Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor and musician. He is the recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades. In 2020, The New York Times ranked him as the fourth-greatest actor of the 21st century, and in 2022 Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Reeves is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public image, and his philanthropic efforts.
Ten Tigers of Canton or Ten Tigers of Guangdong refers to a group of ten Chinese martial artists from Guangdong Province lived around the 19th century during the Qing dynasty in China. They were said to be the greatest fighters in Guangdong during the Qing era. Much of their existence has been embellished by folk legends and stories passed down from generation to generation.
The Chen-style tai chi is a Northern Chinese martial art and the original form of tai chi. Chen-style is characterized by silk reeling, alternating fast and slow motions, and bursts of power.
Yuen Wah is a Hong Kong action film actor, action choreographer, stuntman and martial artist who has appeared in over 160 films and over 20 television series.
Yuen Woo-ping is a Hong Kong 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 of Stars in Hong Kong. Yuen is also a son of Yuen Siu-tien, a martial arts film actor. He attended the China Drama Academy for one year as a day student of Master Yu Jim-yuen as well.
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, namely 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).
Chen Fake, courtesy name Chen Fusheng (福生), was a Chinese martial artist who taught Chen-style tai chi. He was born and raised in Chen Family Village in Henan province. In 1928, Chen Fake relocated to Beijing to teach his family's heritage, Chen-style tai chi. After successfully defeating numerous challengers, Chen garnered a following of students, including several renowned martial artists. As a martial artist rather than a scholar, Chen Fake did not leave behind a written record of his accomplishments. His life story was recounted and preserved by his sons and students, most notably Hong Junsheng. By the time of his death in 1957, Chen had firmly established the global practice of Chen-style tai chi, creating a martial arts tradition that continues to thrive.
Kung fu film is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in wuxia, a related martial arts genre that uses historical settings based on ancient China. Swordplay is also less common in kung-fu films than in wuxia and fighting is done through unarmed combat.
Stephan Berwick is an American author, martial artist, and actor known for his scholarly research on traditional Chinese martial arts – particularly Chen-style taijiquan, and roles in early Yuen Wo-ping Hong Kong Action films.
Darren Majian Shahlavi was an English actor, martial artist and stuntman.
Vincent Zhao Wenzhuo, sometimes credited as Vincent Chiu or Chiu Man-cheuk, is a Chinese actor and martial artist. He is best known for portraying Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung in both film and television, most notably Once Upon a Time in China IV (1993) and its 1994 sequel in the Once Upon a Time in China film series, the Wong Fei Hung series (1995-1996), and Kung Fu League (2018).
So Chan, also known by his nickname Beggar So, was a Chinese martial artist and folk hero who lived during the late Qing dynasty. One of the Ten Tigers of Canton, he was best known for his drunken boxing.
Hung Yan-yan is a Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stuntman and action director originally from Liuzhou, Guangxi, China. He was the stunt double for martial arts superstar Jet Li.
Man of Tai Chi is a 2013 martial arts film directed by Keanu Reeves in his directorial debut. It also stars Reeves, Tiger Chen, Iko Uwais, Karen Mok and Simon Yam. The film is multilingual, featuring dialogue in Mandarin, English and Cantonese. In the film, a young martial artist is pushed by the need of money to enter the world of underground fighting.
Joseph Chen Zhonghua, also known by his courtesy name Dongliang is a Chinese martial arts practitioner, teacher, and author from Shandong, China. Chen studied under two experts of the eighteenth generation of Chen-style tai chi, Hong Junsheng and Feng Zhiqiang. In 1985, Chen and his family emigrated to Canada, where he began to promote Hong's version of Chen-style tai chi to a western audience. In 2005, Chen was designated by Hong family as the International Standard-Bearer of Hong's Practical Method, during a ceremony held in Jinan. Since 2006, he has overseen a residential tai chi training program on Daqingshan in Shandong.
Hong Junsheng, born in 1907 in Henan, China, was a Chinese martial arts practitioner, teacher and author. Hong was the longest serving disciple for the Chen-style tai chi master Chen Fake. Starting in 1930, Hong trained uninterrupted with Chen for fifteen years. In 1944, Hong moved to the city of Jinan in Shandong Province. In 1956, he returned to Beijing to study again with his teacher, Chen Fake. Later, Hong expressed his understanding of Chen Fake's teachings of tai chi through his own teachings and writings. These theories and training principles are now known as the Chen-style tai chi Practical Method.
Kung Fu Man also known as Kung Fu Hero is a 2012 Chinese–American Kung Fu film. This film was directed by Yuen Cheung-yan and Ning Ying and produced by Keanu Reeves, and starring Tiger Chen, Jiang Mengjie, Arman Darbo, Chyna Mccoy and Vanessa Branch.
Charles F. Stahelski is an American stuntman and filmmaker. He is considered a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He first achieved prominence as a stunt performer and coordinator, notably as the key stunt double for Keanu Reeves on The Matrix (1999), and as the martial arts stunt coordinator on its first two sequels. He subsequently directed the 2014 film John Wick, starring Reeves, and its three sequels.
Sunny Yuen Shun-yi, also credited as Shun-yee Yuen, is a Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stuntman, and action coordinator.
Mike Leeder is an English casting director, producer and actor based in Hong Kong. Leeder has been responsible for DVD and Blu-ray special features for many Hong Kong productions. He worked on such projects as Fearless (2006), The Raid 2 (2014), The Man with the Iron Fists (2012), Man of Tai Chi (2013), Ultimate Justice (2016), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Chasing the Dragon (2017) and Donnie Yen's Big Brother (2018).
