Yuen Woo-ping | |||||||||||
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袁和平 | |||||||||||
 Yuen Woo-ping at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas in 2010 at the premiere ofTrue Legend | |||||||||||
| Born | (1945-01-01)1 January 1945 (age 80) | ||||||||||
| Father | Yuen Siu-tien | ||||||||||
| Awards | Hong Kong Film Awards –Best Action Choreography 2001Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2005Kung Fu Hustle 2007Fearless 2014The Grandmaster 2020Ip Man 4 Hong Kong Film Awards –Professional Achievement Award 2000Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Chinese | 袁和平 | ||||||||||
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Yuen Woo-ping (Chinese:袁和平;pinyin:Yuán Hépíng; alias: Yuen Wo-ping; born 1945) is aHong Kongmartial arts choreographer andfilm director who worked inHong Kong action cinema and laterHollywood films. He is one of the inductees on theAvenue of Stars in Hong Kong. Yuen is also a son ofYuen Siu-tien, amartial arts film actor. He attended theChina Drama Academy for one year as a day student of MasterYu Jim-yuen as well.[1]
Yuen was born inGuangzhou, Guangdong,China. With a support ofNg See-yuen, he achieved his first directing credit in 1978 on the seminalSnake in the Eagle's Shadow, starringJackie Chan, followed quickly byDrunken Master. The films were smash hits, launching Jackie Chan as a major film star, turningSeasonal Films into a major independent production company, and starting a trend towards comedy inmartial arts films that continues to the following two decades.
Yuen went on to helm otherstar vehicles for such figures asSammo Hung inMagnificent Butcher (1979),Yuen Biao inDreadnaught (1981),Donnie Yen inIron Monkey (1993),Jet Li inTai Chi Master (1993), andMichelle Yeoh inWing Chun (1994).
Yuen's works, particularly his action choreography onFist of Legend (1994), attracted the attention ofthe Wachowskis, who hired him as the martial arts choreographer onThe Matrix (1999). The success of this collaboration, plus his action choreography on the following year's hitCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, made him a highly sought after figure inHollywood. He went on to work on the first twoMatrix sequels, as well asKill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) andKill Bill: Volume 2 (2004).
More recent action choreography duties inHong Kong cinema have includedKung Fu Hustle (2004), starringStephen Chow, andFearless (2006), starring Jet Li.
Yuen also choreographed the action sequences inThe Forbidden Kingdom (2008), a Hollywood martial arts–adventure film, which was the first film to star together two of the best-known names in the martial arts film genre, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. He worked as a fight choreography consultant onNinja Assassin (2009).
In late 2010, Yuen released his first film as director since 1996,True Legend, starringVincent Zhao,Jay Chou andDavid Carradine (in a minor role).
Yuen went on to work as stunt co-ordinator in two South Indian films,Enthiran (2010) andI (2014), both directed byS. Shankar.
In 2015, Yuen directedCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, re-creating many of his signature action choreographies.[2]
The annual and highly anticipated Hong Kong International Film Festival was held for its 45th edition in April 2021. Yuen is one of the six veteran Hong Kong filmmakers who contributed segments to theJohnnie To-produced anthology filmSeptet: The Story of Hong Kong. The other filmmakers who directed segments areSammo Hung,Ann Hui On-wah,Patrick Tam,Tsui Hark andRingo Lam. The short files were shot entirely on35mm film with each of them touches on a nostalgic and moving story set across different time periods, with every one acting as an ode to the city.[3]
| Year | Award | Category | Nomination | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Golden Horse Awards | Best Action Choreography | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Won | [7] |
| 2006 | Fearless | Nominated | [8] |
