Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director Sammo Hung, also known as Hung
Kam-bo, was born on January 7, 1952 in Hong Kong.
Along with Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, Sammo Hung played a key role in popularizing martial
arts by incorporating the art form into several movies.
Sammo is one of the earliest performers to have made a mark in martial arts movies.
He is also known for providing break and opportunities to actors, directors and technicians.
Sammo Hung is now internationally renowned as a pioneer and trend-setter in Hong Kong
action films.
Sammo’s parents worked as wardrobe artists in the local film industry.
His grandma was an archetypal martial art actress while his grandfather a film director.
Sammon has a younger brother named Lee Chi-KIt who has worked on almost 40 films, many of
which Sammo was also involved with.
He also worked on Sammo’s Martial Law Series.
Sammo attended China Drama Academy in Hingskong when he was 8 and enrolled for seven years.
Meanwhile, he established a friendly rivalry with one of the younger students, Yuen Lo,
who later become international superstar Jackie Chan.
Sammo, at the age of 14, was selected to perform stunts on a movie by a teacher who had connections
to the Hong Kong film industry.
This brief foray into the industry piqued his interest in film and Sammo took particular
interest in the operation of film cameras.
Sammo left the academy at the age of 16.
He suffered an injury shortly after, which him bedridden for an extended period.
At this time his weight ballooned.
Sammo then found work in the film industry as a stuntman and was given a nickname after
the well-known Chinese cartoon character Sam-mo.
In 1973, he married Jo Eun-ok, whom he grew up with in martial arts training school, and
had three sons, Timmy Hung (born 1974), Jimmy Hung (born 1977), Sammy Hung (born 1979),
and a daughter, Stephanie Hung (born 1983) with her.
Hung divorced Jo in 1994.
He moved on and married Joyce Godenzi, a model and actress.
The couple exchanged their vows in 1995.
Godenzi appeared in several of his films prior to the pair becoming a couple.
Hung appeared as a child actor in several films for Cathay Asia and Bo Bo Films during
the early 1960s.
He made his film debut in the 1961 film Education of Love and made his first appearance alongside
Jackie Chan in the film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar in 1962.
Hung's big break as a film actor came with a role as a sparring partner in the Bruce
Lee film Enter the Dragon (1973).
He also produced and starred in numerous successful films throughout the 1970s and 1980s for Hong
Kong's leading film studio, Golden Harvest.
Hung collaborated in the 1980s with long-time friend Jackie Chan in a highly successful
series of action comedies, some of those were Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985) and Dragons
Forever (1988), that cemented Hung's reputation as a consummate actor/director and launched
Chan's career as an international star.
In the early 1990s, Sammo concentrated more on behind-the-scenes roles and helped to capitalise
on the new wave of wuxia productions, and also worked as the fight choreographer.
For a while, Hung also starred in an American TV series, Martial Law (1998).
The 2000s saw a rebirth in his popularity.
He finally reunited on-screen with Jackie Chan in the 2004 Disney production Around
the World in 80 Days.
In 2005, Hung was involved in Daniel Lee's Dragon Squad and Wilson Yip's SPL: Sha Po
Lang (aka Kill Zone).
In the latter, Hung played a villain for the first time in over 25 years, and had his first
ever fight scene against Donnie Yen.
Hung then worked again with director Wilson Yip and star Donnie Yen, directed for the
2008 film Ip Man, appeared in and choreographed Ip Man 2 (2010) and The Legend Is Born: Ip
Man (2010).
Top 10 Sammo Hung's movies
Sammo Hung has a net worth of $40 million
-In 2009, Hung became ill during the filming of Ip Man 2 in the Guangdong province of Foshan.
He was admitted to hospital and underwent a heart surgery operation.
He was discharged and returned to work within days.
He cited a combination of his weight, his love of cigars and long filming hours resulting
in fatigue and irregular meals as the cause -Hung is one of the celebrities honoured on
the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong.
-Jackie Chan is often addressed as "Da Goh", meaning Big Brother.
Hung was also known as "Da Goh", until the filming of Project A, which featured both
actors.
As Hung was the eldest of the kung fu "brothers", and for his contribution towards Hong Kong
cinema, he was given the nickname "Da Goh Da", which loosely translates to ‘Big, Big
Brother’ or ‘Biggest of all Big Brothers’.