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| Birth Name(s) : Robin Shou |
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Full Robin Shou Biography
Robin Shou (Chinese: 仇雲波, born July 17, 1960 in Hong Kong), has made a name for himself in the American movie industry. He is most known for his portrayal of Liu Kang in the blockbuster movie Mortal Kombat.
Robin Shou was the fourth son of a Shanghai tailor and a homemaker. His family moved to the United States in 1971. Their first home in Los Angeles was a 2-bedroom apartment near Olympic and Vermont, now known as Koreatown.
Shou did not start attending martial arts classes until he was 19. He studied Kenpo (Karate) while attending California State University, Los Angeles. He soon realized that Karate did nothing for him so he decided to quit. A year and a half later, he saw a demonstration by a group of Wu Shu practitioners from Beijing. He said, "This is Chinese!" He was so inspired to train in this discipline that in 1981, just before starting his senior year at California State University, he sold his car and used the money to spend a quarter studying Wu Shu in China. His parents did not know his true whereabouts until his aunt wrote Robin's mother telling her that her son was in Nanjing.
Shou returned to California State University, Los Angeles and obtained his B.S. in civil engineering. He spent a year and a half in this field and he was convinced he needed a different career. He found computer and electronics boring. He was always trying to follow the ideal; finishing school, getting a job, getting married… He was unhappy and the only thing that kept him going was martial arts.
He soon took off to Hong Kong, planning to vacation and think. Soon after his arrival, however, he was offered a chance to appear in a movie as a stuntman. He was offered job after job, and for his first two years in Hong Kong, he played big parts in action films. He lived in a little Kowloon rooftop apartment for $250 a month.
When Shou is not making films he takes ceramic classes, paints, welds and does woodworking. He likes to do anything that involves working with his hands.
Shou's first real dramatic role was in Forbidden Nights in 1990, where he played opposite Melissa Gilbert. Though only a TV film, this was his first American debut and surely a catapult for Hollywood. However, Shou went back to Hong Kong and continued making movies there. By this time, he was more choosy about the roles he would play. He wanted other roles besides that of a bodyguard or a stuntman. He began turning down roles and after nine years he was bored and ready to quit acting.
In 1994, Shou returned to Los Angeles to start an import/export business. Then he got the call from his agent, ranting about a perfect role for him in a movie called Mortal Kombat. Robin was uninterested, assuming he would be playing a villain who gets killed in the end. His agent begged him to audition. He did, along with other top contenders; Jason Scott Lee (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), Russell Wong (The Joy Luck Club), and Dustin Nguyen (21 Jump Street). Seven auditions later, he was Mortal Kombat's Liu Kang.
The role of Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat was a unique one for Robin. It was rare to find Asians starring as heroes in Hollywood films at the time. This movie was also uncommon at the time in that the hero and villain were both Asian.
Shou also appears in a minor role in another fighting video game adaptation, DOA: Dead or Alive, based on the Dead or Alive series, produced by Mortal Kombat director Paul W. S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt.
Shou was offered the role of Wu Chow in Shanghai Knights, but due to scheduling conflicts, he turned it down and it eventually went to his on screen Tiger Cage 2 nemesis, Donnie Yen. |
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