Collin Chou

Biography

Collin Chou was born on August 11, 1967, in a military dependents' village in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He grew up in a family of 13 siblings, and his father passed away before he was five years old, forcing him to work and support his family from the age of five. He learned martial arts with his coworkers and entered the film industry at age 12 as a stunt double in martial arts films, training in Taekwondo, Muay Thai, and cinematic combat techniques.

At age 20, he was discovered by the renowned producer Hung Kam-po and starred in the film "全力反彈". After completing his military service in Taiwan, he moved to Hong Kong and joined Hung Kam-po's team "Hung Ga Ban" as his disciple, collaborating with famous directors such as Yuen Woo-ping, Yuen Kui, and Tsui Hark on over thirty films.

In 1999, he traveled to the United States for further studies and was invited by Yuen Woo-ping to appear in "The Matrix" series as Seraph, appearing in the second and third installments as well as the video game version. He is best known in Hong Kong cinema for his role in "The Bodyguard from Beijing" where he engaged in a ten-minute martial arts duel with Jet Li, and as the villain Chang Wen in "Hail the Judge".

Chou frequently collaborated with Jet Li in numerous films, including "Kung Fu Cult Master" as Song Qingshu, "My Father Is a Hero", "The Scripture with No Words", and "Fearless" where he played the hero's father. In 2008 he participated in "The Forbidden Kingdom" alongside Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and in 2013 reunited with Jet Li in "The Man with the Silver Quik". He also appeared in the Netflix series "Marco Polo". He is married to Weng Wai-tak, winner of the 1989 Hong Kong Miss Pageant Model title.