
He knows Mortal Kombat.
Robin Shou (仇雲波, born July 17, 1960 in Hong Kong) is a martial artist, actor and stuntman, best known in the West for his role as Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat: The Movie and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.
Prior to his success in Hollywood, Shou frequently appears in low-budget Hong Kong films, usually B-movies alongside Yukari Oshima and Alex Fong.
Besides acting, Shou is also an accomplished stunt choreographer and trainer.
A detailed commentary from Robin Shou on the films he worked on can be found here.
Notable Films:
- The Big Heat (1988) - as Hospital Assassin
- The Big Brother - as Robin
- In the Line of Duty III: Force of the Dragon - as Yamamoto's dogged bodguard
- City War - as Hired Killer sent to kill Kent and his family
- Long Arm Of The Law 3 - as 966
- Burning Ambition - as Iron Club
- Casino Raiders - as Sam Law's accomplice hired to supposedly attempt to murder him in Restroom
- Triads The Inside Story - as Coffin Rope's man
- Death Cage - as Lan Si Han
- Fatal Termination - as Wai Loong
- Tiger Cage 2 - as Waise Chow. First Main Villain role.
- The Cyprus Tigers - as Tomoriki Jione
- Fury In Red - as Night Monster
- In The Line Of Duty 6 Forbidden Arsenal - as Paul. Second Main Villain role.
- Fatal Chase - as Inspector Dragon
- Hard to Kill - as Co Chi Pang
- Black Cat 2 - as Robin
- Gun n' Rose - as Chin Shiu
- Angel The Kickboxer - as Policeman
- Undefeatable - as Robin
- Honor and Glory - as Dragon Lee
- The Most Wanted - as Yip Foon
- Mortal Kombat: The Movie - as Liu Kang. Big Screen Debut and his second American movie
- Beverly Hills Ninja - as Gobei
- Mortal Kombat: Annihilation - as Liu Kang
- Eighteen Fingers Of Death - as Jackie Chong
- DOA: Dead or Alive - as Pirate Leader
- Death Race - as 14K
- Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li - as Gen
- Death Race 2: Frankenstein Lives - as 14K
- Mortal Enemies - as Sunny
- Death Race 3: Inferno - as 14K
Television Roles
- Yellowthread Street as Tony Siu (1 episode)
- Forbidden Nights as Liang Heng. Co-Stars alongside of Melissa Gilbert. First appearance on American TV in an Television Film. Predates his role in Mortal Kombat by five years. Television film was released four months before Tiger Cage 2 was released.
- Soldier Soldier as Journalist Feng (1 episode)
- The Outer Limits (1995) as Major Ronald Neguchi (1 episode)
- Cold Case as Bo-Lin Chen (1 episode)
- Way Of The Empty Hand - as Boss (Television Film)
Video Game Roles:
- Sleeping Dogs: Conroy Wu
Producer
- Red Trousers The Life Of The Hong Kong Stuntmen as Evan (In short film inside Documentary Lost Time), the Narrator, and as Himself
Do not ask this man to park your tropes:
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Cast the Expert: Robin Shou was a working stuntman and proficient in kung fu before he was cast as the Big Screen Liu Kang. In fact, he was friends with Ho Sung-Pak, Liu Kang's actor in the first two Mortal Kombat games.
- Casting Gag: Robin admitted that before he got parts in movies, he was a hired bodyguard in Hong Kong in his early years. In the film In The Line Of Duty III Force Of The Dragon, he plays a unnamed, dogged bodyguard who quits after his boss mistreats him and another bodyguard.
- Fun with Subtitles: Occurs in the Death Race Remake series. He speaks Cantonese and English.
- '90s Hair: A carry over type and a hilarious rebel hair type. While filming The Most Wanted, Robin did not want to cut his hair. When he went to audition for Mortal Kombat, he wore a mullet while he portrayed Liu Kang for the Big screen debut. He also carried said style with him into Beverly Hills Ninjas as Gobei and when directing Red Trousers.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: His portrayal of Liu Kang and Gobei have him acting in this manner.
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Typecasting: Robin seems to find himself playing characters with ties to the Triads or characters that have bad backgrounds such as hired assassins. Waise Chow wouldn't be the first time Robin played a fictional member of the Triad and wouldn't be the last. His earliest portrayal was in Long Arm of the Law 3 where his character was known only as 966. His later portrayals of 14K in the Death Race Remake Trilogy and Conroy Wu from Sleeping Dogs would be proof of that.