Biography
James Wing Woo (1922–2014) was an American actor and martial arts instructor. Born in Oleum, California, he trained in martial arts from a young age and opened the Academy of Karate Kung Fu studio on Hollywood Boulevard in 1961.
He began acting in the mid-1970s after Hollywood producers and directors visited his studio. His early roles included Tao Yi in The Killer Elite (1975) and Chen in Marathon Man (1976). He later appeared in films such as The Big Fix (1978), Snapdragon (1993), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) as Four Father James Wing Chow, The Replacement Killers (1998) as a priest, Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002) as Martial Arts Master #1, and Nancy Drew (2007). On television he played Kwan in an episode of Monk (2002). Across approximately fifteen roles he typically portrayed elders, priests or criminal clan leaders and did not perform martial arts on screen. He taught martial arts for 53 years until his death in Los Angeles in 2014.
