Chiang Sheng will always be known as one of Shaw Brothers brightest actors, cast as one of the Five Venoms, his acrobatic skill was excellent and was just as good fighting with the “Axe and Swords” and a very skilled fight choreographer.
Born in Taiwan in 1951,Chiang had family problems from a young age. His parents could not look after him properly, so he was sent to the Fu Sheng Opera School in Taipei, Taiwan. During his time here, he had met friends which would become part of the Shaw Brothers studio with him, such as Robert Tai, Lu Feng and Kuo Chui. When studying at the school, Chiang trained in martial arts and acrobatics, something we would all witness to great lengths in his work later on at Shaw Brothers.
In the early 70's, Director Chang Cheh started his own company and headed out to Taiwan to find the latest talent for future projects. It was on this trip where he met Chiang Sheng, impressed by his martial art and acrobatic abilities, Chang Chen invited him to go to China and do some work for him.
The Movie Business
In 1976, Chiang started work over in China, having already appeared in a few movies (but nothing major), he got a small part in the Sammo movie The Traitorous, before heading to Shaw Brothers to make an appearance in the movie Shaolin Temple. From 1976 – 178 he appeared in movies such as New Shaolin Boxers, Hand Of Death (Brief appearance), Magnificent Wanderers, The Brave Archer and the brilliant Invincible Shaolin. But 1978 was to be a great year, as he starred in the all time classic The Five Venoms, where he would forge a great working relationship with actors such as Sun Chien, Philip Kwok, Lo Meng and Lu Feng.
If you have seen these guys in action, all of them are superb at what they do, each bringing there own style to the movie and also the rest that they starred in together. Each film i have seen delivers great hand to hand combat, brilliant weapon work, lots of violence and comedy and you can tell they all sparkle with each other on screen.Regarding the Venom mob, movies i would recommend so far after viewing them would be The Five Venoms, Invincible Shaolin, Crippled Avengers, Magnificent Ruffians, Kid With The Golden Arm, 10 Tigers Of Kwangtung and 2 Champions Of Shaolin. There are a lot more movies which stars Chiang and his fellow Venom mob, so be sure to check them all out, you will not be disappointed.
Life after the venom's
In 1981, Chiang and the rest of the venoms disbanded with three of them, including Chiang starting a new production company in Taiwan. The first movie he and his fellow team made was Ninja in the Deadly Trap, which Chaing acted and choreographed the action scenes, Chiang shortly after wanted to go back to China, but his wife convinced him to stay put in Taiwan.
Not long after staying in Taiwan with his wife, Chiang found it very difficult, not being able to find work anywhere which led to him divorcing his wife and became a heavy drinker. In August 1991, an old friend of Chiang Sheng, Ricky Cheng Tien Chi, came to see him, but found him dead. It is said that he was lying dead for three days before being found. He died from a heart attack. But Kuo Chui once said “it was more of a broken heart”.
It is so sad that his life went this way and led really to his death at such a young age of 40 years old. Chiang had so much talent and had so much more to give, in front and behind the camera. So if your already a fan of his work, go back and watch this very talent performer and keep his memory alive, but if you haven't seen this guys work before then your in for a right good treat.
Source:Wikipedia
He was one the great movie star I truly enjoy watching.
Chiang Sheng, my love, you will never be forgotten.
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