Gordon Liu, born on 22 August 1955, whose real name is Sin Kam-hei, is a Hong Kong martial arts actor from Gaoming, Foshan, Guangdong. At the age of eight he became a student of the Hung Ga master Lau Cham, to whom he was also adopted, though he was mostly trained by Lau Cham's son, the director Lau Kar-leung, at the school. After finishing secondary school in 1972 he worked as an accountant by day and taught martial arts at night. In 1973 he entered films through Lau Kar-leung's self-financed film, then signed a three-year contract with Chang Cheh's film company in Taiwan, where he struggled for major roles. Back in Hong Kong in 1976, he took his first lead in Challenge of the Masters. His breakthrough came with The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978), in which he played the monk San Te; the film was one of the year's top-grossing Hong Kong pictures and won a best action film prize at an Asian film festival, making his shaven-headed martial monk image iconic. He appeared in dozens of Shaw Brothers films afterwards, including Lau Kar-leung's My Young Auntie (1981) and Martial Club (1981), also directing, producing and choreographing fights. He joined TVB in 1988, extending his martial-arts persona across many television dramas. In 2003 Quentin Tarantino cast him in Kill Bill, where he played the assassin Johnny Mo in Volume 1 and the master Pai Mei in Volume 2, reviving his career. He won a best action actor award at a 2007 Chinese kung fu gala and starred in a 2010 martial-arts television series. A stroke in August 2011 left him partly paralysed, and he later retired.
Gordon Liu's role as San Te in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978) made him a defining face of the Shaolin kung fu film and helped the genre regain popularity in the late 1970s, especially in Japan. His later appearance in Tarantino's Kill Bill introduced him to a new international audience.
Achievements
- 1973 · Appeared in Lau Kar-leung's self-financed film, entering the film industry.
- 1978 · Starred as the monk San Te in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, which became one of the year's top-grossing films.
- 2003 · Appeared in Kill Bill as Johnny Mo and Pai Mei.