Bolo Yeung
Bolo began his martial arts training at the age of 10 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, where he studied under several kung fu masters. Growing up, he took an interest in bodybuilding, and later became Mr. Hong Kong bodybuilding champion. He held the title for ten years. Because of his impressively muscular physique, he was chosen for several bad guy roles in films produced by Shaw Brothers Studios, such as The Heroic Ones, The Deadly Duo, Angry Guest and others. He left Shaw Brothers in 1971.
Bolo met Bruce Lee while the two were filming a Winston cigarettes commercial.[2] A friendship emerged and Lee invited him to star in Enter the Dragon, where he became known as “Bolo”, the name of the character he portrayed. The two became close friends during the filming of Enter the Dragon, where Bruce and Bolo worked very closely on technique training. Bolo once stated in an interview, many years after Lee’s death, “There will never be another Bruce Lee; and I am privileged to have had the honor of calling him friend.”
During the 1970s and ’80s, Bolo starred in numerous kung fu films, but his breakout film was Bloodsport, based on the claims of Frank Dux. Shot on a $US 1.5 Million budget, it became a US box-office hit in the spring of 1988. Jean-Claude Van Damme had the leading role as Frank Dux, while Bolo Yeung played the role of Chong Li. A strong friendship formed between the two actors on the set of Bloodsport; and Van Damme wanted no one but Bolo to play opposite him in his film (Double Impact) set in East Asia.
