CHEUNG-YAN YUEN comes from a family of highly accomplished Hong Kong action film choreographers. He got his start as a stuntman when his father became Asia’s first fight choreographer while working for the Wong Fei Hung films during the 1950s and 1960s. Yuen is the second of eight brothers. Today, all but one of the Yuen brothers are action choreographers and directors in their own right.
Yuen was the winner of the Best Action Director award at the 11th Hong Kong Film Festival in 1991, for his brilliant action design work in Once Upon a Time in China, a classical masterpiece and must-see for any martial art movie fan. Yuen was also nominated for Best Action Director at the second Hong Kong Film Festival in 1982, the very first year the festival began to offer this Hong Kong-specific film award.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Cheung-Yan Yuen’s name was huge in the stunt world of Hong Kong. His nickname among his colleagues was "the Stunt King." His 80+ somersaults in a row at one same spot is still the record in Hong Kong’s action movie industry.
