Better looking than Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao’s rise as a martial arts star
The youngest but least famous of the ‘Three Dragons’, Hong Kong star Yuen Biao doubled for Bruce Lee and boasted his own martial arts style
Yuen Biao is not as well known today as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung Kam-bo, his “brothers” at their teacher Yu Jim-yuen’s Beijing Opera school, but the Hong Kong martial arts actor certainly has his own style.
Biao, the youngest of the trio known as the “Three Dragons”, was lean, flexible and acrobatic in his youth, often mixing somersaults and backflips with his kung fu.
The actor, who is still working, was also known for being the best looking of the three – although he has noted that did not help his career, as martial arts audiences were more interested in fighting ability than looks.
He would have been happy to stick with that profession, not least because, as he has noted, it often paid better than being a leading man.
Hung made the 1979 kung fu comedy Knockabout to showcase Yuen’s skills, and that propelled him to stardom.