Mr Yuen Woo Ping

1945-

Choreographer & Director

Action choreographer and film director Yuen Woo Ping is the son of martial arts actor Yuen Siu Tin. As a child, he was sent by his father to practise Peking opera and Chinese martial arts under Yu Zhanyuan. While still in his teens, he worked as an extra and stuntman. Yuen became an action choreographer in 1970. He made a name for himself directing Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978) and Drunken Master (1978), both starring Jackie Chan. These films sealed his status as one of Hong Kong’s most prominent action directors. The 1980s, the most productive period of Yuen’s career, saw him directing films about Chinese witchcraft, such as The Miracle Fighters (1982) and Shaolin Drunkard (1983). He went on to make action movies like Iron Monkey (1993), The Tai-Chi Master (1993) and Wing Chun (1994). Yuen took his career to Hollywood in 1999, where he action-choreographed for The Matrix (1999), whose massive success magnified Yuen’s reputation. He was subsequently hired to co-ordinate action sequences in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), The Legend of Zu (2001), Kill Bill: Volume I (2003), Kung Fu Hustle (2004) and The Grandmaster (2013). His more recent works include True Legend (2010), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016), The Thousand Faces of Dunjia (2017, produced by Tsui Hark), and Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy (2018). Yuen has won Best Action Choreography multiple times at both the Hong Kong Film Awards and Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards. In 2001, he was presented with the Professional Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards for his contribution to Hong Kong cinema.