Hollywood is grieving director Corey Yuen this week after learning that he passed away back in 2022. Yuen was a fixture in the Hong Kong film industry and a legend when it came to action, choreography and martial arts. According to a report by Variety, the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers just confirmed news of Yuen’s death to the English-speaking world.
Yuen reportedly died of COVID-19 in Hong Kong sometime in 2022, but the news was kept private at the request of his family. Details are still scarce, including the exact date, location and circumstances of his passing. Yuen’s colleague Jackie Chan helped spread the news on Monday on the Chinese social media app Weibo, and it soon made its way to the Engslish-speaking world as well. Fans, friends and colleagues around the world are now posting their belated tributes to Yuen.
Yuen was either 70 or 71 years old at the time of his death. He was born in Hong Kong on Feb. 15, 1951 to a working-class family, and at the age of 9 he was enrolled in the intense China Drama Academy free of charge in exchange for his work on local productions. His name was even changed at this point, with the word “Yuen” added to reflect the clan ties of the school’s founder, according to the Hong Kong Film Archive.
Yuen and Chan became two of the “Seven Little Fortunes” – child actors that trained together and became well-known in the industry. Yuen made his first film appearances in the 1970s, and got his breakout role in the 1983 film Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain. Before long, he was working with the best of the best in the Hong Kong film industry, and he maintained that status for decades. He starred in the 1993 film Fong Sai-yuk II with Jet Li, and many other movies that Chinese film aficionados might recognize.
Meanwhile, Yuen built a name for himself behind the scenes as well. He directed his first film in 1982 – Ninja in the Dragon’s Den – then directed his first American film in 1985 – No Retreat, No Surrender. That was the acting debut of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Some of the other actors Yuen directed over the years included Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li and Cynthia Rothrock.
Yuen’s association with Li is what gave him credibility in the U.S. He was hired as an action director on X-Men in 2000, and would later bring those skills to movies like The Expendables and Transporter 2, among others. He continues to work closely with Li as well, choreographing action scenes in many of Li’s English-language movies.
Details on Yuen’s personal life are scarce, and it’s not clear how he was memorialized. Fans and friends around the world are posting their best memories of Yuen this week, and revisiting the director’s iconic work.