Sunny Yuen Shun-yi (), also credited as Shun-yee Yuen, is a

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,

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, stuntman, and action coordinator.

Biography

Yuen was the fourth of ten children of the martial artist

Yuen Siu-tien Yuen Siu-tien () (27 November 1912 – 8 January 1979) (also known as Yuan Xiaotian, Simon Yuen, Sam Seed or "Ol' Dirty") was a Hong Kong actor and martial artist. In the late 1970s, Yuen is perhaps best known as Beggar So (a.k.a. Sam Seed) in ...

. He began training in

kung fu 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 ...

with his father from a young age. His elder brothers,

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 ...

and Yuen Cheung-yan, were also kung fu actors and directors. Together with his brothers, Shun-yi appeared in many films made by the Yuen clan, which was one of the foremost makers of

Hong Kong martial arts films Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese culture, Chinese and Culture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cultures, including Chinese opera, storytelling a ...

. In the 1970s, he followed his brother Yuen Woo-ping to make films in Taiwan. Although he played a few leading roles in his early career, he was better known for his supporting roles as villains. He made many appearances in the ''Once Upon a Time in China'' film series.

Selected filmography

;As actor * ''

Dance of the Drunk Mantis ''Dance of the Drunk Mantis'' () is a 1979 Hong Kong kung fu comedy film directed by Yuen Siu-tien's real life son Yuen Woo-ping and written by Ng See-yuen and Lung Hsiao. It stars Yuen Siu-tien, Hwang Jang-lee, Linda Lin, Yuen Shun-yi, C ...

'' (1979) as Foggy * '' The Buddhist Fist'' (1980) as Ah Hsiang (lead role) * '' Dreadnaught'' (1981) as White Tiger, a psychotic murderer hiding out in a

Peking Opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime, martial arts, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became ...

troupe * '' Iron Monkey'' (1993) as Fox

Awards and nominations

Yuen worked as an action and stunt director in many martial arts films, and was nominated for the

Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography is an annual Hong Kong industry award presented to a choreographer or a group of choreographers for the best achievement in action choreography. Since action scenes have an essential role in H ...

seven times. He won the prize at the

11th Hong Kong Film Awards The 11th Hong Kong Awards ceremony, honored the best films of 1991 and took place on 5 April 1992 at Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Wan Chai, Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizat ...

in 1992 for the film ''

Once Upon a Time in China ''Once Upon a Time in China'' is a 1991 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film directed and produced by Tsui Hark, who also wrote with Yuen Kai-chi, Leung Yiu-ming, and Elsa Tang. Jet Li stars as Chinese martial arts master and folk hero of C ...

'', together with his brother Yuen Cheung-yan and

Lau Kar-wing Lau Kar-wing (born 1944) is a martial artist, Hong Kong film director, action choreographer and actor. Background Born in the Xinhui District of Jiangmen in Guangdong, China, Lau Kar-wing was the fourth child of Lau Cham (), a martial arts mas ...

. In 2018, he was nominated for the Best Action Choreography Award at the

55th Golden Horse Awards The 55th Golden Horse Awards () took place on November 17, 2018 at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. Organized by the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee, the awards honored the best in Chinese-language films of ...

for the film '' Master Z: Ip Man Legacy''.

References

External links

*
Yuen Shun-yi
at

HKMDB The Hong Kong Movie Database (HKMDB) is a bilingual ( English and Chinese) website started in 1995 by Ryan Law. It provides a repository for information about movies originating from Hong Kong and the people who created them. The database was ...

Yuen Shun-yi at
HKCinemagic {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuen, Shun-yi Living people Hong Kong male film actors Hong Kong male actors Hong Kong stunt performers Year of birth missing (living people) Yuen Shun-yi