Donnie Yen grew up in China and from the age of eleven in Boston . His mother is a master in Wushu and Tai-Chi and taught him martial arts from an early age. After school, Donnie Yen went to Beijing to study martial arts. In Hong Kong he later got to know the director and martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping and got into film. He played his first role in 1983 in the martial arts film Siu taai gik . He achieved his breakthrough in Hong Kong cinema with the role of Lan as an opponent of Jet Li in Wong Fei Hung II (English title Once Upon a Time in China 2 ). He then played various roles in various well-known Asian martial arts films, including Iron Monkey and Wing Chun . Shortly before Wong Fei Hung II , he had taken on the role of the power-hungry imperial eunuch Tsao Siu-yan in the remake of Die Herberge zum Drachentor , New Dragon Gate Inn .
Donnie Yen has a son (born 1995) from his first marriage to Leung Zing Ci (梁靜慈). In 2003 he married Cecilia Wang (汪 詩 詩), with whom he has a daughter (born around 2004) and a son (born around 2008).
Filmography (selection)
actor
1984: Drunken Tai Chi (Siu Tai Gik)
1985: Mismatched Couples (Ching fung dik sau)
1988: Ultra Force 4 (Dak went to lung)
1989: In the Line of Duty 4 (Wong Ka Si Sei IV: Sik Gik Sing Yan)
1990: Tiger Cage II (Sai hak chin)
1991: Holy Virgin vs. Evil Dead (Moh sun gip)
1991: Crystal Hunt (No foh wai lung)
1991: New Dragon Gate Inn (Sun lung moon hak chan)
