampire Warriors (2010) and Choy Lee Fut : The Speed Of Light (2011).
FUTURE
This year Yuen Wah starred along side Sammo Hung once again for the movie “Princess and Seven Kung Fu Masters” and is also set to star in the upcoming Kung Fu Hustle 2. It is great to see such a fantastic talent back on our screens and i really hope if Sammo, Jackie and Biao reunite one day for a final kung fu movie, that they bring Yuen Wah back as a villain.
