Bolo Young- The transformation

11:17:00 AM Tkd kwan 5 Comments


 The guest of our article today is a martial arts icon from the golden era of martial arts movies during the 80s and 90s. Bolo Young was the best actor to play bad guy in martial arts movies, and he was always the most feared opponent in fights. With his incredible body and huge muscles, he succeeded to be one of the actors that attract the audience.

Bolo did a lot of movies, but i personally think that his best appearances were with Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon in 1973, He was only 27 years old at the time, when he had a good role, and his fight was against Roper (John Saxon). He did also a great role with Jean Claude Van Damme in Blood Sport movie and he was 42 years old  years old.

Only few guys in cinema can build a character that make them perfect for certain roles, and Bolo Young was one of them.

Bolo began his training in martial arts very young at the age of 10 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, where he did learn from different Kung Fu masters. Growing up, Bolo became interested in bodybuilding, and later became Mr. Hong Kong bodybuilding champion. He held the title for ten years which is very impressive. Because of his impressively muscular physique, he was chosen for several bad guy roles in films produced by Shaw Brothers Studios, such as The Heroic Ones, The Deadly Duo, Angry Guest and others. He left Shaw Brothers in 1971.Bolo Young- The transformation

Bolo met Bruce Lee while the two were filming a Winston cigarettes commercial. A friendship emerged and Lee invited him to star in Enter the Dragon, where he became known as "Bolo", the name of the character he portrayed. The two became close friends during the filming of Enter the Dragon, where Bruce and Bolo worked very closely on technique training. Bolo once stated in an interview, many years after Lee's death, "There will never be another Bruce Lee; and I am privileged to have had the honor of calling him friend."

Bolo Young is a close friend to the Former Master Olympia Flex Wheeler who was also practicing martial arts before moving to bodybuilding. 

Bolo Has a son who also did martial arts and moved to Bodybuilding competition and became a pro.



5 comments:

  1. I used to not like this guy when I was young but now I look up to him

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  2. You were too good to be a villain

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  3. One of my favorites all time. My dad is kenpo grand master Fred Brewster under Ed parker and he was also really close with Bruce Lee. All legends!

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