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Gordon Liu
Chinese name	劉家輝 (Traditional)
Chinese name	刘家辉 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Liú Jiãhuĩ (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Lau4 Gaa1fai1 (Cantonese)
Birth name	冼錦熙 (Traditional) 冼锦熙 (Simplified) Xiǎn Jǐnxī (Mandarin) Sin2 Gam2hei1(Cantonese)
Born	August 22, 1955 (1955-08-22) (age 54) Guangdong Province, China
Occupation	martial arts film actor

Gordon Liu (劉家輝; Lau Kar-Fai; Liu Jia Hui, formerly spelled Liu Chia-Hui, born Xian Jinxi; born November 30, 1955) is a Chinese martial arts film actor. Best known by Western moviegoers for his role as Pai Mei in Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), and as Johnny Mo in Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), the head general of the Crazy 88, O-Ren Ishii's (Lucy Liu) personal army. Elsewhere, Liu is known for his role as San Te from The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and its sequels from which he adopted his shaved head style. Some fans call him the "Master Killer" after the alternate title to The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. He is also known to Indian fans as Hojo in Warner Bros' first Bollywood movie Chandni Chowk to China.

He was born in Guangdong Province, China and is the adopted brother of famed Shaw Brothers directors and actors Lau Kar-Leung (Liu Chia-Liang) and Lau Kar-Wing (Liu Chia-Yung). In his youth, he skipped school to train in martial arts without his parents' knowledge. He trained at Lau Charn's martial arts school of Hung Gar discipline, which descended from Wong Fei Hung's grand student (father to Lau Kar Leung). Lau Charn's wife assisted in his training and their friendship eventually led to his adoption into Lau's family, and he received the name Lau Kar Fai. As he grew up, he found a job as a shipping clerk to make ends meet. His interests had always been towards martial arts and he was eventually offered a role by Lau Kar Leung. His name prior to being adopted was Xian Qixi.

Career

Liu’s first break was with Chang's Film Company (a Shaw Brothers subsidiary operating in Taiwan) acting small parts for such films as 5 Shaolin Masters, Shaolin Martial Arts, and 4 Assassins. He performed in Executioners from Shaolin (1976), featuring the notorious White Eyebrow Priest Pai Mei, and as the folk hero Wong Fei Hung in Challenge of the Masters (1976) before starring in his signature role as Shaolin hero San Te in 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

The tale of the imperialistic struggle against Manchus--while not a new one--was significant for the intense focus placed on the inner workings of Shaolin Temple itself. As con man-turned-kung fu student, San Te, Liu’s character overcomes the temple's thirty-five chambers as he unwittingly undergoes the rigorous training regime imposed by the temple’s Head Abbott on the pretext of “earning” a right to study martial arts there.

The “zero-to-hero” tale turned Liu into an international icon in spite of a frame far slighter than that of the folk hero himself (known as “Iron Arms” for the muscularity of his physique) and paved the way for a very healthy working schedule into the mid-1990s, even as younger, more agile martial artists eventually emerged. By the late 1980s he had begun accepting smaller roles such as in Lau Kar-leung's Tiger on the Beat.

Liu has also been active in television, and was contracted to Hong Kong's TVB company for many years, continuing playing roles as a martial arts master. Though still performing some martial arts roles, he is at home as well in comedic, self-deprecatory or emotional characters. His second-most common role in TVB has been playing an HK police officer.

Quentin Tarantino has long been a fan of Liu, and had one day hoped to find him a role in one of his movies. This eventually came to pass with the roles of Johnny Mo and Master Pai Mei in both Kill Bill films (incidentally, in one version of the script for the second film, Liu's lips would be speaking Cantonese while his voice, dubbed by Tarantino, would be in English - imitating a bad dub job). His roles in Kill Bill raised Liu's profile again and a renewed interest was shown by Chinese producers. Since Gordon's Kill Bill fame, Gordon has returned to doing movies while continuing to do television for Hong Kong's TVB station.

In 2008, Liu added a Bollywood film to his profile. Collaborating with Indian actor Akshay Kumar who is also a martial arts performer and world famous tap dancer in a film titled Chandni Chowk To China (CC2C). He played the role of the villain, Hojo, a smuggler and a well-trained martial artist.

Filmography

See also

• List of Shaw Brothers Films
• Shaw Brothers Studio

External links

• Gordon Liu at the Internet Movie Database
• Gordon Liu Biography at HKCinema
• Lau Family Hung Kuen in Hongkong
• Lau Family Hung Kuen in the Philippines