Line #37 Creator/DonnieYen


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donnieyen.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/RogueOne "I'm one with the Force and the Force is with me."]]]]
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9	->''"When you watch my films, you're feeling my heart."''
10	-->-- '''Donnie Yen''' about his film style.
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12	Donnie Yen (born Yen Ji-Dan (甄子丹, "Zhen Zidan" in Hanyu Pinyin), 27 July 1963 in Guangzhou, China) is a UsefulNotes/HongKong actor, martial artist, film director and producer, action choreographer, and world wushu tournament medalist. Apart from being a well-known film and television actor in Hong Kong, Yen has also gained international recognition for appearing in many films together with other prominent and internationally-known actors such as Creator/JackieChan, Creator/JetLi and Creator/MichelleYeoh. He is trained in Wushu, Karate, Tai Chi, Wing Chun, Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, UsefulNotes/BrazilianJiuJitsu, Hapkido, Sanda, Kickboxing, Taekwondo, Jeet Kune Do, Shaolin Kung Fu and Muay Thai.
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14	At a young age, under influence from his mother, Yen developed an interest in martial arts and began experimenting with various styles, especially wushu, which got him in a two-year training program with the Beijing Wushu Team. In his return to United States, he made a side-trip to Hong Kong and met action choreographer Creator/YuenWooPing there, becoming a stunt double and later actor. His first leading role, 1984's, ''Drunken Tai Chi'' got him noticed by big studios in Hong Kong, although his big breakthrough would come in 1992 with playing a baddie in the box office hit ''Once Upon a Time in China II'', opposing his long time friend Jet Li. He also starred in cult classic ''The Iron Monkey''. While still having a moderate film career at that point, Yen fared better in TV, starring in over 5 series, his more well known shows were ''The Kung Fu Master'', where he played Hung Hei-gun, a major influential figure of Southern Shaolin Kung Fu, and ''Film/FistOfFury'', a 30 episode adaptation of the Creator/BruceLee classic, as Yen is a big Bruce Lee fan.
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16	His film career would be revived after the international success of 2002's ''Hero'', where he would cross fists with Jet Li. However, after making well received films such as 2005's ''SPL: Sha Po Lang'', his biggest box office success would come in 2008's ''Ip Man'', a semi-biographical account of Yip Man (played by Yen), the wing chun master of Bruce Lee. ''Ip Man'' marked Yen's fourth collaboration with director Wilson Yip, reuniting him with his co-stars in ''SPL'' Creator/SammoHung and Simon Yam. ''Ip Man'' became the biggest box office hit to date which featured Yen in the leading role, grossing HK$25 million in Hong Kong and 100 million yuan in China. It would spawn a series counting four installments with Yen in the role so far, and one spinoff without him.
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18	Apart from being an acclaimed martial artist and actor, Yen is also a world class action choreographer, and is especially notable for his violent yet technical style on screen. In recent years, Yen was successful in including UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts (MMA) into his action sequences in various films, a feat most other action directors have been unsuccessful at accomplishing so far. His film ''Flash Point'', featuring abundant MMA, was a huge success and won him the "Best Action Choreography" awards at the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards and the 2008 Golden Horse Film Awards. He also choreographed 2010 film ''Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen'', where he included MMA, wing chun and Jeet Kune Do elements as a tribute to Bruce Lee (who played Chen Zhen in the 1972 film ''Fist of Fury''). Yen stated that the concept behind Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do is similar to that of MMA, hence its incorporation was a necessity in this film.
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20	Next to coming from a martial art family, Yen also came from a family of musicians. His mother is a soprano, in addition to being a martial arts teacher in Boston, while his father is a violinist. Since young, he was taught by his parents to play musical instruments, including the piano. Along that, he has practised hip hop and breakdancing. Is there something out that Donnie Yen has not done?
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22	His younger sister, Chris Yen, is also a martial artist and actress, and appeared in the 2007 film Adventures of ''Johnny Tao: Rock Around the Dragon''.
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25	!!'''Notable Donnie Yen Films:'''
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27	* ''Film/TigerCage'' as Terry.
28	** ''Film/TigerCage2'' as Yau. Yes, he plays different characters in both movies and no, they are NOT twins or related in any way.
29	* ''Film/FourteenBlades'' as Qinglong
30	* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInChinaII'' as General Nap Lan
31	* ''Film/InTheLineOfDuty4Witness'' as Donnie
32	* ''Film/IronMonkey'' as Wong Kei Ying
33	* ''Film/TheLostBladesman'' as Guan Yu
34	* ''Film/LegendOfTheFistTheReturnOfChenZhen'' as Chen Zhen
35	* ''Film/LegendOfTheWolf'' as Fung Man Hin - Yen's directorial debut, and his most violent film to date
36	* ''Film/BallisticKiss'' as [[ProfessionalKiller Cat]]
37	* ''Film/BigBrother2018''
38	* ''Film/BladeII'' as Snowman
39	* ''Film/BodyguardsAndAssassins'' as Shen Chong-yang
40	* ''Film/ButterflyAndSword'' as Yip Cheung
41	* ''Film/{{Hero\|2002}}'' as Sky
42	* ''Film/SevenSwords'' as Chu Zhaonan, the wielder of the Dragon.
43	* ''Film/ShanghaiAffairs'' as Tong Shan (also director)
44	* ''Film/ShanghaiKnights'' as Wu Chow
45	* ''Film/ShaPoLang'' as Inspector Ma Kwan
46	* ''Film/AnEmpressAndTheWarriors'' as Murong Xuehu
47	* ''Film/{{Swordsmen}}''/ ''Dragon'' as Liu Jin-xi
48	* ''Film/DragonTigerGate'' as Wong Xiao Long or "Dragon Wong"
49	* ''Film/{{Flash Point\|2007}}'' as Inspector Ma Jun
50	* ''Film/HighlanderEndgame'' as Jin Ke
51	* ''Film/NewDragonInn'' as Tsao Siu-yan. Both this movie and ''Once Upon A Time in China II'' are released in 1992, making this the year when Donnie Yen turned to the Dark Side (since he's the main antagonist in both of these films and will not play villains for the next few decades)
52	* ''Film/IpManFilmSeries'' as UsefulNotes/IpMan
53	** ''Film/IpMan''
54	** ''Film/IpMan2''
55	** ''Film/IpMan3''
56	** ''Film/IpMan4''
57	* ''Film/KungFuJungle'' as Hahou Mo/Xiahou Wu
58	* ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragonSwordOfDestiny'' as Silent Wolf
59	* ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/RogueOne'' as Chirrut Îmwe
60	* ''Film/XXxReturnOfXanderCage'' as Xiang
61	* ''Film/{{Mulan\|2020}}'' as Commander Tung
62	* ''Film/{{Sakra}}'' as Qiao-Feng
63	* ''Film/JohnWickChapter4'' as Caine
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65	!!Tropes associated with Donnie Yen's roles
66	* ArrogantKungFuGuy: A huge number of his early roles are this type of character, and some say he was it offscreen in his early career. However, all of his coworkers nowadays describe him as a very polite, professional guy.
67	* AuthorAppeal: He likes variety in his choreographies, and often throws in moves of very diverse martial arts such as Judo, Wrestling and UsefulNotes/BrazilianJiuJitsu alongside more conventional styles like Taekwondo, Karate and Muay Thai. He also favors MMA, particularly in recent films like ''Sha Po Lang'', ''Flash Point'', ''Special ID'' and ''Big Brother''.
68	* BadassInANiceSuit: In several of his early films, you see him kick ass while wearing some fancy clothes, mostly formal.
69	* BoxingBattler: He regularly trains in boxing alongside other martial arts so he is very good at just using his fists in battle.
70	* BringIt: His characters just ''love'' goading opponents to attack them right before he puts them on their asses.
71	* BruceLeeClone: While he doesn't do it as much, he sometimes shows mannerisms related to Bruce Lee, mostly as a nod as his love for him. He also played one of Lee's iconic characters Chen Zhen, twice in ''Fist of Fury'' TV series and the film ''Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen'' as well as Lee's real-life mentor in ''IP Man''.
72	* CombatParkour: Several of his film characters use it.
73	* ExtremityExtremist: He's highly trained in Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Hapkido, Kickboxing and Karate so he is extremely skilled at delivering a wide variety of devastatingly powerful kicks.
74	* MartialPacifist: After he played the role of Wing Chun master Yip Man in the ''Film/IpManFilmSeries''.
75	* WrestlerInAllOfUs: He's well versed in wrestling techniques and often uses moves like suplexes, drop kicks and armlocks in fights.

Context Creator / DonnieYen