Polly Kuan

Biography

Polly Kuan is a Taiwanese female martial arts film actress, born on October 10, 1949 in Pingtung County under the name Hsu Chih-mei, with ancestral roots in Guangdong Province. She is considered one of the most prominent female martial arts film stars of the 1970s. Her mother was singer Ouyang Ju. She dropped out of Pingtung Girls' High School in her second year to join the Taiwan United Film Company as an actress. She achieved great success and widespread fame through her outstanding performance in King Hu's film "Dragon Gate Inn." She holds second-degree black belts in both karate and taekwondo to portray female warrior roles. In 1972, she moved to Hong Kong to work with Golden Harvest, starring in the modern martial arts film "Little Street Hero," for which she won the Best Actress award at the 11th Golden Horse Awards. She retired from acting in 1981 and emigrated to the United States, where she ran a taekwondo academy.