Donnie Yen Ji-dan more commonly known as Donnie Yen has been active in the film industry for more than three decades and has solidified himself as one of Hong Kong’s greatest action movie stars. His resume holds on its own next to other actions greats from Chinese cinema such as Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li. Donnie Yen is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film director, producer, action choreographer, stuntman and multiple-time world wushu tournament champion. He is consistently one of the highest paid actors in Asia.
Yen was born in Guangzhou, China. His mother is a martial artist and Tai Chi grandmaster, while his father was a newspaper editor. When he was two years old, his family moved to Hong Kong and then to the United States, settling in Boston when he was 11. His younger sister, Chris Yen, is also a martial artist and actress.
At a young age, under the influence of his mother, Yen developed an interest in martial arts and began experimenting with various styles, including t’ai chi and other traditional Chinese martial arts. Yen then started kung fu when he was nine. Yen focused on practising wushu seriously at the age of fourteen after dropping out of school. His parents sent him to Beijing on a two-year training program with the Beijing Wushu Team because of their concerns about Yen spending too much time at Boston’s notorious combat zone. Yen started taekwondo at the age of sixteen when he stopped by Hong Kong on his return to the United States.
Coming from a family of musicians, Yen was taught by his parents to play musical instruments, including the piano. He also knows hip-hop dancing and breakdancing.
Yen’s first acting breakthrough was in 1984 when he landed his first starring role in the 1984 film Drunken Tai Chi. Donnie Yen’s breakthrough came when he played General Nap-lan in Once Upon a Time in China II (1992) in which he had a fight scene with Jet Li. Yen had a starring role in the critically-acclaimed Iron Monkey in 1993. They also appeared together again in the 2002 film, Hero, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2003 Academy Awards. Jet Li insisted that Yen play his adversary in the movie. He did do some television work in the 1995 television series Fist of Fury, starring as the same character Bruce Lee once played. Yen started the production company Bullet Films and made his directorial debut.
At the age of 34, Yen almost went bankrupt. The films produced by his own company and directed by him receive critical-acclaim but did not do well in the box office. Yen was forced to borrow money from loan sharks and his production crew to get by.
Yen’s work in the United States include being invited to choreograph fight scenes in Hollywood films, such as Highlander: Endgame (2000) and Blade II (2002). He impressed the director so much he had cameo appearances in both movies. In 2003, he played the antagonist against the legendary Jackie Chan in the Hollywood movie, Shanghai Knights.
In 2008, he would star in Ip Man, a semi-biographical account of Ip Man, the Wing Chun master of Bruce Lee. It became Yen’s biggest box office hit grossing HK$25 million in Hong Kong and 100 million yuan in China. Ip Man also gained popularity among movie fans internationally. The Ip Man franchise would go on to become a defining role for Donnie Yen and spawn 3 more sequels.
In 2016, Yen would be part of one of the biggest movie franchises in the world. Yen co-starred in the Star Wars Anthology film Rogue One as Chirrut Îmwe. In the same year, he also co-starred in xXx: Return of Xander Cage. Both performances were fan favourites.
Yen is known for going to great lengths to achieve the physical appearance required in his roles. Those who have worked with him which include accomplished martial artists believe that he is an incredible martial artist. Yen describes himself as a mixed martial artist which shows in some of his films.
Yen’s career has not only been highly successful in his native country but also internationally which even some legendary Hong Kong actors have not achieved. At age 56, Yen is still going strong and looks to be retiring from Kungfu films after an announcement. The world continues to watch in excitement for the next transformation of Donnie Yen’s storied career.