Summary

• Chow Yun-fat has appeared in approximately 115 movies, becoming a major success with Eastern and Western audiences alike.
• Jackie Chan, a global media personality, has appeared in approximately 150 movies, showcasing his slapstick fighting style.
• Sammo Hung, a martial arts legend, has worked both behind and in front of the camera, appearing in approximately 200 movies and choreographing fight scenes for Jackie Chan.

While there are plenty of martial arts stars who have been in numerous movies, there are very few who hold the honor of appearing in more than 100. As a fast-paced, action-packed genre, some martial arts stars worked as furiously hard as their own characters and didn't slow down for anything. With some martial arts stars maintaining careers over many decades, it only makes sense that there would be a committed few who have amassed filmography numbers in the hundreds.

While certain names like Jackie Chan and Andy Lau will be familiar to Western audiences, other stars never achieved such a level of mainstream success in Hollywood that they would be known by the average film-goer. Plenty of these martial arts stars have quietly honed their crafts, working both in front of and behind the camera, to produce some of the most interesting, underrated, and unseen martial arts movies ever produced. These are the martial arts stars who are part of an elite club of those who have made more than 100 movies.

10 Chow Yun-fat

Chow Yun-fat has appeared in approximately 115 movies

Chow Yun-fat is a Hony Kong actor known for his collaborations with acclaimed action filmmaker John Woo and for roles in blockbuster movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Sao Feng in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. After starring in the action melodrama A Better Tomorrow in 1986, Yun-fat developed a reputation for leading ‘gun fu’ action movies and often played honorable tough guys on both sides of the law. Dubbed “the coolest actor in the world” by the Los Angeles Times, Yun-fat has found major success with both Eastern and Western audiences.

9 Gordon Liu

Gordon Liu has appeared in approximately 120 movies

Chinese martial artist Gordon Liu is perhaps best known in the English-speaking world as both the leader of the Crazy 88 yakuza gang Johnny Mo and kung-fu master Pai Mei in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Liu had a dual role and was one of just a few Kill Bill actors to appear in both Vol 1 and Vol 2 as two separate characters. A talented martial artist, Liu has appeared in over 100 movies and trained in the Hung Gar discipline from a very young age. Liu rose to fame with a leading role in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and went on to appear in numerous sequels.

8 Yuen Biao

Yuen Biao has appeared in approximately 130 movies

Yuen Biao is a Hong Kong martial artist who specialized in acrobatics and acted as a performer, stuntman, and action choreographer. Part of an elite group known as The Seven Little Fortunes (via Variety), Biao, alongside others such as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, was one of China Drama Academy's most capable students. Since the early 1970s, Biao made a name for himself and even acted as a stunt double for Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon, and today he continues to appear in Hong Kong film and television.

7 Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan has appeared in approximately 150 movies

Jackie Chan is one of the most successful actors of all time and his performances have transcended cultural boundaries for him to become an international icon the world over. Comfortable with action and comedy, Chan has an impeccable slapstick fighting style that transformed him into a global media personality. In Asia, Chan was acclaimed for martial arts roles in movies like Drunken Master and Police Star: Lockdown, and in the Western world he was known for films like Rush Hour, Around the World in 80 Days, and The Karate Kid remake.

6 Chen Kuan-tai

Chen Kuan-tai has appeared in approximately 150 movies

The first professionally trained martial artist with Shaw Brothers Studio, Chen Kuan-tai trained in the art of kung-fu since he was nine years old and starred in countless martial arts movies, such as The Boxer from Shantung and The Bloody Fists. Chen has also extended his skills to behind the camera and has directed a number of acclaimed martial arts movies, including Iron Monkey and Return to Action. Chen’s career has mostly focused on action roles, but he has also taken up several crime and comedy roles.

5 Andy Lau

Andy Lau has appeared in approximately 185 movies

Andy Lau is a Hong Kong actor, singer, and film producer who has also achieved fame outside of Asia and starred in Hollywood movies such as The Great Wall with Matt Damon. Andy Lau is perhaps best known for his starring role in Infernal Affairs, the action movie remade as the Best Picture-winning Martin Scorsese movie The Departed. However, Lau has also appeared in many martial arts movies, including House of Flying Daggers, Moon Warriors, and Kung Fu Dunk.

4 Yuen Wah

Yuen Wah has appeared in approximately 200 movies

A Hong Kong martial arts action star, Yuen Wah has also appeared in Hollywood movies such as Australia and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Rings. With 200 movies under his belt and appearances in more than 20 television series, Wah is a prolific actor whose lean frame and versatility meant he could excel in any role he took up. With a distinctive wiry mustache, Wah has often been typecast as a villain within the martial arts genre in films such as Mr. Vampire and Dragons Forever.

3 Sammo Hung

Sammo Hung has appeared in approximately 200 movies

Trained in acrobatics, dance, and martial arts, Sammo Hung has worked both behind the camera as Jackie Chan’s fight choreographer and in front of it as one of the most important actors of the Hong Kong New Wave film movement of the 1980s. A pivotal figure across many martial arts genres, Hung was responsible for starting the zombie-like jiangshi genre and has appeared in everything from the Bruce Lee classic Enter the Dragon to popular English language action moves like Mr. Nice Guy. A martial arts legend, Hung has appeared in six movies with Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao.

2 Lo Lieh

Lo Lieh has appeared in approximately 240 movies

Lo Lieh was an acclaimed Indonesian-born Hong Kong martial arts actor who appeared in 240 films and was one of the most famous kung fu stars of the 1960s and 1970s. With roles in legendary movies such as King Boxer, Executioners from Shaolin, and Clan of the White Lotus, Lieh was a talented star who often directed his own movies. Lo Lieh starred in martial arts movies alongside other greats such as Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Michelle Yeoh in his long and prolific career.

1 Ku Feng

Ku Feng has appeared in approximately 370 movies

Ku Feng is a Hong Kong actor who has appeared in hundreds of movies, many of which were made by the Shaw Brothers studio. Feng rarely took a starring role and was usually a ing character, but one notable exception was 1973’s The Master of Kung Fu. Primarily known for playing villains, Feng excelled in smaller roles that helped add depth, nuance, and skill to the numerous movies he was in. Feng’s most iconic role was as the leader of the Iron Boat Clan in The Avenging Eagle opposite Ti Lung and Alexander Fu.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Variety