Chris Yen and I

I had a lunch meeting with Chris Yen, Donnie Yen’s sister, last week… and it was a very productive meeting! Read on!

Chris Yen Inside Kung-Fu

For those of you who don’t know – Chris Yen is an awesome martial artist and entrepreneur. Early in her martial arts film career she worked with acclaimed action director Yuen Wo-Ping in 1986 on a project shot in Taiwan. Later in her career she went on to work with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson helping her brother out on the set of Shanghai Knights. Soon after she went to Hong Kong to film a stylish female assassin role in “Black Rose.” Chris Yen’s performance in Black Rose led to a profile in the South China Morning Post, which in turn led to a featured appearance with Matt Lauer on NBC’s The Today Show, broadcast live from Hong Kong to millions of viewers. Invited to LA for auditions by a top casting director from Columbia Pictures, she has been featured in several commercials and was cast as the lead in the youth market action film Adventures of Johnny Tao, as well as in a supporting role in A Good Day to be Black and Sexy, an official 2008 Sundance Selection. She continues to work hard and develop projects with her writing partners.

Her brother Donnie Yen has appeared in more than 40 films and TV shows, including: “Ip Man”(2008), “Flash Point” (2007), “Saat Po Long aka SPL” (2005), “Shanghai Knights” (2003), “Hero” (2002), “Blade II” (2002), “Highlander: Endgame” (2000), and “Iron Monkey ” (1993).

Interestingly enough in March 2009 I posted an article on Chris Yen on the WushuKicks.com Wushu News blog – http://www.wushukicks.com/chinese-martial-arts/tag/chris-yen/ It’s amazing that a year later we got to sit down to chat over lunch.

Enough with the talk. If you haven’t seen her demo reel… check it out. I particularly like the wheel kick at 1:12.

We got in touch through a mutual friend and originally met up to get some feedback on her thoughts on Martial Arts Complete and some sponsorship. If you’ll notice in the picture at the top that pink and white “M” is a Mooto hoodie courtesy of MOOTO USA. Much thanks Mooto! and of course we got love for WushuKicks.com up in there as well.

Chris Yen and Martial Arts Complete

This ad isn’t the FINAL version yet, but it’s pretty close. I must say I’m pretty proud of this because I took this picture on my Nikon D60 at a boba cafe, edited it, and did the design as well. And to do Chris justice I must say that it was not a planned out photo shoot or anything and she just came in her casual attire, but she came out looking great. After clearing out the background and putting in our martial arts complete background I think the whole thing looks pretty cool!

Business aside, we had a lot to talk about regarding wushu, martial arts training, movies, productions, refinancing, and the tasty ham and corn on french bread appetizers. Chris mentioned that she will be back and forth between Asia and the states and we talked a lot about her personal project Kore8Films and what it takes to get things off the ground. It was a really great meeting and I am honored to be able to sit down with such an accomplished yet humble martial artist. Definitely look out for her in some big projects ahead!

ham and corn on french bread

Aakhari Decision

Aakhari Decision released in India is about a hitman that grew up loyal to his boss until one day he is forced to make a decision between a woman that has entered his life and his loyalty as a hitman.

In this movie I had a small role in acting, stunts, and fight choreography. It was my first time having my face go through stunt glass so I had a good time. The movie was filmed in both the US and India.

Here’s an interview that goes into some of the action that I was involved in:

I also had a few lines in the movie which you can see if you fast forward to the 3:00 minute mark.

If you are in India head out to theaters to check out Aakhari Decision. =)

I performed a longfist and straightsword/drunken sword combo for a demo a month or two back for LAFA’s Annual Food Fight benefiting the Los Angeles Food Bank. The event was to raise food for those less privileged.

Here are the videos of our wushu demo portion:

Part 1 has some longfist / changquan performance.

Part 2 has some straight sword and drunken sword.

Had a great time and met some Sword Fight Inc buddies from the History Channel Art of War episode. I am up north in nor cal this week. Last night I randomly found out I am in a Bollywood movie! I’ll fill yall in on that on my next post.

Also.. HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY EVERYONE!

Vietcong on Deadliest Warrior Season 2

I’m an extrovert so I gather my thoughts by talking or thinking aloud… so this post is to help me gather my thoughts. It’s been a few weeks since I got back from Asia and since I did my demo for Jackie Chan and all this excitement has sort of died down.

As I mentioned before I’ve been training more san shou lately and also getting into some tricking. I train basically 6 days a week. I still do wushu once or twice a week. I get this itch to want to compete still, but at the same time I want to focus on movies and learning more applications/styles of martial arts to become more well rounded. I think I am pretty sure now that I want to hit up my business ventures hard for another 2-3 months and then turn most of my focus on acting / stunts / entertainment for 2010.

Speaking of business wushukicks is doing well. All administrative paper work is done. Finances and accounting are clean and ready to go for 2010. Sales are also off to a great start. Have to file taxes in March. Merchant account is set up and been working smoothly this month. Saw an all time high of traffic this month as well which shows that more and more people are discovering the site. Wushukicks supplements are in a few locations in LA now. The last thing on my 2009-2010 to do list for wushukicks was to do a layout revamp. I am going to get on this in the next week… oh and also business cards. That shouldn’t take too long though. After those 2 things are taken care of, I will be quite the happy camper.

AngelsTea is doing well. We are in process of doing some redesigns on the tins and packaging. It’s going to look good when it’s done. The one thing with AngelsTea that I’ve come to realize is that it’s going to be a big project (big but fun) and I will probably have to finish up with the wushukicks to do list before I am able to shift major focus to this.

In TV and entertainment news – I worked on Season 2 of Deadliest Warrior. There was a joke on set that I was going to be a running gag where I just appear on every episode. (Since I was on the shaolin monk and samurai episode last season). The show is always pretty strict on revealing information and I don’t wanna accidentally violate the non disclosure agreement, but basically I was on the show doing some stunts and some shootouts and fighting occur (like on all episodes). DY was also on this and we had some laughs about being the only wushu guys on set. haha! Anyways, look forward to the episode airing when season 2 of the deadliest warrior comes out.

Aside from that, I’m going to start training even more. Hopefully I can get a cork and an arabian soon. I also want to shoot a few small projects where I can get some good fight scenes in and get a better understanding of angles, editing, choreography, etc.

For the first time ever I have my stunt resume finished, professional headshots printed out, and an updated demo reel.. so I think Im ready to start doing things right, hustling more, and submitting myself to more projects.

Cheers to 2010 – My year for film and entertainment.

So I’ve been branching out from purely wushu training now and going into san da and tricking/parkour. My roots are of course in wushu, but its totally fun to branch out and practice other styles.

Check out my first tricking compilation where I attempt my first “cork” – which is sort of like a reverse butterfly twist in some ways. Anyways, I got a few tips and bits of advice from Steve Terada and Travis Wong… so just sit back, relax, and enjoy my cork face plant  =P

The gym floor is very forgiving. I was also excited that I pretty much hit the rotation on my 720 butterfly twist, 720 jump outside kick (720 TKBL), 720 jump inside (720 XFJ). I think the tricking stuff will get better as I practice more and get that muscle memory and timing down. =)

Great tricking session!

alfred comp card

I’ve been working on a comp card and updating my theatrical resume today because I’ve been meaning to send out my demo reel along with my CV to some places. The above is still a work in progress, but thought I would post something up for now and continue to work on it.

Also I been playing the new police story trailer over and over because I like the September Storm song Jackie Chan sings.

Okay, I am off to a wushu demo in downtown. Ciao!

sina jackie chan alfred hsing press release

Source: http://dailynews.sina.com/gb/news/usa/uslocal/singtao/20100113/04111107703.html

Here is my Adventures with Jackie Chan video blog. My video blog shows my thoughts the day I am meeting Jackie Chan, our actual encounter, and my thoughts afterward.

Later that evening I flew straight back to the bay area and did another demo. Here is my brother and I working on some fight choreography that was incorporated in the performance.

Jackie Chan Handprint in Hong Kong

I’m not gunna lie. Jackie Chan has been a great inspiration for me in my martial arts endeavors. When someone bought me the book “Jackie Chan : My Story” I read it in 2 days. Police Story I and Drunken Master II were probably my favorite and more inspiring movies of all time. (I also got a lot of love for Jet Li’s Tai Chi Master and Once Upon a Time in China)

Just a few posts ago I posted my goals in the entertainment world. Let me repost them.

1) Star or Co-star in:
1 HK gangster feature film
1 Chinese Wu Xia Period feature film
1 Hollywood action blockbuster
1 National Commercial

2) Demo for then work with Jackie Chan in a film
3) Host a Travel Channel show

If you will look at Goal #2… Only a few nights after I posted those goals, I had a dream that I was talking with Jackie Chan and working with him on some projects. It was very clear and realistic at the time. I already forgot what the subject matter was… because you know how you can’t quite remember most of your dreams after you fully wake up? well, for some reason I remembered that I was talking to him and working on some projects.

Then 2 nights ago or about a day after I had that dream, my friend messages me and tells me I might be working on a demo… for Jackie Chan! Today I found out it seems like it is pretty confirmed. I don’t usually like to write or tell people about these things because everything is “tentative” until it actually happens.. any number of things could happen, but in any case I have a good/hopeful feeling.

I hope it doesn’t become ANOTHER one of my “The times I almost met Jackie Chan” story. I have 3. Would you care to hear them? I am going to list all the major incidences.

1) 2006 I visited Hong Kong on a layover to Taiwan. I was/am a huge fan of Jackie so I visited the Jackie Chan Fan Club on Waterloo. I decided to buy a jacket and while I was waiting for the lady to get me my size two stunt men from England dropped by to meet/drop off a demo to a stunt coordinator. I had just finished training in Beijing so we got to chatting and I showed them some random wushu clips I had on my digital camera. they invited me to come back with them in 3 days. They said they were potentially meeting with some people. Unfortunately I had to catch a flight to Taiwan the next day. A week later I get an email from one of the guys saying they met Jackie Chan and a whole bunch of action directors! First close encounter!

2) During the filming of Rush Hour 3 in downtown LA, I happened to be working at KPMG in downtown LA. I think I was putting in a little extra time on a Saturday when I remembered that Coach Ming said they were filming Rush Hour 3 around the area. I stepped out of my office and went downstairs.. lo and behold they were doing a stunt scene not too far from our building. I walked on over and ran into the awesome and very humble Brad Allen. We chatted briefly about how he trained wushu in shanghai for some time. He had to return to directing some action choreo so I just hung back and watched for a bit. Then the head of security rolled by and asked me what I was doing. I told him I did chinese martial arts and was told they were filming so I came to check it out. He was very nice and said he had studied some military combat and martial arts as well. Then as we ended our conversation I asked “by the way, do you know if Jackie Chan is on set today?” and he replied “Oh, you didn’t see him, he was right behind you and he just got in that car” as I turned my head I see a black car with tinted windows driving around the corner. Second close encounter!

3) Right after the 2009 US Wushu Team Trials I was rejoicing with glee that I made the US Wushu A Team. I decided to stay in Northern California with my family and friends an extra day before driving back down to LA. In 2009 when I was in Southern California I had been training and helping coach at Master Tu’s School in Temple City. Jack Tu (Master Tu’s son) had just recently won “The Disciple” contest to be on Jackie Chan’s stunt team. I drive back down to LA the next day. After I get back of course I pay a visit to the students and talk to Julie (Jack’s sister). She said “where were you? we just demoed for Jackie Chan in Chinatown yesterday.. everybody went!” (me: silence) I responded “I was in nor cal making the US wushu team.. my other lifelong dream.. but had you told me I coulda came back a day earlier after the competition!” So anyways, I was pretty happy to make the US team, but it was quite ironic that I usually make it to practice every day and help out with demos whenever I am in LA and the one time they demo with Jackie Chan, I was on my car ride back to LA from US Wushu Team Trials. Third close encounter!

So those are my stories for now.  I also mailed out a demo reel to Corey Yuen, Martial Arts Director via my friends referral. Hope I don’t have a “fourth close encounter” and that I actually meet Jackie Chan next month!

The adventures of Casual is Cool Silly continue and this time we do some fun stunt challenges outside of Room18 / Lava in Taipei. Also listen to Tony of CoolSilly (http://www.coolsilly.com) as he sings a special impromptu song!

Then we also have some fun at my birthday dinner at Kan Pai restaurant. Delicious meat! I cant repeat this enough.

My actual birthday was on Monday, but we all ate over the weekend. This was my first time spending my birthday abroad in Taiwan. Thanks to all who made it and all who wished me a happy birthday. I want to reiterate that I am very grateful for my friends and family. I am so happy to have met such cool friends in Taiwan. So many people (in taiwan and throughout my life in general) have helped me and been there for me that I cant thank you all enough. I have a good life and am having the time of my life. Thanks for making it awesome everyone who is and has been a part of it.

Prepare for a special leg of the journey as we take a trip down SOUTH to Kaohsiung. Some VERY VERY special things happen here. Look out for the super secret special footage along with an inside look at Taiwan’s National Team Sport Training Facility.