Tiger Chen (; born 3 March 1975) is a Chinese martial artist, stuntman and actor. Tiger Chen is Yuen Woo Ping's protege and

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor and musician. The recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades, he is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public imag ...

's teacher and friend. He was also

Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 and May 1986 cover ...

's stunt double.

Life

Early life

Tiger Chen was born on 3 March 1975 in

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, where he studied the

Chinese martial arts Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

. By age 18, he enrolled into Sichuan Wushu Team. He won the National Youth Martial Arts Competition in China. At the age of 19, Tiger Chen went to the United States. He lived in a small wooden shack behind a shopping plaza in Gloucester Township, New Jersey. There he taught

tai chi is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners ...

and weapons classes to the students of the Tang Soo Karate Academy which was located in the plaza. He said: "In China, at least you can practice kung fu and attend martial arts competitions, but in the United States, you will find that most of your time in washing the dishes and being a

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

." Tiger Chen became a student of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

martial artist

Yuen Woo-ping Yuen Woo-ping (; alias: Yuen Wo-ping; born 1945) is a Hong Kong people, Hong Kong Stage combat, martial arts choreographer and film director who worked in Hong Kong action cinema and later Hollywood films. He is one of the inductees on the Avenue ...

in 2000s.

Film career

In 1998, Tiger Chen began his film career by holding a post on the fight choreography team as an assistant under Yuen in ''

The Matrix ''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction film, science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the The Matrix (franchise), ''Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ca ...

'', a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

starring

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has gained recognition for his roles on stage and screen as militant and authoritative characters. List of awards and nominations received by Laur ...

Carrie-Anne Moss Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in ''The Matrix'' series (1999–present). She has starred in '' Memento'' (2000), for ...

, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano. At the same time, he became best friends with Keanu Reeves. Chen also held the post of choreographer in ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts for ABC. It originally aired from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, airing for five seasons consisting of 115 episodes. It was produ ...

'' (2000), '' Once in the Life'' (2000) and '' Kill Bill: Volume 1'' (2003). Tiger Chen had a minor role as a ronin in ''

The Matrix Reloaded ''The Matrix Reloaded'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the sequel to ''The Matrix'' (1999) and the second installment in the ''Matrix'' film series. The film stars Keanu Reeves, L ...

'' (2003), the second film of the ''Matrix'' trilogy. In 2005, he appeared as a martial artist in '' House of Fury'' with Anthony Wong,

Gillian Chung Gillian Chung Ka-lai (born Chung Tik-shan, 21 January 1981), known by her stage name Chung Yan-tung, is a Hong Kong actress and singer. She is a member of the Cantopop duo Twins (group), Twins, along with Charlene Choi. Early life Chung was bo ...

Stephen Fung Fung Chun-choi (born 9 August 1974), known professionally as Stephen Fung Tak-lun, is a Hong Kong actor, singer, writer, and film director. Biography Fung Tak-lun was born in Hong Kong and studied at German Swiss International School. He is a gr ...

and

Charlene Choi Charlene Choi Tsoek-jin ( zh, link=no, t=蔡卓妍; born 22 November 1982) is a Hong Kong and Canadian actress and singer. She is a member of Hong Kong pop duo Twins (group), Twins, along with Gillian Chung. Early life Choi was born in Vancouv ...

. In 2012, Tiger Chen played the lead role in '' Kung Fu Man'', alongside Vanessa Branch and Jiang Mengjie. After years in minor and supporting roles, Tiger Chen played the titular character in '' Man of Tai Chi'', opposite the film's director Keanu Reeves, Karen Joy Morris and Yam Tat-wah. In 2018, Tiger made a special appearance in the Malaysian military film '' PASKAL: The Movie'' as a Chinese UN Observer accompanying the Malaysian UN Observers during a mission in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. In 2019, Tiger co-starred with

Tony Jaa Tatchakorn Yeerum (born 1976) (, , ; formerly Phanom Yeerum (, )), better known internationally as Tony Jaa and in Thailand as Jaa Phanom (, , ), is a Thai martial artist, actor, action choreographer, stuntman, and director. Known for his expl ...

and

Iko Uwais Uwais Qorny (), known professionally as Iko Uwais, (born 12 February 1983) is an Indonesian actor, stuntman, fight choreographer, and martial artist. He is best known for acting in the action films '' Merantau'' (2009), '' The Raid'' (2011), '' ...

in the film '' Triple Threat''. He also has an uncredited cameo as a Triad assassin in the film '' John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum''.

Works

Film

Awards

* Champion of National Youth Martial Arts Competition * All Around Champion of San Francisco International Martial Arts Tournament * Champion of National Karate (Men's -60 kg) * World Stunt Awards nominations for Matrix 2

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Tiger Male actors from Chengdu Living people Chinese male martial artists Chinese wushu practitioners Sportspeople from Chengdu Martial artists from Sichuan Chinese expatriates in the United States Chinese male film actors Chinese male television actors 1975 births 21st-century Chinese male actors