John Woo

John Woo Yu-sen SBS, born 22 September 1946, is a renowned Hong Kong film director known for revolutionizing the action film genre. He ushered in a new era of heroic bloodshed films in Hong Kong action cinema with his inventive 'bullet ballet' action sequences, stylized imagery, extensive use of slow motion, strategic standoffs, and homages to wuxia, film noir and Western cinema. Woo won critical acclaim for directing several memorable action films, notably his collaborations with actor Chow Yun-fat. His first major foray into Hollywood came with Hard Target (1993), starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, making him the first Chinese director to helm a major Hollywood movie. He continued to achieve international success with films like Face/Off (1997) and Mission: Impossible 2 (2000). Despite some setbacks, Woo returned to Asian cinema in the mid-2000s, delivering epic war films like Red Cliff and The Crossing. Besides directing, Woo is an accomplished screenwriter, a film producer and the founder of Lion Rock Productions. He successfully made a transition to comics with the series Seven Brothers, published by Virgin Comics.

Woo was born as Wu Yu-seng in Guangzhou, China on 22 September 1946 amidst the chaotic Chinese Civil War. At age five, his family fled to Hong Kong due to Mao Zedong's early anti-bourgeois purges. Despite his challenging childhood marked by poverty, a serious medical condition, and living in volatile housing projects, Woo found refuge in cinema. As a young boy, he wanted to be a Christian minister, but his passion for movies, particularly those of the French New Wave and American Westerns, shaped his career choice. In 1969, Woo started his film journey as a script supervisor at Cathay Studios and soon made his directorial debut in 1974 with The Young Dragons. Over the years, Woo has created an enduring legacy in global cinema, influencing a generation of filmmakers with his distinct style.