Donnie Yen Chi-Tan

Biography

Donnie Yen was born in 1963 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and moved to Hong Kong at age two, then to Boston, USA at age twelve. His mother was a soprano who turned to Tai Chi practice and became a renowned martial arts instructor in America. Raised in a martial environment, he learned Northern Shaolin and Tai Chi from childhood. In the early 1990s, he gained widespread fame through the TV series "Fist of Fury". He founded his own film company in 1996, producing and directing films that earned him Best Director nominations. He moved to Hollywood in 1998 to work as an action choreographer. He returned to the spotlight in 2002 through Zhang Yimou's film "Hero". He achieved major success in 2008 portraying Ip Man in "Ip Man". He founded "Superhero Films" in 2013 and "Super Bullet Films" in 2018. He has won numerous awards for action design since 2003.