Shou Wan-por (), known professionally as Robin Shou, is a retired Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist and stuntman. He is known for roles such as Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat film series (1995 and 1997), Gobei in Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), Gen in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009), and 14K in the Death Race films (2008-2013). Shou was also a Hong Kong action star in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had appeared in about 40 movies during his Hong Kong career, before he entered Hollywood in 1994. Prior to his acting career, Shou won several championships as a martial artist.
Biography
Shou's interest in martial arts developed during his years as a University student. He began practising wushu after watching Jet Li's film Shaolin Temple. He soon became a Hong Kong stuntman.
As a martial artist, Shou was an International Forms Champion in 1982 and 1983 and he won several gold and silver medals at prestigious competitions in China. He was also a traditional forms Grand Champion in California.
Shou's first dramatic role was in Forbidden Nights in 1990, with Melissa Gilbert. Though only a TV film, this was his American debut. However, Shou went back to Hong Kong and continued making movies there such as Tiger Cage 2 and Fatal Termination. In 1994, Shou returned to Los Angeles when he landed his first American leading role as Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat (1995), based on the popular video game of the same name. He reprised the role in the 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat Annihilation. That same year, he appeared opposite Chris Farley in the action comedy Beverly Hills Ninja.
Shou also appeared in a minor role in another fighting video game adaptation, DOA: Dead or Alive, based on Tecmo's video game series of the same name, produced by Mortal Kombat director Paul W. S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt. He played 14K in the Death Race series, and also appeared as Gen in 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Shou trained Milla Jovovich for her role in Resident Evil.
He is fluent in English in addition to his native Chinese.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes 1987 The Big Brother Robin 1988 City War Killer 1989 Death Cage Lan-si Han 1990 Tiger Cage 2 Waise Chow as Robin Chou Fatal Termination Wai Loong 1991 Eastern Heroes Hawk 1992 Interpol Connection Magdaleno Orbos: Sa Kuko ng Mga Lawin Black Cat II Robin 1993 Bloody Mary Killer 1993 Honor and Glory Dragon Lee 1994 The Most Wanted Gang leader 1995 Mortal Kombat Liu Kang Shou's Hollywood big screen debut and his second American movie1997 Mortal Kombat Annihilation Liu Kang Beverly Hills Ninja Gobei 2003 Red Trousers - The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen EvanNarratorHimself Director2006 18 Fingers of Death! Jackie Chong DOA: Dead or Alive Pirate Senior 2008 Death Race 14K 2009 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Gen 2010 Death Race 2 14K 2011 Mortal Enemies Sunny 2013 Death Race 3: Inferno 14K 2014 Black Tiger: Hunter Hunted Pacific "Pac" Fong / Black Tiger Short film 2015 Earthbound Short film, director
Television Year Title Role Notes1990 Yellowthread Street Tony SiuEpisode: "The Red Pole" Forbidden Nights Liang Heng Television film 1992 Soldier Soldier Journalist Feng Episode: "Lost and Found" 1998 The Outer Limits Major Ronald Neguchi Episode: "Nightmare" 2009 Cold Case Bo-Lin Chen (1983) Episode: "Chinatown" 2015 Way of the Empty Hand Boss Television film,
Video games Year Title Role Notes 2012 Sleeping Dogs Conroy Wu / Roland Ho Voice
References
External links
Robin Shou Hong Kong Cinema interview with Robin Shou Robin Shou Interview