John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (Chinese: 吳宇森; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. He is a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu genre in Hong Kong action cinema, before working in Hollywood films. He is known for his highly chaotic "bullet ballet" action sequences, stylized imagery, Mexican standoffs, frequent use of slow motion and allusions to wuxia, film noir and Western cinema.
John Woo SBS | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Woo in 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 22 September 1946 Guangzhou, China | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Hong Konger | ||||||||||||||||||
| Occupations |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1968–present | ||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
Anne Chun-Lung Niu (m. 1976) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 吳宇森 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 吴宇森 | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Signature | |||||||||||||||||||
Considered one of the major figures of Hong Kong cinema, Woo has directed several notable action films including A Better Tomorrow (1986), The Killer (1989), Hard Boiled (1992) and Red Cliff (2008/2009). His Hollywood films include Hard Target (1993), Broken Arrow (1996), Face/Off (1997) and Mission: Impossible 2 (2000). He also created the comic series Seven Brothers, published by Virgin Comics. He is the founder and chairman of the production company Lion Rock Productions.
Woo is a winner of the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing, as well as a Golden Horse Award, an Asia Pacific Screen Award and a Saturn Award.