Sammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema. He has been a fight choreographer for Jackie Chan, King Hu and John Woo. Hung is one of the pivotal figures who spearheaded the Hong Kong New Wave movement of the 1980s, helped reinvent the martial arts genre and started the vampire-like Jiang Shi genre.
Education
The opera school was run by Master Yu Jim Yuen and Hung adopted the given name of his sifu as his family name whilst attending. Going by the name Yuen Lung, Hung became the foremost member of the "Seven Little Fortunes" (七小福) performing group, and would establish a friendly rivalry with one of the younger students, Yuen Lo (Jackie Chan). Shortly before leaving the Academy at the age of 16, Hung suffered an injury that left him bedridden for an extended period, during which his weight ballooned.
Career
Hung appeared as a child actor in several films for Cathay Asia and Bo Bo Films during the early 1960s. His film debut was in the 1961 film "Education of Love".
Upon leaving the opera school, he worked as an extra and stuntman, and progressed through other roles including fight choreographer, stunt coordinator, action director, actor, writer, producer and director.
Hung's big break as a film actor came with a role as a villain in the Bruce Lee film "Enter the Dragon" (1973). In 1977, Hung was given his first lead role in a Golden Harvest production, in the film "Shaolin Plot". His next film, released the same year, was also his directorial debut, "The Iron-Fisted Monk", one of the earliest kung fu comedies. He established his reputation as a skilled physical comedian in several kung-fu comedies, beginning with "Enter the Fat Dragon"(1978). He also produced and starred in numerous successful films throughout the 1970s and 1980s for Hong Kong's leading film studio, Golden Harvest.
Hung collaborated in the 1980s with long-time friend Jackie Chan in a highly successful series of action comedies that cemented Hung's reputation as a consummate actor/director and launched Chan's career as an international star.
For a while, Hung also starred in an American TV series, "Martial Law" (1998). He directed "Once Upon a Time in China and America" (1997), his first film shot in the US.
Throughout his productive and active life Hung has starred in 75 films, and worked on over 230.