Yuen Woo-ping

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Lore & Background

Yuen Woo-ping was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. He is the son of Yuen Siu-tien, a martial arts film actor. He attended the China Drama Academy for one year as a day student of Master Yu Jim-yuen. With the support of Ng See-yuen, he achieved his first directing credit in 1978 on *Snake in the Eagle's Shadow*, starring Jackie Chan, followed quickly by *Drunken Master*. The films were smash hits, launching Jackie Chan as a major film star, turning Seasonal Films into a major independent production company, and starting a trend towards comedy in martial arts films that continued to the following two decades. Yuen went on to helm other star vehicles for Sammo Hung in *Magnificent Butcher* (1979), Yuen Biao in *Dreadnaught* (1981), Donnie Yen in *Iron Monkey* (1993), Jet Li in *Tai Chi Master* (1993), and Michelle Yeoh in *Wing Chun* (1994).

In Their Own Story

Yuen's action choreography on *Fist of Legend* (1994) attracted the attention of the Wachowskis, who hired him as the martial arts choreographer on *The Matrix* (1999). The success of this collaboration, plus his action choreography on the following year's hit *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, made him a highly sought after figure in Hollywood. He went on to work on the first two *Matrix* sequels, as well as *Kill Bill: Volume 1* (2003) and *Kill Bill: Volume 2* (2004). More recent action choreography duties in Hong Kong cinema have included *Kung Fu Hustle* (2004), starring Stephen Chow, and *Fearless* (2006), starring Jet Li. Yuen also choreographed the action sequences in *The Forbidden Kingdom* (2008), which was the first film to star together Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

Reader's Guide

Yuen Woo-ping's first directing credit was in 1978 on *Snake in the Eagle's Shadow*, starring Jackie Chan. He followed quickly with *Drunken Master*. These films were smash hits that launched Jackie Chan as a major film star. Yuen later directed star vehicles for Sammo Hung (*Magnificent Butcher*, 1979), Yuen Biao (*Dreadnaught*, 1981), Donnie Yen (*Iron Monkey*, 1993), Jet Li (*Tai Chi Master*, 1993), and Michelle Yeoh (*Wing Chun*, 1994). His action choreography on *Fist of Legend* (1994) led to work on *The Matrix* (1999) and *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* (2000). He also choreographed *Kung Fu Hustle* (2004), *Fearless* (2006), and *The Forbidden Kingdom* (2008). In late 2010, he released his first film as director since 1996, *True Legend*. In 2015, he directed *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny*. He contributed a segment to the anthology film *Septet: The Story of Hong Kong* (2020).

Did You Know?

• Yuen Woo-ping was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
• He is the son of Yuen Siu-tien, a martial arts film actor.
• He attended the China Drama Academy for one year as a day student of Master Yu Jim-yuen.
• His first directing credit was in 1978 on *Snake in the Eagle's Shadow*, starring Jackie Chan.
• He choreographed the action sequences in *The Forbidden Kingdom* (2008), the first film to star together Jackie Chan and Jet Li.