Movie Stars Featured

Sophia Crawford

Sophia Crawford is on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  She does the Karate stunts for Buffy.  You can check out her Web site.

Michelle Yeoh

The following excerpts are from a bio on Michelle Yeoh from www.askmen.com/women/accress/15yeoh.html, and the picture is from www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/6686/michelle_yeoh.thml.

"Michelle Yeoh is the highest paid and most popular Asian female action star. She was born in Ipoh, Malaysia as Yeoh Choo-Kheng to a lawyer and a homemaker... Although her movies makes it seem as if she was born to be a fighter, she became a dancer. In fact, her mother said that she was a dancer before she was able to walk. She studied in Malaysia while she was growing up. In 1962, she received her Bachelor's degree in Dance and Drama from London's Royal Academy of Dance. Ironically, she majored in dancing and only took drama as a way to put more expression with her dance; she hated it with a passion. This was a result of the extreme seriousness of the course. However, her dancing career was put to an end when she injured her back. After graduation from the Academy, she returned to Malaysia...

She signed with D & B Films and debuted in 1985 in a non-action role in the action comedy, Owls v. Dumbo. This was when she first met Dickson Poon who owned that company. She was a demure social worker and the love interest of one of the main characters. She observed the fighting of the characters and realized that she had no reason not to be able to do this. She had two arms and legs. This was her first film. However, her big break came when she stared in Yes, Madam, her second film. The film also starred Cynthia Rothrock (an undefeated female martial arts champion), and Michelle trained in kung fu and karate in order to make her fighting convincing. Convincing it was. In this movie, she plays a cop (so does Cynthia) and by going through a balcony glass window (and simultaneously taking out several guys) that put her on the map--stuntwise. It appealed to women and men, as well as established her as one of the premiere female action stars in Asia. She also performed in In The Line Of Duty (aka Royal Warriors) and Magnificent Warriors which only increased her prestige as an actress and a martial artist. In these movies she was also in a cop-like role and both films' action scenes were highly acclaimed.

When she began making action films, she began to very rapidly learn the styles of martial arts and master them. She was determined not to be seen as "the beauty queen"--who they would have a double for. She feels that the audience needed to see a person actually doing what they were supposed to. She also realized that to survive in this male-dominated world she needed to hit hard and be willing to get hit hard. The Hong Kong movie business doesn't really do so much computer stuff---if you see someone jumping off of a building then they are really jumping off of a building. So she decided to do all of her own stunts. In addition, as opposed to the Hollywood's near-miss "air strikes", Hong Kong films hit the people for real. And that says a lot. As a beginner in Hong Kong, she could not read Cantonese and could not speak it very well. She hid behind her action long enough to learn the language. Her Cantonese name was Yeung Ji-king. At one point, film companies in Hong Kong tried to adopt more European-sounding names for the markets in America and Europe so it didn't seem so much like a "Kung Fu movie". The name adopted for her was "Michelle Khan"...

She was then approached to co-star with Jackie Chan in Police Story III: Supercop directed by Stanley Tong. This film was a breakthrough in many ways. She had decided that she had to prove to her audience that even though she had been gone for so many years, she could still do what needed to be done. In the film she plays Director Yang, a Chinese Interpol director who is paired with Hong Kong detective Kevin Chan (Jackie Chan) in order to infiltrate a drug ring undercover. She is also the only woman in Jackie Chan's movies who he lets do her own stunts. Jackie and Michelle became friends. Throughout the movie Michelle does a variety of impressive fights, and also does a variety of spectacular stunts. She (for example) clung to the side of a moving van at top speed (doing a handstand on to the top of the van because of an on coming car), falls off the van onto Jackie's car, and leaps a motorcycle onto a moving train. It was the top-grossing film in Asia in 1992. Dimension Films decided to pick it up, and it was played in American theaters. They knew fans already knew her as Michelle Khan, so they kept that name for the American release. She also got to do her own English dubbing (as did Jackie), as well as appear in a variety of interviews and magazines. She also did a sequel--Project S, but this was not released to the American cinema...

She also starred in a film called Wing Chun. It is called her best display of athletic skill and power--the most any villain gets off of her is two hits. It is roughly based on the story of the woman who created the martial art Wing Chun Kung Fu (which Bruce Lee practiced). She has a very famous is her fight over "bean curd".

In 1995, Yeoh starred in two dramatic films in a row: the period epic The Soong Sisters and Ah Kam: The Stuntwoman, directed by Ann Hui. She did Ah Kam as a tribute to the stunt doubles in Hong Kong. In Ah Kam, Michelle suffered a terrible injury. At one point she was supposed to fall off of an eighteen-foot wall and land on her chest. A moment's distraction caused her to land the wrong way--on her head. Thankfully for her, and moviegoers everywhere, her spine did not snap and no paralysis was inflicted.

She has had many injuries from her "dangerous activities"--to be diplomatic. She has torn ligaments, cracked ribs, and dislocated a shoulder in addition to a messed up neck vertebrae. Strangely, however, she has never actually broken a bone. She is blacklisted by all of the insurance companies in Hong Kong...

After seeing Supercop and some of her Hong Kong films, a variety of producers became interested in her. She was offered a role in the Bond new film--Tomorrow Never Dies. At first, she was unable to see herself as a bimbo in a bikini walking around a swimming pool. Then they let her know what her character would be. She would be Colonel Wai Lin, a member of the Chinese People's External Security Force to match James Bond (or 007) . In otherwords, she was to be a female/Chinese James Bond...  Her character met the villain disguised as a news reporter, infiltrated the media center of Elliot Carver (the villain), escaped from there with a special grappling gadget, escaped from an imploding submarine, free fell off of the side of a building with a banner, and was chased on a motorcycle by cars and a helicopter while handcuffed to 007. She was not allowed to do so many dangerous stunts--such as leaping a motorbike from rooftop to rooftop in Saigon--even though she did a similar stunt in Supercop. Understanding that the film could be delayed if she got hurt, she went along with the arrangement. However, she was allowed to fight--at one point pummeling several would-be assassins..."

Cynthia Rothrock

Cynthia Rothrock is both an athlete and a movie star.  She was 5-time undefeated World Karate Champion in Forms and Weapons (1981-1985).  She has made more than thirty films.  She started making movies in 1985 for Golden Harvest, and then she moved on to Hollywood.

You can learn more about Cynthia Rothrock by visiting her Website at www.cynthia-rothrock.com.  The picture was adapted from www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/6686/cynthia_rothrock.html, plus you can find sources for her films there.

Hillary Swank