Yuen Biao is a creative pseudonym that has taken root for many years. And this person’s real name is Ha Ling Yun. The year of his birth is 1957. The place is Hong Kong.
His family was large. According to the account in it, he became the fifth child. In total, he had 7 sisters and the same number of brothers. At that time, his father led a modest knitting enterprise. And here his whole family worked. It was located near the house, and the Biao sisters worked there on an ongoing basis.
Chinese Opera Academy
Baby Lin Yun did not want to study at a standard school or work hard at a factory. He was so energetic and restless child that he wanted to constantly run and move. At the same time, he tried to repeat the manipulations of some performers, which he remembered in the Chinese opera. In kindergarten, he constantly fought with his friends.
Parents realized that it was useless to give such a tomboy to a regular school, and decided to go to the Beijing Opera Academy. And even a ten-year contract was signed. Moreover, under these conditions, training did not require any payment.
In this institution extremely strict rules worked. Pupils rose at 5 in the morning. And they trained for 5 hours. Then followed a short rest and breakfast. And then again training sessions until the evening.
In the evening, students went on stage to perform opera. At the time he got to this school, Lin was a five year old kid. In class, he was the youngest student. Also, a few girls studied there. The boy especially liked this fact. After all, they showed him tenderness and care.
At this academy, Lin Yun quickly became friends with the two boys who became his best friends. This is Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan.
There was a custom in the school: after the initial three months of training, the students passed a survey. He revealed who wants to study further and who is not able to do this. After all, the conditions here were really very harsh. Yun gave a positive answer and continued his education.
In the process of training, teachers identified the best wards and recorded them in the troupe "7 little lucky." And so the circumstances were that in it were three bosom friends: Chan, Yun and Hung. There, Yun was called the "young brother." And it was during that period that the guy decided to change his name to Yuen Biao.
There were minor age differences between friends. So, Sammo Hung was the oldest in this company - 8 years older than Biao and 4 years older than Chan. Together they went through difficult trials in study, and their relationship was more brotherly than friendly.
First time after school
Yuen Biao successfully graduated from the designated school. And a year after that, he began classes in the studio. Hung worked there, he helped put on tricks. Here Biao won the first modest roles in stunt productions. It was an initial and very valuable movie experience.
Yuen Biao began to work hard in this area. He was even lucky enough to work a little with the legendary Bruce Lee. We are talking about the films "Fist of Fury", as well as "Exit of the Dragon."
The premiere of the second film was scheduled for the summer of 1973. But Lee did not live to see her. This man exalted Kung Fu paintings to world standards. After his death, the popularity of this genre waned, and Yuen Biao decided to move to the United States.
Period in the USA
The main reason for moving to the USA for Biao was the news of the closure of the opera school and the move of his teacher there. The teacher decided in this country to put on a series of shows and earn extra money on this.
Biao joined his mentor, travels began in the USA. An opera with many acrobatic stunt masterpieces has been shown in many cities. But these performances did not bring the desired success, and they were no longer staged. But this did not break Biao, and he continued to live in Los Angeles. He managed to find a modest job in the department store - he became a security guard.
Life went on at a monotonous pace until his school friend Yuen Hong came to visit Biao. She recommended that he move to New York, where her parents worked. The guy agreed, and soon in this city he became an employee of a film studio. He made film for videotapes.
Back to hong kong
Biao lived in New York for a year. Then a momentous event happened - a letter came from his father. It reported on the new dawn of ok kung fu films. This message inspired the guy to return to his homeland.
Returning, he again began to work with Hung, continued to help put up fights. After some time, he rose from the position of assistant to the chief director of battle scenes. He began to work in many paintings.
In 1978, Hung received a tempting offer from Raymond Chow, the head of Golden Harvest. The bottom line is to make a film based on the remaining material with Bruce Lee. The main task was formed - to find a person very similar to him. And Yuen Biao became such an actor. He performed the main character in The Game of Death, and then in Knockabout.
These films immediately brought him great fame.
Comedy Kung Fu
At that time, Jackie Chan with his powerful paintings about “The Drunken Master” and “The Snake in the Shadow of an Eagle” formed a successful vector for paintings with comedy kung fu. Yuen Biao did not lag behind this trend, but he also played serious roles, for example, about Bruce Lee (the painting "Death Tower").
Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao became real stars. They personified this genre of cinema. And often starred together.
Special attention was paid to the tape "Young Master". The main characters in it were performed by Yuen Biao and Jackie Chan. She has collected more than 10 million local dollars at the Hong Kong box office.
The 80s were incredibly successful for comedic kung fu. And this trinity first appeared together in the film "Winners and Sinners." Then in Project A, it was 1983. A year later, the “Diner on Wheels” followed. And a little later - two parts of "My happy stars." They became real hits.
It was a happy time for a friendly trio. This is evidenced by the photo of Yuen Biao with friends.
In 1986, two paintings were released in which Biao implements the most complicated tricks. These are the Express of Millionaires and Above the Law. Other acting Biao reflected further.
The filmography of the actor
The filmography of Yuen Biao is extensive. He began with modest episodic roles. His acting career took off when he played Bruce Lee himself. They played various roles: from bandits to cult heroes. His filmography as an actor is presented below. It contains many paintings, including the above films.
Exceptions are two parts of “Seven Little Tigers”. They came out in 1966. There, Biao, while still a very young child, played a corresponding episodic role - the child. All the films of Yuen Biao are very difficult to enumerate within the framework of one article, but those that are named are enough to appreciate his creative path.
In the picture "On the Run" Biao proved himself not only as an excellent master of martial arts. Here, his excellent acting abilities appeared.
According to experts, the best work of Biao was the 1989 film "Ice Comet." Here, one of the main roles was played by the famous Maggie Chun.
The film made a splash, even became a cult. Fans were impressed:
- Fantastic combat productions.
- Humorous plot components.
- Wonderful collaboration of Biao and Chun. In addition, there were rumors and their sexual relationships.
Experience in directing and producing
In 1988, Biao gained initial experience in producing work on Evil for Good.
In the early 90's, he decided to test himself as a director. His first work was the tape "A child from Tibet." She was released in 1992. In it, he also played the role of the main character. Also in this project, he acted as a producer, director and staged all the fights. Fights Yuen Biao were characterized by showiness, high dynamics and complexity of performance.
In 1993, he produced Kick. But this film did not work out hit.
90s and early 2000s
More than this decade, he did not make films, but only played in them. Moreover, the projects did not bring him former glory. This is “Cool Beauty”, and “To hell”, etc.
During this period, it was time for other types, for example: Jet Li, Shu Qi and others. But Biao was content with only modest roles.
His friend Jackie Chan, on the contrary, was gaining new momentum in popularity thanks to “Bickering Down”, “Rush Hour” and other masterpieces released in the 90s. He entrenched in Hollywood. In 2000, the comedy action movie Shanghai Midday was released.
Chang Yuen Biao invited to this project for staging stunts. At the same time, Biao played a small role here in one of the episodes. There were other paintings and modest roles. But Biao was no longer happy. He was more displeased with the scripts. They were somehow of the same type, without raisins.
In 2005 and 2008, he starred in the series: "Teacher Zan from Foshan" and "Yunchun," respectively.
Personal life
Yuen Biao’s wife is Didi Pang. Their acquaintance happened at work in 1984. He coordinated the stunts in the movie Diner on Wheels. His future wife was one of the crew members. Prior to that, she was also part of the team working on Pickpockets. In 1986, the couple had a daughter, I-Bui. And two years later, the son of Min Tsak.
Recently, Yuen Biao does not act in films at all. Also does not act as a producer. He has a home in Hong Kong and Canada. He visits the second home very often. There he rests with his family and devotes a lot of time to golf.
Conclusion
Yuen Biao made a great movie career. Although he failed to achieve successes such as Jackie Chan. Fans of the magnificent three (Biao, Hung and Chan) believe that a picture can still come out, where the three of them will again play the main roles.