Wong Ching, born in Shanghai on 24 June 1949 and originally named Keung Pui-ching, is a former Shaw Brothers actor who also worked as a stuntman and action choreographer, known by the nickname 'Big Mouth Ching'. From a poor family, he grew up in Kowloon Walled City and had to fend for himself young; his elder brother was the actor and realist crime-film director Wong Chung, and he is a cousin of actor David Chiang. As a teenager he performed with a circus led by his mother Wong Chung-ying, moved on to nightclub acrobatics, and became Tong Kai's apprentice stuntman at Shaw Brothers, working alongside Lau Kar-leung and developing the tumbling skills that served him well on screen. Promoted to the front of the camera in the early 1970s, he became a contract actor at Grand Films and gradually built a villainous image. In 1976 producer Ng Ho, struck by his presence, cast him as the swordsman Wang Wu in a Television Broadcasts period-drama unit, his first television role, which brought him formally into television. He played a villain in the 1980 New Wave film The Beasts; in 1981 he choreographed the action for Frantic; in 1982 he took the lead in Danny Lee's police comedy Funny Boys and choreographed the action for City on Fire; in 1983 he directed and starred in Xue Zhong Xue; and in 1984 he appeared in Chang Cheh's Shanghai 13. He also choreographed action for many other films, handling fight staging as well as performing. He joined TVB in the mid-1990s, moved to HKTV in 2012, retired in 2015 and now lives in Australia. His menacing looks and trademark laughter made him a familiar villain across 1980s Hong Kong action films, and a career running from circus and nightclub to studio floor mirrors an era carried by stuntmen; his family links to Wong Chung and David Chiang tie him closely to Shaw Brothers and the action genre.
Rising from stuntman and nightclub acrobat to the screen, Wong Ching represents one route of upward mobility for behind-the-scenes workers in Hong Kong action cinema; his menacing looks and trademark laugh became a familiar marker of 1980s film villains, while his family ties to Shaw Brothers and the action genre reflect the personal networks of the film world.
Achievements
- 1976 · Made his television debut in the TVB series Modern Heroes, playing Wang Wu in the episode 'Broadsword Wang Wu'.
- 1980 · Played a villain in the New Wave film The Beasts.
- 1982 · Took a leading role in Danny Lee's police comedy Funny Boys.