Chen Sing
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- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chen.
Chen Sing (also Shin Chan, Hsing Chen, Xing Chen, Chen Xing)[1] (born 1936, in Thailand) is a Thai-born actor whose film career centered around the Hong Kong movie industry.
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[edit] Biography
Sing moved to Hong Kong at some point of time, possibly as early as the late 1950s, and began working in films. Chen's first screen appearance was as an uncredited extra for Around the World in Eighty Days, released in 1959.[1] By the 1970s he had graduated from bit parts to featured roles to starring, usually as the heavy, in both studio and independent films. In this period he supplemented his income by working as a physical fitness and martial arts instructor in the Hong Kong prison system. According to his son's website, Chen has appeared in about 200 movies[2]; this contrasts the number of films that IMDB lists, 88.[1]
Like other famous actors Pai Ying and Chen Hung Lieh, Chen was considered "typecast-right" from the beginning of his acting career for villain roles. His exotic Southeast Asian features, his mustache, and his strength marked him as different from the smooth-faced, Eurasian-looking actors favored by the big Hong Kong studios. Also, his kung fu style was nothing like Bruce Lee’s elegant precision or the flashy high-kicking Northern styles favored by taller actors. What Chen brought to his roles was his unique combination of great physical strength and ferocious intensity – what Bruce Lee described as emotional content. With his eyes blazing and his hands like eagle’s talons clawing the air, Chen was magnificent even if you were rooting for the young hero to kill him. And it can be a stunning revelation to see him cast against type as an heroic undercover agent battling vicious crooks (Tough Guy, 1972) or Japanese subversives Yasuaki Kurata (Tiger vs. Dragon, 1972, or Rage of the Wind, 1973).
By the early 1990s, with the end of Hong Kong's status as a British colony approaching, Chen decided he'd had enough. In 1996, newly married, he moved with his Indonesian-Chinese wife and infant son, first to Indonesia, and soon thereafter to Vancouver, where he still lives in retirement.
[edit] Present
Since joining the large Chinese expatriate community in Vancouver, Chen and his wife have not really acculturated to Canada enough to learn English. His wife has learned to eat some non-Oriental foods, but Mr. Chen remains very traditional, insisting on several bowls of rice a day.[3] Pictures from his son's birthday celebrations show that his hairline receded somewhat, but even in retirement he still looks very fit and strong.[4]
[edit] Personal life
In 1996, Chen married Indonesian-Chinese Elizabeth (born 1966), who owned a nightclub. They have a son, George Chan (born January 1, 1994, in Hong Kong).
