Gordon
Liu (劉家輝; Lau Kar-Fai; Liu Jia Hui, formerly spelled Liu Chia-Hui, born
Xian Qixi) (born November 30, 1955) is a Chinese martial arts film
actor. He was born in Guangdong Province, China and is the adopted
brother of famed Shaw Brothers director and actor Lau Kar-leung (Liu
Chia-Liang).
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, 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.
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.
Over the years Gordon's movie
roles dwindled as younger and more agile martial artists emerged. During
the 80's, he was forced to take smaller roles such as in Lau Kar-leung's
Tiger on the Beat. However, Liu has 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 he still commonly plays roles in
some martial arts capacity, he's also at home in playing comedic,
self-depreciative or emotional characters. His second common role in TVB
has been playing a 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 movies. 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.
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From Wikipedia.org
