YUEN WAH "Landlord"
Despite the fact that he plays one of the good guys in Kung Fu Hustle, Yuen Wah is known to Hong Kong film fans as "the Magnificent Villain," a title he earned playing evildoers as a fixture of Hong Kong cinema throughout its glorious period from the 1970s until today. He has appeared in more than 100 movies, working with just about every top Hong Kong director, including John Woo, Tsui Hark, Sammo Hung and Jeff Lau.
His co-stars have included Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, among many other major Hong Kong stars. One of the original "Seven Little Fortunes" - the famous Peking Opera school performing group which also included Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung - Yuen Wah began his martial arts training at the age of six, and studied for 10 years. His first movie role was as a stuntman; he was Bruce Lee's stunt double in the early 1970s. (He also fought Lee on occasion; In Enter the Dragon, Yuen plays the Japanese man who Lee knocks down when he becomes angry about the "No Dogs or Chinese Allowed" sign posted at a park).
Yuen Wah first gained notoriety when he played a villain in the 1987 film Eastern Condors. His career in the film industry has ranged from acting and stunt work, to action choreography and directing. He has been the action choreographer on 20 Hong Kong movies, including The Iceman Cometh, Kung Fu vs. Acrobats, and The Master. Yuen Wah has previously worked with Stephen Chow on several pictures, including Fight Back to School, The Magnificent Scoundrels, and The Legend of Dragon, on which Yuen Wah was also an action choreographer.
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