Biography
Miao Tian, also credited as Miao Tien or Miao Yanlin, was a Chinese-born Taiwanese film actor. Born on 6 December 1925 in Tongshan District, Jiangsu, he trained as a teacher before joining the army and moving to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War. He began his screen career in the mid-1950s with the Central Motion Picture Corporation and later worked extensively with the Union Film Company.
He appeared in numerous martial arts films from the 1960s to the early 1980s, including Dragon Inn (1967) and A Touch of Zen (1971), in which he played Nie Qiu (Men Da's Advisor) and also served as assistant director. In later decades he collaborated with director Tsai Ming-liang, portraying Hsiao-kang's father in Rebels of the Neon God (1992), The River (1997) and What Time Is It There? (2001). His final screen appearance was a cameo in Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003). He died in Taipei on 19 February 2005.
