Yuen Biao
Born Ha Ling Tsan on July 26, 1957 (Age 50)
First, I love Yuen Biao! Out of the 3 brothers (biao, sammo, and jackie), he’s the most attractive! He look his best and most magnetic in “Easter Condors” as time and time again he just draws your attention whenever he appeared onscreen…:LOL: Okay okay…to the good stuff now.
In a more serious tone, Biao’s charisma on screen is undeniable. Everything he does, his kicks, punches and acrobatic movements clearly defied gravity. Doing most of his stunts and even doubling for Sammo and Jackie in their early stages, Biao is clearly one of the best martial artists of all time! Hey he’s even done comedy (“Dragons Forever”) and thrillers (“On the Run”) and pulled it off well.
He went to Peking Opera School at the age of 6 and was renamed Yuen Biao (Little Tiger) and was the youngest member of the Seven Little Fortunes. Other members include Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Yuen Wah, Yuen Cory, Yuen Mo, and Yuen Tai. The master of the school is Yu Jim Yuen and therefore renamed everyone with a surname of Yuen.
Unfortunately (very), Yuen Biao did not make it as big as Sammo or Jackie. He is one of the most underrated actors in Hong Kong. He was also a stuntman and doubled for Bruce Li in “The Game of Death”. At one point he have a Stunt team named “Yuen Ga Ban”.
Out of the three, Biao is the most acrobatic and his movements are so fluid! With classic hits like “Knockabout” 1978 (first starring role), “The Prodigal Son” 1980 and later with the two brothers in “Wheels on Meals”, “Millionaires’ Express” and possibly the best of their collaboration, “Dragons Forever“, helped define the early kung fu period in the late 70’s to early 80’s.
The brothers went solo after “Dragons Forever”. Biao went on to star in some great movies, such as “On the Run” (more of a thriller) where he truly proved himself as an actor on a different level.
In 1983, he met his future wife Didi Phang while working as a double in “Carry on Pickpocket” and married her in 1984. They have 2 children, a boy and a girl.
He recently starred in the China Series “Wing Chun” alongside old pal Sammo Hung. The series was based on his earlier classic “The Prodigal Son“. In the new series, he played the same character “Liang Tsang”, but as the father and Nicholas Tse played his son.
Watching his latest series, “Wing Chun”, he’s as agile and graceful as before, even with age. Their (Biao and Sammo) chemistry after all these years truly still is present in their fight scenes. It is with pleasure that fans are once again given a chance to see them together. You can still see why he’s considered very good.
Some of his unforgettable movies also include “Easter Condors”, “Project A”, “Iceman Cometh” and “Above the Law”.
It is with regret as I wrote this that he has never received the recognition he is so deserving of. At least, fans of Martial Arts classics will know how awesome he is!
Paraphrased from WikiPedia & DragonsDenUK
