Louis Siu-Wong Fan was born on June 19, 1973. He is often known as Fan. He is a Hong Kong actor and martial artist best known for his role as Ricky in Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991) and as Jin Shanzhao in Ip Man (2008) and Ip Man 2 (2010), and for this television roles in series produced by TVB.
Siu-Wong Fan is the son of Shaw Brothers actor, Mei-sheng Fan. As a child, Siu-Wong Fan accompanied his father to the Shaw Brothers Studios and made minor appearances in some of the movies in which his father had roles. When Siu-Wong Fan was 14, his father sent him to Xuzhou, China, to learn wushu, taekwondo and gymnastics to prepare for a career in films. After he completed his studies, Fan returned to Hong Kong to work in the film industry. He made his debut in a leading role in Stanley Tong’s The Stone Age Warriors (1991) [Mo yu fei long].
Siu-Wong Fan made his film debut as a teenager in Righting Wrongs (1986) [Zhi fa xian feng ], alongside with Biao Yuen, Cynthia Rothrock, and Corey Yuen. At the age of 18, Fan had the leading role of Riki-Oh Saiga in Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1992), a Hong Kong film based on the manga Riki-Oh and this role elevated his popularity action star.
Throughout the 1990’s, Fan was a contract artiste under the Hong Kong television station TVB. He starred in television dramas such as Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (1997) and Young Hero Fang Shiyu (1999). He left TVB later and worked on a few Taiwanese and mainland Chinese television series before focusing on films.
Fan’s most recognizable role in more recent times is “Jin Shanzhao”, the tough Northern martial artist in the 2008 film Ip Man, which starred Donnie Yen as Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man. Fan’s performance in Ip Man earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2009. He reprised his role as Jin Shanzhao in Ip Man 2, a 2010 sequel to Ip Man. He played a new character in The Legend Is Born – Ip Man (2010), another movie about Yip Man that is unrelated to Ip Man and Ip Man 2.
