Donnie Yen: biography, films and photos of the actor

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Donnie Yen is an American pseudonym, the real name of the Chinese actor is Zhen Zidan. Donnie is famous for such films as "Shanghai Knights", "The Monkey King", "Ip Man" and other equally popular films. Ian is not only an actor, he has tried himself as a producer and stunt coordinator.

Biography

Donnie Yen was born in a small Chinese town called Guangzhou, often called Canton in Europe. After Yen was two years old, his parents decided to move to Hong Kong. The reason for the move was the desire of Donnie's mother, Mai Boachan, to open her own martial arts school. Unfortunately, the local mafia intervened in the affairs of the parents of little Donnie, because of which the plans had to be canceled. Due to the circumstances, the actor's family was forced to move again to live in another place. This time they moved to a completely different country. Ian's parents chose the American city of Boston as a place for permanent residence. Only here, mother's dreams came true, and she opened her own club called the Institute for the Study of Chinese Wushu. Little Ian's fathergot a job as an editor in a local Chinese newspaper. Photos of Donnie Yen can be seen in this article.

Martial arts training

At the time of moving to Boston, Donnie was 11 years old. He decided to go to college with his mother and became one of the best students there. Ian himself and his peers, studying at the university, loved to watch films about martial arts. The most favorite pictures for the future actor and his comrades were films with the participation of the legendary master Bruce Lee and very young at that time Jackie Chan. This kind of pastime gave Ian great motivation. The future actor noticed interesting tricks in films, which he enthusiastically practiced in training. The constant passion for martial arts pushed Ian to participate in fights without rules, which were conducted illegally.

Moving to China

Permanent hangouts and fights between gangs dragged Donnie. To keep her son safe, his mother decided to send him to China, namely Beijing. It is here that young Donnie spends almost all his time in training, learning new self-defense techniques. The wushu technique comes easily to him, and therefore Ian is accepted into the famous school, where the famous actor Jet Li studied at that time. However, this was not enough for Ian, and he decides to return to the US.

By coincidence, he did not go to America, as he got to the casting of one of the films of Chinese directors. By the way, there was no close selection of actors, asas soon as Denny demonstrated his fighting skills, he was instantly approved for the role. The first film in his career was a picture called "The Drunken Shaolin Master". He was given the lead role, with which the artist did a great job.

Donnie Yen's roles in films

The picture "Drunk Shaolin Master" has become a real hit among TV viewers in China and other countries. Donnie himself did not plan to connect his life with the cinema. He agreed to shoot only for the experience he wanted to get from participating in the film. However, he had no idea that the first participation in the cinema would be so successful that he would be invited to shoot in other films. Director Yuan Woo-ping offered the nineteen-year-old Donnie Yen a permanent collaboration. It is this director who is the person who opened the way to the world of fame for the famous Jackie Chan. Yuan Woo-ping directed Donnie in the following films: Tiger Cage, On Duty and The Odd Couples. It cannot go unnoticed that during the entire period of filming the actor managed to develop his own unique style, which he practiced while watching films with his idols.

Further acting career

With the advent of the 80s, the actor leaves Yuan and goes into free swimming. When the second part of the famous Once Upon a Time in China comes out, Yen becomes a real Hong Kong celebrity. In the same period, a picture called Iron Monkey, which is the Chinese version of Robin Hood, was released. Role in this moviebecame one of the most successful works in the filmography of Donnie Yen. According to the great film critics, this film turned out to be the best adaptation of the story of Robin Hood in the last ten years.

After some time, the artist appears in such famous projects as "Master of Kung Fu" and "Fist of Fury". But true world fame came to Donnie Yen after a film called Ip Man was released. This is a biographical film that tells about the legendary teacher of a unique self-defense technique, who later became a mentor to Bruce Lee himself. The picture consists of several parts, each of them tells about the life of a teacher and the problems that he had to face.

Actor in Hollywood

The actor also starred in Hollywood. Donnie first appeared in a fantasy film project called Highlander: Endgame. Then the actor played in the famous action movie "Blade 2", and then decided to try his hand at the comedy "Shanghai Knights". In addition to these films, Yen starred in other films, no less successful and famous throughout the world. For example, a project called “Rogue One. Star Wars: Stories" turned out to be the most anticipated in 2016, and the actor himself became very popular in the film industry.

Other hobbies of the actor

Ian's talents and creativity don't stop at acting. He is also a director, he managed to create more than ten films, among which special attention should be paid to films called "The Legend of the Wolf", "BigBoss 2" and "Ballistic Kiss". For all these films, he independently developed the script, and in the comedy film Wing Chun, the actor acted as a composer.

Private life

When Donnie Yen was young, he was not deprived of the attention of women, but his choice always fell on Chinese women, and this despite the fact that he lived in America. The most memorable for the actor was the relationship with the artist and model Joey Meng. Between a couple of romantic relationship lasted a decent period, but Joey and Donnie broke up in the early 2000s.

After three years after parting with the model, the winner of beauty contests, Cecilia Cissy Wang, became the wife of the actor. The wedding of lovers took place in Toronto. At present, everything is fine in Donnie Yen's personal life: he and his wife live in the northern United States and are raising two children: son James and daughter Jasmine.

The scandalous nature of the actor

An interesting fact is that Donnie Yen has a rather unpleasant and somewhat scandalous character. From a young age, the actor used to express his discontent and speak negatively about people who are not interesting to him. But as for compliments, he rarely says them. When Donnie was just a boy, he spoke badly about Chuck Norris, who tried to be on a par with his favorite martial arts actors.

As soon as Ian's films became in demand and popular, he began to often quarrel with colleagues on the setsite and directors, speaking negatively in their direction. In any case, as an actor, Donnie has a lot of talent. All films with his participation are quite bright and saturated. I would like to wish the Hollywood actor from China further prosperity and success in his film career.