Donnie Yen Bio, Age, Wife, Children, Martial Arts, Movies, And Ip Man 4

Donnie Yen Biography

Donnie Yen was born as Yen Tze-dan (also known as Donnie Yen Ji-dan) on 27 July 1963. he is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film director, producer, action choreographer, stuntman and multiple-time world wushu tournament champion.

Yen is credited by many for contributing to the popularisation of Wing Chun. He played Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man in the 2008 film Ip Man, which was a box office success. This has led to an increase in the number of people taking up Wing Chun, leading to hundreds of new Wing Chun schools being opened up in mainland China and other parts of Asia.

Ip Chun, the eldest son of Ip Man, even mentioned that he is grateful to Yen for making his family’s art popular and allowing his father’s legacy to be remembered. He has also gained international recognition for playing Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Xiang in xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017).

Donnie Yen is one of Hong Kong’s top action stars. Yen has displayed skill in an array of martial arts, being well-versed in Tai Chi, Boxing, Kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do, Hapkido, Taekwondo, Karate, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Wing Chun, and Wushu. One of the most popular film’s stars in Asia of the early 2000s, Yen is consistently one of the highest-paid actors in Asia. Yen earned HK$220 million (US$28.4 million) from four films and six advertisements in 2013.

Donnie Yen Age

Donnie Yen was born on 27 July 1963 in Guangzhou, China. He is 56 years old as of 2019.

Donnie Yen Wife

Donnie Yen met his first wife, Leung Zing-ci, in 1990. The couple began dating in 1993. After three months of dating, they married secretly in the United States in November 1993. The marriage was over in less than a year. After their divorce was finalized, Leung realized that she was pregnant with their son, Jeff, who was born in 1995.

He later married former beauty queen Cissy Wang after three months of dating who is 18 years younger than him. The couple has two children, Jasmine and James. According to the multitalented entertainer, he would prefer being called unprofessional than to upset his wife by taking up scenes that would involve bedroom activities. He further expressed that he obligated himself to avoid any scene that has to do with intimacy since his marriage to Cissy. Adding that he makes effort to spend quality time with his wife, this bloke asserted that Cissy is his proverbial pillow and, that all his pains disappear once she’s around him.

Yen has stated that he is a big fan of the MMA organization Ultimate Fighting Championship and has watched almost every UFC event available. In various interviews, he has mentioned that he would have loved to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship if he did not have a recurring shoulder injury.

Donnie Yen Children

Donnie Yen children include Jasmine Yen(born in 2004 (age 15 years)), James Yen(Born in 2007 (age 12 years)) and Man-Zeok Yen(Born in 1995 (age 24 years)).

Donnie Yen Photo

Donnie Yen Young

Donnie Yen was born in Guangzhou, China. His mother, Bow-sim Mark, is a Fu Style Wudangquan (internal martial arts) and Tai Chi grandmaster, while his father, Klyster Yen, is a newspaper editor. When he was two years old, his family moved to Hong Kong and then to the United States, settling in Boston when he was 11. His younger sister, Chris Yen, is also a martial artist and actress, and appeared in the 2007 film Adventures of Johnny Tao: Rock Around the Dragon.

Under the influence of his mother, Yen developed an interest in martial arts and began experimenting with various styles, including t’ ai chi and other traditional Chinese martial arts. Yen then started kung fu when he was nine. Yen focused on practicing wushu seriously at the age of fourteen after dropping out of school. His parents were concerned that he was spending too much time in Boston’s Combat Zone, so they sent him to Beijing on a two-year training program with the Beijing Wushu Team. When Yen decided to return to the United States, he made a side-trip to Hong Kong, where he met action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping. Yen finally started taekwondo at around the age of sixteen.

Yen also came from a family of musicians. His mother is a soprano, in addition to being a martial arts teacher in Boston, while his father is a violinist. From a young age, he was taught by his parents to play musical instruments, including the piano. He also knows hip-hop dancing and breakdancing.

Donnie Yen Career

Yen’s first step into the film industry was in 1984 when he landed his first starring role in the 1984 film Drunken Tai Chi. After filming Drunken Tai Chi and Tiger Cage (1988), Yen made his breakthrough role as General Nap-lan in Once Upon a Time in China II (1992), which included a fight scene between his character and Wong Fei-hung (played by Jet Li). Yen had a starring role in the film Iron Monkey in 1993. Yen and Li appeared together again in the 2002 film, Hero, where Yen played a spear (or Qiang) fighter who fought with Li’s character, an unnamed swordsman. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2003 Academy Awards.

In 1997, Yen started the production company Bullet Films, and made his directorial debut in Legend of the Wolf (1997) and Ballistic Kiss (1998), in which he played the lead character. At age 34, Yen almost went bankrupt. Films produced by his own production company and directed by him were critically acclaimed but did not do well at the box office. Yen was forced to borrow money from loan sharks and his production crew to get by.

Yen later went back to the United States, where he was invited to choreograph fight scenes in Hollywood films, such as Highlander: Endgame (2000) and Blade II (2002). His choreography and skills impressed the directors, and they invited him for cameo appearances in both movies. In 2002, Jet Li was filming the movie Hero and insisted to the director that he wanted Yen to play the role of Sky, his adversary, due to Yen’s martial arts ability. Li personally invited Yen back from Hollywood to star in the movie, marking the second time the two actors appeared onscreen together since Once Upon a Time in China II ten years earlier. In 2003, Yen played the antagonist against Jackie Chan in Shanghai Knights.

Yen choreographed most of the fight animation in the 2004 video game Onimusha 3, which featured actors Takeshi Kaneshiro and Jean Reno. Yen continued to be active in the Hong Kong cinema in the 2000s, starring as Chu Zhaonan in Tsui Hark’s wuxia epic film Seven Swords, and as Ma Kwun in Wilson Yip’s brutal crime drama film SPL: Sha Po Lang in 2005.

Both films were featured at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. Later that year, Yen co-starred with Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue in Wilson Yip’s Dragon Tiger Gate, an adaptation of Wong Yuk-long’s manhua series Oriental Heroes. Yen also worked as an action choreographer in Stormbreaker, starring Alex Pettyfer. Yen continued to work with Wilson Yip in Flash Point (2007), in which he starred as the lead character and served as producer and action choreographer for the film. He won the award for Best Action Choreography at the Golden Horse Film Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards for his performance in Flash Point.

In 2008, Yen starred in Ip Man, a semi-biographical account of Ip Man, the Wing Chun master of Bruce Lee. Ip Man marked Yen’s fourth collaboration with director Wilson Yip, reuniting him with his co-stars in SPL: Sha Po Lang, Sammo Hung, and Simon Yam. Ip Man became the biggest box office hit to date featuring Yen in the leading role, grossing HK$25 million in Hong Kong and 100 million yuan in China.

In August 2011, while Yen was on a vacation with his family in the United States, he reportedly received an invitation by producer Avi Lerner to star in The Expendables 2. It was stated that Yen was considering the offer, had many films at hand, and would wait until deciding whether the script appealed to him.] Later on, Yen revealed to the Hong Kong media that he had rejected the role.

In 2011, Yen revealed that he was venturing into other genres of movies and had taken up two comedy roles in a row, in All’s Well, Ends Well 2011 and All’s Well, Ends Well 2012, and would be working with Carina Lau in the former and Sandra Ng in the latter. Both films obtained huge critical and box-office success and proved Yen’s versatility as an actor. Yen took a six-month break in the second half of 2011 after the filming of The Monkey King 3D, explaining that he wanted to spend more time with his family and be with his children more often during their growth.

In 2012, Yen returned to the movie industry and commenced the filming of Special ID, in which he played the main lead, an undercover cop, and also took on the role of action choreographer. In 2013, it was reported that Donnie Yen would be playing the lead role for The Iceman Cometh 3D, a sci-fi action film dealing with time travel and which was filmed in 3D. Yen confirmed that MMA would be used in both of the abovementioned films.

In February 2013, the Weinstein Company confirmed that it had purchased the rights to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel and contacted Yen to play the male lead. In March 2013, Hong Kong magazines surfaced photos of Harvey and Bob Weinstein traveling to Hong Kong to meet with Yen and persuade him to accept the offer. It was reported that Yen was considering the role and quoted as saying, “The first is that my schedule this year is very packed. The second is that the first film is already such a classic. I am afraid of the pressure, that the original cannot be surpassed.”

In May 2013, during the annual Cannes Film Festival, the Weinstein Company announced that Yen would play the lead role of Silent Wolf in the Crouching Tiger sequel, titled Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, alongside leading female action star Michelle Yeoh reprising her role as Yu Shu Lien, and with director Yuen Woo-ping, Yen’s mentor. It was revealed that the movie would be filmed in both English and Mandarin to appeal to the international market.

It was also revealed during the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II press conference that the Weinstein Company had obtained rights to Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, was planning a remake and was negotiating with Yen, George Clooney, and Zhang Ziyi to star in the film. Donnie Yen declined the offer due to scheduling conflicts for the filming of Ip Man 3.

In late March 2015, Ip Man 3 was announced. Yen reprised his role as the titular character, Bruce Lee’s martial arts master, Ip Man. Retired boxer and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was confirmed to join the cast. Donnie Yen mentioned that he was a big fan of Mike Tyson, watched many of his professional boxing bouts, and was excited to work with him. Mike Tyson stated during a press conference that he was a huge fan of Donnie Yen and has watched the first two Ip Man movies more than three times each and was honored to be invited for the final installment of the trilogy.

Principal photography for Ip Man 3 began on March 25, 2015, and the finished movie was released in December 2015 in parts of Asia and around the world in early 2016 to generally favorable reviews.

In 2016, Yen co-starred in the Star Wars anthology film Rogue One as Chirrut Îmwe, the Zatoichi-like blind transient warrior. On February 12, 2016, it was confirmed that Yen would replace Jet Li in the role of Xiang in the upcoming action film xXx: Return of Xander Cage.

For the promotion of xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Paramount focused marketing efforts on Donnie Yen in China and most parts of Asia, placing him at the front of the film posters ahead of Vin Diesel, and shared clips and reviews of Yen’s performance in the movie on popular Chinese Social Media Site Weibo. Paramount’s efforts worked very well in China. xXx was number one in its opening weekend with $61.9 million and crossed the $100 million mark in just six days with $22.2m coming from Valentine’s Day alone after rave reviews praising Donnie Yen’s performance swept through Chinese social media, driving moviegoers to the cinema.

Yen’s performance in both Rogue One and xXx: Return of Xander Cage received extremely positive responses from critics and general audiences. For Return of Xander Cage, many media sites including Variety, Los Angeles Times, Screen Anarchy and Budomate praised Yen’s performance and credited him as the highlight of the movie and stealing every scene he is in. In the case of Rogue One, other than praises from critics, Yen’s performance was also applauded by audiences worldwide. In an official poll on the Star Wars webpage, in which more 40,000 people voted, Yen’s character Chirrut Îmwe was voted as audiences’ favorite Rogue One character.

   XXX Return Of Xander Cage

While Yen was filming xXx: Return of Xander Cage in Canada, he received many offers from Hollywood studios and directors. At the same time, Hong Kong director Wong Jing personally flew to Canada to invite Yen to star in his film Chasing the Dragon, a remake of the award-winning film To be Number One. Yen eventually accepted the offer and played a non-traditional role as a villain with limited fighting scenes and the opportunity to work alongside Andy Lau.

In September 2017, Chasing the Dragon was released with extremely positive reviews from critics, citing Yen’s versatility as an actor and his incredible portrayal of the late Ng Sek Ho, the main character of the film. Chasing the Dragon was also a huge hit with audiences in most parts of Asia. In Hong Kong, Chasing the Dragon is ranked as one of the top 5 Hong Kong films in 2017.

In 2017, Yen received a call from old friend Jet Li and Alibaba CEO Jack Ma about a potential collaboration on a short martial arts film known as Gong Shou Dao – to promote a new form of Taiji as an olympic sport in the future. Donnie yen was on holiday with his wife to celebrate their anniversary but canceled his plans to take part in the film. Yen declined any salary for this participation for GSD as he stated that “friendship is not measured by money” and that he hopes his participation can help promote Chinese martial arts to worldwide audiences. In return, Jet Li and Jack Ma surprised Yen and his wife Cissy, by helping to celebrate their wedding anniversary on the set. The full GSD 20 minutes short film was released on 11 November – China’s Singles’ Day, debuting on Youku and Jet Li’s official Facebook page, garnering a total of more than 100 million views worldwide. Netizens in China praised Yen’s speed and technique in the film, with most audiences (over 190,000) voting Yen as the highlight of the short film. In late 2017, Yen began filming Big Brother.

Donnie Yen Movies

1. Ip Man 2008
2. 14 Blades 2010
3. Ip Man 2 2010
4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 2016

5. Ip Man 3 2015
6. xXx: Return of Xander Cage 2017
7. Dragon 2011
8. SPL: Sha Po Lang 2005

9. Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen 2010
10. Special ID 2013
11. Kung Fu Killer 2014
12. Iceman 2014

13. In The Line Of Duty 4 1989
14. Drunken Tai Chi 1984
15. The Monkey King 2014
16. Flash Point 2007

17. Iron Monkey 1993
18. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny 2016
19. Wing Chun 1994
20. Once Upon a Time in China II 1992
22. Blade II 2002

23. Legend of the Wolf 1996
24. Hero 2002
25. Bodyguards and Assassins 2009
26. Dragon Tiger Gate 2006
27. The Lost Bladesman 2011

28. Shanghai Knights 2003
29. An Empress and the Warriors 2008
30. Painted Skin 2008
31. Tiger Cage 2 1990
32. Seven Swords 2005

33. Chasing the Dragon 2017
34. Master Z: Ip Man Legacy 2018
35. Highlander: Endgame 2000
36. Gong Shou Dao 2017
36. Butterfly and Sword 1993

37. New Dragon Gate Inn 1992
38. Heroes Among Heroes 1993
39. Mismatched Couples 1985
40. Iceman: The Time Traveller 2018

41. Iron Monkey 2 1996
42. All’s Well, Ends Well 2012
43. Ballistic Kiss 1998

44. Satan Returns 1996
45. The Twins Effect II 2004
46. Holy Virgin Vs. The Evil Dead 1991

45. Shanghai Affairs 1998
47. Revenge of the Kung Fu Master 1994
48. The Founding of a Republic 2009
49. Cheetah on Fire 1992

Donnie Yen Net Worth

Donnie Yen is a Chinese actor, martial artist, director, and choreographer who has a net worth of $40 million.

Donnie Yen Martial Arts

Donnie yen’s mother, Bow-sim Mark, is a Fu Style Wudangquan (internal martial arts) and Tai Chi, grandmaster. Yen describes himself as a mixed martial artist. He learned Tai Chi from a young age under his mother’s tutelage.

He then wanted to learn Taekwondo in his teenage years, earning a 6th Dan in the process. At the time, the Beijing Wushu Team had a scout in the United States and invited Yen over to Beijing, China, where he began training at the Beijing Sports Institute, the same facility where champion-turned-actor Jet Li trained; this is where the two of them crossed paths for the first time.

Upon his return to the United States, Yen won gold medals in various wushu competitions. Yen later went on to discover and seek knowledge on other martial arts styles; he would later obtain black and purple belts from judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, respectively, and went on to study the art of Parkour, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Kickboxing and Boxing under various trainers.

His exposure to mixed martial arts (MMA) was heightened when he went back to the United States from 2000 to 2003. While making his Hollywood debut, he also took time off to learn the various martial arts forms. Yen’s progress was evident when he returned to Asia, where he implemented his newfound knowledge of MMA, showcased in films such as SPL: Sha Po Lang (2005), Flash Point (2007), and Special ID.

Donnie Yen Ip Man 4

Ip Man 4 is an upcoming Hong Kong biographical martial arts film directed by Wilson Yip and produced by Raymond Wong. It is the fourth in the Ip Man film series based on the life of the Wing Chun grandmaster of the same name and features Donnie Yen reprising the role. The film began production in April 2018 and ended in July the same year.
Plot
Ip Man arrives in San Francisco, the United States where his student, Bruce Lee, has upset the local martial arts community by opening a Wing Chun school.

Ip Man 4 News

Donnie Yen New Movie

Mulan is an upcoming 2020 American historical war drama film directed by Niki Caro, with the screenplay by Elizabeth Martin, Lauren Hynek, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan and is a live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1998 animated film of the same name. The film stars Liu Yifei as the eponymous character, alongside Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Gong Li, and Jet Li in supporting roles.

Donnie Yen will portray Commander Tung, a mentor to Mulan.

Donnie Yen Vs Jet Li