Wuxia is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of historical fantasy literature, its popularity has caused it to be adapted for such diverse art forms as Chinese opera, manhua, television dramas, films, and video games. It forms part of popular culture in many Chinese-speaking communities around the world. According to Hong Kong film director, producer, and movie writer Ronny Yu, wuxia movies are not to be confused with martial arts movies.
Bloodsport is a 1988 American martial arts film directed by Newt Arnold. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, with a supporting cast of Leah Ayres, Forest Whitaker, Donald Gibb, Roy Chiao, and Bolo Yeung. The film centers on Frank Dux, a United States Army Captain and ninjutsu practitioner who competes in an underground full-contact martial arts tournament called the Kumite in Hong Kong. Based on Dux's real-life claims, the film was marketed as a true story. It was one of Van Damme's first lead roles and showcased his abilities, launching his career as a mainstream action star.
Donnie Yen Chi-tan is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and action director. He is the recipient of various accolades, including three Golden Horse Awards and five Hong Kong Film Awards. He is best known for portraying Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man in the Ip Man film series, starring in Ip Man (2008), Ip Man 2 (2010), Ip Man 3 (2015), and Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019). He also served as co-producer for the spin-off Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018).
Drunken Master II Chinese: 醉拳二; Cantonese Yale: Jui Kuen II and Drunken Fist II is a 1993 Hong Kong action-comedy kung fu film directed by Lau Kar-leung and starring Jackie Chan as Chinese martial arts master and a Cantonese folk hero, Wong Fei-hung. It was Chan's first traditional style martial arts film since Fearless Hyena II (1983). The film was released in North America as The Legend of Drunken Master in 2000.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master is a 1988 American fantasy slasher film directed by Renny Harlin, and is the fourth installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Serving as a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), the film follows Freddy Krueger who, following the death of Nancy Thompson and completing his revenge against the families who killed him, reappears in the dreams of Kristen Parker, Joey Crusel, and Roland Kincaid, where he uses Kristen's best friend, Alice Johnson, to gain access to new victims in order to satiate his murderous needs. The Dream Master is often popularly referred to as "the MTV Nightmare" of the franchise.
Margaret Denise Quigley, professionally known as Maggie Q, is an American actress.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Syun Matsuena. Matsuena first published a manga titled Tatakae! Ryōzanpaku Shijō Saikyō no Deshi, which ran in Shogakukan's Shōnen Sunday Super from 1999 to 2002. Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is a remake of the series, and was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday from April 2002 to September 2014, with its chapters collected in 61 tankōbon volumes.
Ron Balicki is an American actor, martial artist and stuntman for various films and television series. He is also a well known martial arts practitioner, teacher, and author. He is a student of and son-in-law to Dan Inosanto.
Lyndsy Marie Fonseca is an American actress. She began her career by appearing as Colleen Carlton on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless, on which she starred between 2001 and 2005. Thereafter, she had a series of other recurring roles, including Penny Mosby on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, Donna on HBO's Big Love, and Dylan Mayfair on the fourth season of the ABC television series Desperate Housewives.
Garry Schyman is an American film, television, and video game music composer. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in music composition in 1978, and began work in the television industry, writing music for such television series as Magnum, P.I. and The A-Team. By 1986, he was composing for movies such as Judgement and Hit List. At the request of a friend in 1993, he composed the music for the video game Voyeur, but after creating the music for two more games he left the industry, citing the low budgets and poor quality of video game music at the time. He continued to compose for film and television, only to return to video games for 2005's Destroy All Humans!. Finding that in his absence the quality and perceived importance of video game music had risen substantially, he has since composed for several games, writing the scores to BioShock and Dante's Inferno among others. He still composes for film however, his latest being Brush with Danger directed by young Indonesian director Livi Zheng. He has won numerous awards for his video game scores, including several "soundtrack of the year" awards. During his career, he has worked on over 25 television shows, 10 films, and 13 video games.
Uwais Qorny, known professionally as Iko Uwais, 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), The Raid 2 (2014), Headshot (2016), Mile 22 (2018), The Night Comes for Us (2018), Stuber (2019) and the Netflix series Wu Assassins (2019–22).
Nikita Purnama Willy is an Indonesian actress, model and singer of Minangkabau descent.
Johnny Depp is an American actor, producer and musician. He has appeared in films, television series, and video games. He made his film debut in the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. In the two following years, Depp appeared in the comedy Private Resort (1985), the war film Platoon (1986), and Slow Burn (1986). A year later, he started playing his recurring role as Officer Tom Hanson in the police procedural television series 21 Jump Street (1987–1990) which he played until the middle of season 4, and during this time, he experienced a rapid rise as a professional actor.
Livi Zheng is an Indonesian producer, director, actress, and stuntwoman. She began her career as a stuntwoman at the age of fifteen and has since produced and directed Brush with Danger (2014), Bali: Beats of Paradise (2018), and Insight (2021).
Ken Zheng is an Indonesian actor, screenwriter and martial artist. He began his career as a martial artist at a young age, and has since starred in Brush with Danger (2014) and an action thriller entitled Insight (2021) starring Tony Todd, John Savage, Keith David, Madeline Zima, Sean Patrick Flanery, and directed by his sister Livi Zheng.
Undrafted is a 2016 sports comedy-drama film. It is the directorial debut of Joseph Mazzello, who also wrote, co-produced and starred in the film. It also stars Aaron Tveit, Tyler Hoechlin, Chace Crawford and Philip Winchester. It is based on the true story of Mazzello's brother who missed out on the Major League Baseball draft. The film was released on July 15, 2016, by Vertical Entertainment.
The Master is a 2015 Chinese martial arts film written, co-produced, and directed by Xu Haofeng, about the last Wing Chun master's quest to pass down his art in pre-WWII China. The film stars Liao Fan, Jiang Wenli, Chin Shih-chieh, Song Jia and Song Yang.
Insight is a 2021 American action film produced and directed by Livi Zheng and starring Ken Zheng, who also wrote the screenplay.
Jean-Louis Livi is a French film producer.
