Donnie Yen is one of the most celebrated martial arts superstars, so let’s take a look at five facts you may not know about him.
5) Donnie Yens mother is a martial arts grand master
Donnie Yen’s mother Bow-Sim Mark started studying martial arts in elementary school and as she got serious started specializing in Wushu and Fu Tai Chi Chaun. After moving to Boston, Massachusetts in 1975 she opened the Chinese Research Wushu Institution making her one of the first people to bring Wushu to America and helped popularize it in the east coast. She has authored over 20 instructional books, DVD’s etc. on the subject of Wushu in her career.
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4) Donnie Yen’s martial art beginnings
Donnie Yen was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. When he was two years old, his family moved to Hong Kong then settling in Boston, Massachusetts when he was 11. Having already studied Karate and Tai chi, his parents were concerned that he was spending too much time in the Boston Combat Zone, they sent him to study in Beijing on a two-year training program with the Beijing Wushu Team. No word if he was hanging out with UFC president Dana White who also resided in Boston in his youth.
3) Donnie Yens first major role
After cutting his teeth as a stuntman, Donnie Yen teamed up with acclaimed director Yuen Woo Ping who discovered the young Yen for his first lead role in 1984’s Drunken Tai Chi which followed the style of Jackie Chans Drunken Master. The film saw Yen starring as a mischievous boy who has to master the art of Tai Chi from his drunken sifu to defeat an evil assassin.
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2) Donnie Yen vs. the Triads
According to Hong Kong news reports in the late 1990s, Yen was at a nightclub with his then-girlfriend, Joey Meng, who was getting harassed by a gang of thugs. Yen had warned them to leave her alone but to no avail and as Yen and Joey left the club, the gang followed the couple and attacked Yen. Yen allegedly hospitalized up to eight members of the gang.
1) Donnie Yen is a huge MMA fan
A self-professed MMA fan, Donnie Yen’s SPL and Flashpoint have become the gold standards for blending Hong Kong action cinema with the sport of Mixed Martial Arts into an entertaining yet realistic result. While making these films Donnie also managed to answer some questions about his own martial arts journey.
“As I was doing research the martial artist inside of me found something that I think throughout the years of my martial arts training that all of sudden just clicked. I have studied so many traditional martial art styles; traditional Kung Fu, Wushu, Taekwondo, Boxing, Karate because I was a martial artist before I was a filmmaker. Then I realized this whole MMA thing actually brought an answer to all martial arts; does it work?
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