Simon Yam Tat-wah (任達華, born on 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and veteran in late 1980s/early 1990s Heroic Bloodshed cinema, before his eventual career shift towards sleazy, CAT-III Hong Kong exploitative flicks following his role in 1992's Dr. Lamb.
While Yam's most popular role in the west is arguably as the badass Luke in Bullet in the Head and the villainous Chen Lo in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life, in Asia, particularly Hong Kong, Yam have a career starting ever since the 1970s when he was just 15 years old, and spanning for decades and decades where he is usually the go-to "bad guy" to be hired in Hong Kong movies, may it be action, horror, fantasy, slasher and the like.
In 2013, Yam released his directorial debut, Tales from the Dark 1, where he stars in one of the segments of the film.
Yam is married to Shanghainese-Austrian supermodel, Qiqi (known in Asia as a spokesperson for various beauty and facial products), with whom he have a daughter.
Tropes relating to this performer:
- Anti-Hero: Some of his roles which he isn't outright villainous tends to be this.
- Chronically Killed Actor: Yam has starred in more than 230 films and television series, and failed to outlive the credits in at least 50 of them. note
- Slasher Smile: Some of the CAT-III slasher films where he plays the villain would feature him with these.
- The Stoic: In several of his films, especially if he's playing villains.
- Villainous Widow's Peak: As seen in the picture above. Most of his movies released after the 2010s where he plays the villain would feature him with this kind of hairstyle.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: When he smiles at you, you'd find it hard to despise him even if he's playing a villain in his films.
Simon Yam's notable films:
- Black Cat (only in the first film)
- The Black Panther Warriors
- Bodyguards and Assassins
- Burning Ambition
- Bullet For Hire
- Bullet in the Head
- Colour of the Loyalty
- Drunken Master (he appears in the third movie)
- Fatal Move
- Fatal Termination
- Final Run
- Full Contact
- Fulltime Killer
- Future Cops
- Gun n' Rose
- Hitman (1998)
- Ip Man 2
- Killer's Romance
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life
- Love, Guns & Glass
- Man Wanted (he appears in all three films, but plays different characters in each)
- Man of Tai Chi
- The Mission (1999)
- Mission Of Condor
- Naked Killer
- Once Upon a Time in China (he appears in one of the many spin-offs, Once Upon A Time A Hero in China)
- Powerful Four
- PTU - appears in all 6 movies, playing the same character
- Return Engagement
- Sha Po Lang
- Sha Po Lang II: A Time For Consequences - he plays a different character in the sequel
- The Storm Riders (he appears in the 2009 sequel)
- Tiger Cage (only in the first film)
- Triad Election
- Wake of Death
- Young and Dangerous (he appears in the first three films)
