Won Jin

Born 8th December 1962 in Seoul, South Korea, martial arts master Won Jin (birth name Kim Won-jin) is known in the west mainly for his role as Sonny Wong in Operation Scorpio (1992) (aka The Scorpion King) and his action direction of the My Wife Is a Gangster (2001) movie series. In South Korea he is an martial arts icon and known is one of the godfathers of Korean action cinema. Won Jin created a very unique style that was well ahead of it's time, showcasing many techniques used in modern Tricking and he also inspired famous martial art actors such as Scott Adkins and Tony Jaa. Won Jin began learning Taekwondo around age 7 and created his own style of kicking and acrobatics. He was was a big fan of Bruce Lee and fell in love with the nunchaku He would go on to learn Hapkido, Wushu and various other styles. In late 70s Won Jin trained alongside fellow Korean martial arts icon Jin-Hwa Jeong at the YMCA Mechanical Gymnastics Club and became a founding member of the Korean martial arts/stunt group Ottogi Martial Arts Team, working on his first movie in 1979. He appeared as a side character in some Korean martial arts movies and in 1988 got his first starring role in Brave Trio (1988). In the early 90's Won Jin sent out a demo tape showcasing his skills, which stunned Hong Kong movie director David Lai, who then invited him to Hong Kong and cast him in a few movies, the most notable being Operation Scorpio, which secured his place as a cult fan-favourite. Dispite his talents, there were not many roles for him to play in Hong Kong as the industry had mostly moved away from doing traditional martial arts action in favour of wire-work and gun-play. So after only a handful of films, he returned to Korea. By the time he returned to Korea the industry had changed there also and he had few opportunities to appear in front of the camera as an actor, the notable exception being High-Grade Player (1998), a passion project of several of the top Korean stuntmen of the time, in which Won Jin played the title character. But after featuring in No Problem 2 (2002) as a favor to Operation Scorpio co-star and close friend Kar Lok Chin (in which he got to fight one of his heroes, Hong Kong action icon Biao Yuen), he disappeared to behind the scenes and concentrated on action directing and stunt work. He eventually made a come-back to acting with a small but memorable role in The Suspect (2013), in which he had a fight scene with leading man Gong Yoo. Audiences were shocked when the small and unassuming middle-aged man turned out to be a high-kicking martial arts master, with a physique on par with much younger lead actor. Since then his main occupation has still been as an action director but he has made a few more on screen appearances, most notably as the villain's driver/bodyguard in the Netflix martial arts TV series Undercover (2021), who has a short but intense fight scene with the series leading lady Han So-hee. Won Jin continues to practice and promote martial arts around the world and has received many awards and commendations for his work both on and off the screen.