Martial Arts and action superstar Donnie Yen has a long storied background in the martial arts and has been at the forefront of introducing mixed martial arts to the Hong Kong cinema audience.

In an interview for Kung Fu Magazine in 2000, Donnie opened up about his diverse training background and how it affected him both in front of and behind the camera.

For years I designed my own fight scenes, Tiger Cage was my first real experience as a choreographer. I worked hard to develop a new kind of screen fighting that combined Chinese martial art with Western boxing.

I still get great reactions from my fans on this film. It was really a turning point for me. That’s when I knew I wanted to direct, but best of all it confirmed my vision of what a martial artist should be both in film and in life.

“I came to a point where my martial arts training achieved two things, versatility and explosive speed. After my second film, I returned to the states and taught Wushu, while training in Western boxing, Muay Thai, and Tae Kwon do. I then travelled to Xi’an, China for renewed training in contemporary and traditional Wushu. I chose Xi’an, because that was the home of Zhao Chang Jun, probably the greatest Wushu athlete China ever produced.

This guy was the most explosive Wushu stylist I ever saw. He confirmed my training approach which is based on using the extreme athleticism typical of modern Wushu, to build fa jing in a variety of movements, no matter what rhythm is followed.”

About Donnie Yen:
Donnie Yen (born 27 July 1963), also known as Yen Ji-dan (甄子丹), is a Hong Kong actor, Chinese martial artist, film director and producer, action choreographer, and multiple-time world wushu tournament champion.

He has starred in films such as the Ip Man trilogy, Blade II, Flashpoint and the upcoming Rogue One.