Chinese name 譚道良 (traditional) Name Tan Tao-liang Birth name Tan Dao-liang Role Martial Arts Instructor | Ancestry Shandong Years active 1973–91 | |
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Jyutping Tan2 Dao4 liang2 (Cantonese) Occupation Martial arts instructor, actor, film producer, and screenwriter Movies Hand of Death, The Flash Legs, The Leg Fighters, Snake: Crane Secret, Showdown at the Cotton Mill Similar People Wu Ma, Brandon deWilde, John Woo, Hsia Hsu | ||
DORIAN TAN TAO LIANG (FLASH LEGS)
Tao-liang Tan (Chinese: 譚道良; Tan Dao-liang; born 22 December 1947) is a Hong Kong martial arts instructor and former film actor. He has been credited under numerous names throughout his career, most frequently Dorian Tan Tao-liang, Tan Tao-liang, Dorian Tan, and Delon Tanners. Noted for his leg holding and hopping skills, Tan was nicknamed "Flash Legs".
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Later in life, Tan dedicated his time to teaching martial arts. Notable students of his throughout the years include Yuen Biao, and Shannon Lee, daughter of the late Bruce Lee.
Early life
Tao-liang Tan was born on 22 December 1947, in Busan, South Korea. He is a Chinese Korean whose parents fled mainland China after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out. At age 7, Tan began studying a number of martial arts including taekwondo, judo, hapkido, and kung fu. Of these styles, he favored taekwondo as it "allowed for full contact, sparring and competition." In an interview, he said he liked high kicks because in taekwondo scoring, a kick to the head is worth two points. Tan went on to win many championships as well as a world title.
At age 23, Tan began teaching taekwondo at the National Taiwan University. He went on to teach martial arts actor John Liu.
Career
In 1973, Tan's fighting style was noticed by filmmakers and he was asked to appear in the film The Hero of Chiu Chow. After the film's release, he continued to act in motion pictures while spending most of his time teaching martial arts. 1976 was when Tan reached breakthrough success by starring in John Woo's Hand of Death, which also featured early performances by Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao.
After completing Last Breath in 1984, Tan retired from acting and moved to Monterey Park, California, where he opened a martial arts school in 1987 under the name Delon Tan. He eventually relocated to Taiwan, and later returned to the film industry with the 1991 movie Breathing Fire, serving as executive producer using the pseudonym Delon Tanner. The plot was based on a story he wrote that was similar to his 1977 film Flash Legs.