Biography

Director of such great hits as Snake In The Eagle's Shadow, Drunken Tai-Chi, he took Donnie Yen under his wing, and helped to put stars like Jet Li, Billy Chong and a host of others on the map, with his excellent kung-fu choreography. He got his start, choreographing films through his association with his father's top student - Tang Chia (who choreographed Jimmy Wang-Yu's first solo effort The Chinese Boxer, which Woo-Ping also had a cameo role in). Tang introduced him to director Ng See-Yuen who used him on such films as The Mad Killer (his first as a choreographer) and The Bloody Fists. He would float from project to project, as he increased his skill as a choreographer - even working for director Chu Yuan, on the film The Lizard.

Seeing how Shaw Bros' pretty much had their own "In-house" choreographers, he worked mostly on Independant film projects, such as the excellent Fists Of The Double K, Fury Of The Black Belt, and Wits To Wits all starring kung-fu dynamo Henry Yu-Yung. Having added spice to most of Ng See-Yuen's films like Kung Fu - The Invisible Fist, he missed the chance to choreograph the film The Secret Rivals, which went on to make stars out of (basically) everyone involved - Wang Tao, John Liu, Wang Jang-Li, and even the films choreographer - Tommy Lee. He worked on Secret Rivals-2 instead of Lee, who would continued the concept of the first film, as he began a working relationship with director Lee Tso-Nam (they came out with The Hot, The Cool, & The Vicious). 

After Invincible Armor and working for Golden Harvest on Broken Oath - he's directorial debut was right around the corner. With a finished script and star in mind for the lead role (Fu Sheng), he felt things were in place to start filming. His biggest hurdle was trying to convince Shaw CEO Run Run Shaw, to let actor make the film - as he was already extremely popular (and familiar) with audiences. With the refusal to loan the actor out (because of his contract) they had to find another actor. They would settle on an actor of extreme talent, but who wasn't doing to well at the box-office - Jackie Chan. Though, Jackie was under contract with Lo Wei, his films weren't really making any money, so the director felt that any money received from loaning out Jackie, was probably worth all the trouble he was going though [trying to make him a star]. 

With Yuen's over-the-top choreography and Jackie's acrobatic skills, their little film broke all records set by Bruce Lee. With the success of his follow-up film - Drunken Master, Yuen was in a position to call his own shots and begin making the films that he wanted to make. He and his brother began getting work in the industry, because of their intense choreography, (he even made a star out of his father (Yuen Hsiao-Tien) as it seemed every thing they touched, turned to gold. Once Jackie had completed both films, Yuen had a script for part-3 (which was Dance Of The Drunken Mantis), but Chan decided against it, instead signed with Raymond Chow and Golden Harvest. Yuen's brother Yuen Sheng-I, would take the role and make a name for himself.

In the following years, he would continue to become an integral part of the kung-fu genre and it's transition into New Wave action films. When he was chosen to choreograph the comic book-style film - The Matrix - it too, became a box-office hit - spawning sequels and bring him, even more work and recognition. Then, his work on the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, set a milestone in film, as it became the first Asian film, to break $100-million dollars in the United States (with Subtitles even). His work, has now become a part of American culture. Quite an acomplishment for a man, who started out as a background actor/stuntman -- only to emerge, a cinematic genius. 

My Favorite Films

  • The Buddhist Fist 
  • Secret Rivals-2 
  • Drunken Master 
  • Magnificent Butcher 
  • Drunken Tai-Chi 
  • Snake In The Eagle's Shadow 
  • Dance Of The Drunken Mantis 
[ The Yuen Clan | Men Behind The Magic ]

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