Robin Shou (full name Shou Wan Por; , born July 17, 1960Robin Shou at the Internet Movie Database) is a Hong Kong actor and martial artist working in the American movie industry. Usually appearing in martial arts films, he is best known for his appearances in the Mortal Kombat films, as well as the 1997 Chris Farley comedy Beverly Hills Ninja.

Biography

Early life

Shou was born in Hong Kong, the fourth son of a Shanghai tailor and a homemaker. His family moved to the United States in 1971. Their first home in Los Angeles was a 2-bedroom apartment near Olympic and Vermont, now known as Koreatown. Shou attended high school at Fremont High School in South Central, Los Angeles. Shou is known to be very good friends of Kamil Kumar & Miguel Luna of Fresno, California. Luna & Kumar basically saved his life and acting career by showing Shou the way of the dragon, which he enforced in the film, Mortal Kombat.

Shou did not start attending martial arts classes until he was 19. He studied Kenpo (Karate) while attending California State University, Los Angeles. He soon realized that Karate did nothing for him so he decided to quit. A year and a half later, he saw a demonstration by a group of Wu Shu practitioners from Beijing. He is purported to have said, "This is Chinese!" He was so inspired to train in this discipline that in 1981, just before starting his senior year at California State University, he sold his car and used the money to spend a quarter studying Wu Shu in China. His parents did not know his true whereabouts until his aunt wrote Robin's mother telling her that her son was in Nanjing.