Real Martial Artist Actors VS Non-Martial Artists Actors

[Guest Anonymous]

How many oldschool kung fu movie actors were literally true martial artists who trained in a style, and who were masters of a martial art style?

And which ones were not real martial artists but just actors? How did they learn the moves and did they have some chinese opera/acrobatics training?

Can anyone make a list that contrasts them?

[KenHashibe]

This was a popular thread back on KFC.

I believe Jimmy Wang Yu and Lo Lieh both weren't actual martial artists, but I'm not entirely sure.

I also learned that Leung Kar Yan (Beardy) wasn't actually a martial artist either. There's a very fascinating interview I watched with him (without his beard) where he talks about having to learn the choreography and how hard it was for him. Definitely give it a watch:

Even though he isn't an actual martial artist, he's still really damn convincing in the fight scenes.

[Guest Anonymous]

Wow thanks for that. That is so cool. He just was a kung fu movie fan and went into it!! It kind of gives hope for people who are like the ones on this forum! Maybe someone here could get into movies even if they dont know kung fu.

Thats why these movies are so great! The fighting was trying to be real with real kung fu. Now days its gotten so boring. These movies with 15-30 moves in one shot are so awesome!!

Luen Ka Yen had great athleticism and agility and a great ability to mimic martial arts. Its interesting how he didnt have much "movie training" as they do now days. You see some hollywood celebrity train for 3-6 months doing movie kung fu before they do their scenes. None of them would have lasted in hong kong back then!

Jimmy Wang Yu though, I could see how he was not a real martial artist. If thats true. He looks sloppy in his movies, but I really love hjis One Arm Boxer VS Flyiung Guillitine movie.

[KenHashibe]

Wow thanks for that. That is so cool. He just was a kung fu movie fan and went into it!! It kind of gives hope for people who are like the ones on this forum! Maybe someone here could get into movies even if they dont know kung fu.

Luen Ka Yen had great athleticism and agility and a great ability to mimic martial arts. Its interesting how he didnt have much "movie training" as they do now days. You see some hollywood celebrity train for 3-6 months doing movie kung fu before they do their scenes. None of them would have lasted in hong kong back then!

Yup, despite not being a trained martial artist, Beardy's still awesome. It's impressive that he had the agility to pull off the things that he's done in his films. According to the interview, Sammo sounds very strict. I think I'd be fired if I worked for him.

I was surprised to find out that he wasn't an actual martial artist. When he did a fight scene, it looked like he knew what he was doing.

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Ti Lung had Wing Chun training (you can clearly see it in the Heroes) amongst other disciplines. Dick Wei opened his own martial arts school (I am presuming Tae Kwon Do since that was his specialty.) The school was were Chang Cheh discovered him. Lo Mang had many years of Mantis training etc.

If the person can make me believe they're a practitioner, I do not care if they've had real training or not. Leung Kar Yan is the perfect example of that.

[Secret Executioner]

Didn't Fu Sheng also practice Fu ? I believe he was trained in Hung Gar.

[Guest Anonymous]

I always think its cooler when he actor has real martial arts training, but of course if they can pull off things like Luen Kar can its great. It is interesting that he never perused martial arts training during his career just because he loved the movies so much.

Also Gordon Lui was also trained in Hung Gar.

[sym8]

Here's a few people who were not trained martial artist but could pull off some great moves,Michele yeoh,Wang lung Wei,Adam Chang,bolo(he has trained in tai chi though).Heres a few who were trained martial artist,Casanova wong(tae kwon do),Philip ko fei(eagle claw),lee Hoi san(wing chun),Ti lung(wing chun/tae kwon do),Chen Kwan tai(Kung fu,monkey fist)

[Hei Meigui]

Lets not forget Gordon Liu he was a trained martial artist with

Lau Kar-leung and Lau Kar-wing before films.

[Secret Executioner]

Also Gordon Lui was also trained in Hung Gar.

Lets not forget Gordon Liu he was a trained martial artist before films.

Didn't Gordon Liu also have some MA background as well ?

[Guest Anonymous]

It seems the non-martial arts background people had to have some form of training in gymnastics or tumbling, or strictly movie kung fu training.

[kokuryuha]

No matter how talented,a non martial arts actor will never compare to the true martial artist.If that was the case Bruce Lee wouldn't be as legendary.But there are actors who show the capability when given a crash course of formal martial arts training are able to mimic to a degree martial skills onscreen exhibiting fluidity and natural ability like the aforementioned Leung Ka Yan and others like Moon Lee choi fan,Fu Sheng,Tony Leung Chiu Wai,Even Anthony Wong showed surprising atheleticism.Simon Yam is not one to sleep on either.One wonders what Beardy could've acheived if he studied an art seriously.Still...Look at fights like Sammo Vs Lau kar leung and Donnie vs Wu Jing and that's how high the bar is set.And don't get me started on Jacky vs Benny the Jet Urquidez!?

[AlbertV]

Didn't Fu Sheng also practice Fu ? I believe he was trained in Hung Gar.

I had read that Alexander studied karate when he lived in the United States and had trained in Hung Gar with Lau Kar-Leung when he entered the Shaw Brothers school. 

[AlbertV]

Nicholas Tse and Andy On are two examples who started out training for films but now make martial arts a passion of theirs. Both had trained for films under Nicky Li Chung-Chi and at one point, On even went to Shaolin Temple for training for the godawful Black Mask 2, which was actually his second film (Looking for Mr. Perfect, choreographed by Li, was his actual film debut). 

 

Anyway, after Nicholas trained in Wing Chun for the TV series of the same name, where he played Leung Bik, he decided to continue training in the art alongside On. They both were friends and students of current actor/action director Philip Ng. Here's a video from a few years back of their training.

 

Anthony Wong was actually a Monkey Fist stylist before becoming an actor and trained in Wing Chun to play Ip Man in Ip Man: The Final Fight

[Secret Executioner]

 

I had read that Alexander studied karate when he lived in the United States and had trained in Hung Gar with Lau Kar-Leung when he entered the Shaw Brothers school. 

According his hkcinemagic.com bio, Fu Sheng trained in karate and judo.

[AlbertV]

Ekin Cheng learned martial arts when he enrolled in the TVB training class. He has a kickboxing fight against Mark Cheng in the finale of Young and Dangerous 5, done some wuxia pian (The Storm Riders films and The Duel), and had some fights in films like Hot War and Tokyo Raiders. 

[Hei Meigui]

There are some modern actors who have trained in Martial Arts for their films so I don't know if that counts as being a martial artist. Tony Lueng Chiu-wai trained in Win Chun to play his role as Ip Man in The Grandmaster. I have loved him in films such as Hero, Ashes of Time, Butterfly and Sword.

 

Here he is talking about the effect of learning kung fu had on him

 

Here Tony is training for the movie

 

[kokuryuha]

There are some modern actors who trained in Martial Arts for their films so I don't know if that counts as being a martial artist. Tony Lueng Chiu-wai trained in Win Chun to play his role as Ip Man in The Grandmaster. I have loved him in films such as Hero, Ashes of Time, Butterfly and Sword.

 

Here he is talking about the effect of learning kung fu had on him

 

Here is Tony training for the movie

 

yeah,I like Tony Leung Chiu Wai because not only is he one of Asian cinema's finest actors but he's also among the most diligent due to the fact he puts blood and sweat into all of his roles like the aforementioned grandmaster movie where he had his arm broken while training for that particular role.Actors/Actresses who train in martial arts precisely according to the role that requires it don't count as actual martial artists unless they continue to train in that specific style or another discipline seriously.Nicolas Tse is a good example as someone else on this post mentioned.

[kokuryuha]

I'd like to mention Don Cheadle was convincing as a martial artist in Rush Hour 2 when he and Jacky were exchanging strikes and doing shapes.He reminded of Leung Ka Yan for a moment the way he handed himself using Tiger Claw against Jacky.He should experiment with more roles such as that where it requires him to use kung-fu.

[Hei Meigui]

yeah,I like Tony Leung Chiu Wai because not only is he one of Asian cinema's finest actors but he's also among the most diligent due to the fact he puts blood and sweat into all of his roles like the aforementioned grandmaster movie where he had his arm broken while training for that particular role.Actors/Actresses who train in martial arts precisely according to the role that requires it don't count as actual martial artists unless they continue to train in that specific style or another discipline seriously.Nicolas Tse is a good example as someone else on this post mentioned.

I think the one thing where Tony Leung got it right is that he stated that he realized that MA wasn't about fighting it was the spiritual aspect he hoped that people understood.

 

[Hei Meigui]

Here is a list of celebrities who happen to train in some sort of Martial Arts even when it has nothing to do with their acting or profession.

I'm surprised by some of the people.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1129415-50-celebrities-who-train-a-form-of-mixed-martial-arts

 

I wonder who much of an effect the insurance rules have had on actors in martial arts/action roles doing their own stunts now here in the US. I know in some of the interviews I have seen with old School MA actors they talked about how hard it was before with the training they had to do and how the actors now have it so easy! I think that was said by Gordon Liu, Ti Lung, and Beardy.

[kokuryuha]

I think the one thing where Tony Leung got it right is that he stated that he realized that MA wasn't about fighting it was the spiritual aspect he hoped that people understood.

 

I beg to differ.Martial Arts combines both aspects of the spiritual as well as the fighting.You take away either one and it stops being what it is.If martial arts didn't have the war element which is why it's called "martial" in the first place it wouldn't be that.The "Art" part is where the spiritual comes in and that's where they coexist as a whole.Yin and Yang concept if you think about it.

[Secret Executioner]

Here is a list of celebrities who happen to train in some sort of Martial Arts even when it has nothing to do with their acting or profession.

I'm surprised by some of the people.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1129415-50-celebrities-who-train-a-form-of-mixed-martial-arts

 

I wonder who much of an effect the insurance rules have had on actors in martial arts/action roles doing their own stunts now here in the US. I know in some of the interviews I have seen with old School MA actors they talked about how hard it was before with the training they had to do and how the actors now have it so easy! I think that was said by Gordon Liu, Ti Lung, and Beardy.

Some interesting stuff, though some of these people weren't surprises (while others were really unexpected). People like Mel Gibson, Christian Bale or Robert Downey Jr. had to have some background, considering the action roles they play or played (though yeah, it's pretty likely they'd get stunt doubles).

[ShawAngela]

Beware, Lady Hu shows her claws !!! 

 

I don't know why many people on forums seem to be convinced and  say that Adam Cheng isn't a martial artist.

 

He was Liu Chia Liang's student in the 60's when Liu Chia Liang was a choreographer on the old Cantonese martial arts movies and he was his elder student.

 

I read in an article (I lost the link) about Liu Chia Liang's death that this latter's wife mentioned that Adam was the only student of his who had kept visiting him when he was ill and that it was Adam Cheng who held the banner for Liu Chia Liang's funeral.

 

If you can find the clip regarding Liu Chia Liang's funeral, you'll see Adam Cheng wearing martial arts clothes and more or less giving orders and helping in order that the lion dance made as a tribute to Master Liang can be done properly. And later, you see him and the other students greeting the other martial arts schools who came to pay tribute to Liu Chia Liang and it's obvious that he knows how to do it.

 

And for those who are still not convinced, I found various sites mentioning in Adam's biography that he practices martial arts...

 

 

Angela Mao is a real martial artist who practised Hapkido (if I'm not mistaken, unless it's taekwondo, I don't remember well) and I saw a while ago an interview in which Shan Kuan Ling Fung said that she was keenly practising martial arts during all her life and that's why she didn't have too much time to find boyfriends...

 

Kuan tak Hing was also a reall martial artist, but I don't remember which style he practised.

[paimeifist]

I would bet money that Beardy at least began practicing martial arts regularly after he began his film career. You don't pull off some of the moves he did without training.

 

As far as the question of which I prefer, the answer is neither for me. If an actor can take instruction and perform moves without too much camera trickery it can be just as good and sometimes better than a real martial artist.

 

I believe many guys that aren't labeled as "martial artists" at least learned a lot on the job to do some of the things they did.

 

Look at David Chiang in The Challenger, watching an early Shaw effort you'd never expect him to throw down like that! Same goes for Lo Liehs earlier roles when compared to his work with Pops.