Simon Yam

Simon Yam
Simon Yam
任達華
	Simon Yam at the 2010 New York Asian Film Festival
Born	19 March 1955 (age 69); British Hong Kong
Occupation(s)	Actor, producer, director
Years active	1977–present
Spouses	; Ho Sui-yi (m. 1981⁠–⁠1986) ; Sophia Kao (m. 1997)
Children	Ella Yam (daughter)
Awards	; Hong Kong Film Awards – Best Actor; 2010 Echoes of the Rainbow; ; Golden Bauhinia Awards – Best Actor; 2004 PTU; 2006 Election; ;
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	任達華
Simplified Chinese	任达华
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Rén Dáhuá
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	Jam6 Daat6-wa4

Simon Yam Tat-wah (Chinese: 任達華; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He received international acclaim for his performances in international film festival and box office hits such as Naked Killer, SPL: Sha Po Lang, Election, Election 2 , Exiled, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life and The Thieves.^[1]

Career

Yam started off as a model before becoming an actor in the mid 1970s. He then signed with the Hong Kong television network TVB, starring and co-starring in a number of television series prior to "apply his trades" in the film industry in 1987. His elder brother is Yam Tak-wing, a retired former Deputy Commissioner of Hong Kong Police.

In 1989, he starred in the Japanese-Hong Kong co-production of Bloodfight. This was the first of its kind in which English was spoken throughout the entire film. In 1992, Yam gained critical acclaim for his role as the maniacal Judge in the crime film Full Contact, where he faced off in a bloody battle against Chow Yun-fat's character. In 1993, he starred as "Dhalsim" in the action-comedy film Future Cops, a parody of Street Fighter directed by Wong Jing. In 1996, Yam began his role as Chiang Tin-Sung, the leader of the Hung Hing triads in the first three instalments of the Young and Dangerous film series.

In 2000, Yam starred as Cheung San, the progenitor of all vampires, in the television series My Date with a Vampire II, produced by ATV. In 2003, Yam made his Hollywood film debut in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life as Shaolin crime lord.

In 2013, Yam directed his first film, as part of the Hong Kong portmanteau horror film Tales from the Dark 1.^[2]

In Feb 2021, Yam, Tony Leung and Andy Lau will team up in a new major action movie titled Goldfinger, backed by Emperor Motion Pictures and mainland Chinese partners, with a reported budget of around $30.8 million (RMB200 million).^[3]

Personal life

Yam was married to his first wife Ho Sui-yi from 1981-86. In 1997, he married Sophia Kao, known as Qi Qi, an international model. She was born in Shanghai but raised in Austria. They have a daughter, Ella.

On 20 July 2019, Yam was stabbed at a promotional event in China.^[4] He suffered a minor injury and his manager said, "He was stabbed in the tummy area and also got a cut on his right hand." He got a small operation in Zhongshan and recovered. ^[5]

Yam's favorite investment is real estate in Hong Kong.^[6]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Law Don
1980	House of the Lute
1981	The Informer
1981	Twins
1982	He Lives by Night
1982	Green Killer
1986	Goodbye Mammie
	New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre
	Tong – A Chinatown Story
1987	The Big Brother
1988	Tiger Cage	Michael Wong
	Osmanthus Alley	Ah Hai
	Burning Snow	Wah
	Mistaken Identity
	Women Prison	Wayne Lu
1989	Live Hard	Senior Inspector Hui Tat-ming
	Burning Ambition
	Lucky Star
	Chinese Cop Out
	Framed
	The Wild Ones
	Mr. Coconut	Timothy Hui
	Final Run
	Four Loves
	Miracles	Chief Inspector Ho's man
	Big Man Little Affair
	Bloodfight
1990	Bullet in the Head	Luke
	Killer's Romance	Jeffrey
	Hong Kong Gigolo
	The Cyprus Tigers
	Fatal Termination
	Return Engagement	Lee Pang
	Doctor's Heart
1991	The Plot
	Bullet for Hire	Hon
	Great Pretenders	Yam Sai-sung
	Gigolo and Whore
	Black Cat	Brian
	Deadly Deal
	Sea Wolves
	Queen's High
	The Good, the Bad, and the Bandit
	Mission of Condor
	The Banquet	Wai's friend
1992	Gun n' Rose	Simon Lung
	Gigolo and Whore II	Jack Cheung
	Cash on Delivery
	Once Upon A Time A Hero in China
	Dr. Lamb	Lam Gor-yue
	Friday Gigolo
	The Night Rider
	Naked Killer	Tinam
	Powerful Four
1993	Full Contact	Judge
	Holy Weapon	Super Sword
	Killer's Love
	The Incorruptible
	Killer's Love
	A Day Without Policeman
	Insanity
	Can't Stop My Crazy Love For You
	Love Among the Triad
	First Shot	Sam Mok
	The Black Panther Warriors	Black Jack Love
	Future Cops	Sing (Dhalsim)
	Prince of Portland Street
	Final Judgment
	Run and Kill	Ching Fung
	Raped by an Angel	Tso Tat Wah
	Rose Rose I Love You	Micky
1994	The True Hero
	Awakening
	The Tragic Fantasy - Tiger of Wanchai	Chan Yiu-hing
	Drunken Master III	Gay bus passenger
	Crystal Fortune Run
	Crossings
	The Devil's Box
1995	Passion 1995	Dick Wong
	Twist
	Police Confidential
	Dragon Killer
	Because of Lies
	Love, Guns, and Glass
	Story of a Robber	Kon Tin-lap
	Farewell to My Dearest
	Ghostly Bus
	Man Wanted	Lok Man-wah
1996	King of Robbery	Chan Sing
	Bloody Friday
	To Be No. 1
	All of a Sudden	Tsui Chin-tun
	Street Angels	Walkie Pi
	Scared Memory
	Young and Dangerous	Chiang Tin-sung
	Young and Dangerous 2
	Young and Dangerous 3
1998	The Suspect	Dante Aquino
	Operation Billionaire
	Expect the Unexpected	Ken
	Casino	Giant Wan
	Hitman	Officer Chan Kwan
1999	The Mission	Frank
	The Legend of Speed
	Night Club
	Trust Me U Die
2000	Juliet in Love
	Model from Hell
	Horoscope II: The Woman from Hell
	To Where He Belongs
	Deathnet.com
	Cold War	Ka Hui
	Man Wanted 3
2001	Midnight Fly	Dr. Tong
	Fulltime Killer	Albert Lee
	Final Romance
2002	My Left Eye Sees Ghosts	Ben
2002	Partners
2003	Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life	Chen Lo
	Looking for Mr. Perfect
	PTU	Sergeant Mike Ho
	Eternal Flame of Fatal Attraction
2004	Explosive City	Superintendent Charles Cheung
	Breaking News	Asst. Commissioner Wong	Unbilled cameo
	Wake of Death	Sun Quan
2005	Mob Sister	Tsan Gor (Chance)
	Election	Lam Lok
	The Unusual Youth	Police Superintendent	Unbilled cameo
	Outback
	SPL (a.k.a. Kill Zone (US))	Inspector Chan Kwok-chung
	Dragon Squad	Commander Hon Sun
2006	Election 2 (a.k.a. Triad Election (US))	Lam Lok
2006	Exiled	Boss Fay	Cameo
2007	Eye in the Sky	Sergeant Wong Man-chin (‛Dog Head’)
	Triangle	Lee Bo-Sam
	Exodus	Sergeant Tsim Kin-yip
2008	Sasori
	Ballistic
	Fatal Move	Lin Ho-tung
	Sparrow	Ken / The Sparrow
	Ocean Flame	Detective Zhang	Also producer
	Tactical Unit – Human Nature	Sam
	Tactical Unit – No Way Out
	Tactical Unit – The Code	Lee Wing Sam	TV movie
	Ip Man	Chow Ching-chuen
2009	Tactical Unit – Partners
	Tactical Unit - Comrades in Arms	Sam	TV movie
	Night & Fog	Lee Sam
	Vengeance	George Fung
	The Storm Warriors	Lord Godless
	Bodyguards and Assassins	Fang Tian
2010	Black Ransom	Inspector Mann Cheung
	Bad Blood	Funky
	Echoes of the Rainbow	Mr. Law
	Ip Man 2	Chow Ching-chuen
	The Blood Bond	Lompoc
	Midnight Beating	Gu Zhensheng
2011	The Man Behind the Courtyard House
2011	Coming Back	Li Zhenmu
2012	Nightfall	George Lam
	Design of Death	Yi Sheng
	Passion Island	Simon
	The Thieves	Chen
	Cross	Lee Leung
	Ripples of Desire
2013	7 Assassins	Wu
	Cold Eyes	Suspect	Cameo
	Man of Tai Chi	Superintendent Wong
	Tales from the Dark 1	Kwan Fu-keung	Also director
	A Chilling Cosplay	Fang Youwei
	Control	Tiger
	The Constable	Lam Kwok-kuen
	Les Jeux des nuages et de la pluie		French film
2014	As the Light Goes Out	Lee Pui-to
	The Midnight After	Fat
	Iceman	Cheung
2015	12 Golden Ducks	King Sum
	Sara	Kam Ho-yin
	Two Thumbs Up	Chow Tai-po
	Lovers & Movies	Qiu Guitang
	SPL II: A Time for Consequences	Chan Kwok-wah
	Wild City	Wong
	Detective Gui
	Ulterior Motive	Ye Cheng
	Magic Card
2016	Inside or Outside	Fei Xin
	Phantom of the Theatre	Gu Ming Shan
	The Tenants Downstairs	Chang Chia-chun
	Mrs K	Scarface
2017	Father and Son	OK Gen
	Legend of the Naga Pearls	Xue Lie
	Colour of the Game	Wah
	S.M.A.R.T. Chase	Mach Ren
2018	A Beautiful Moment
	Air Strike	Air Defense Commander	Cameo
	Iceman II
	Operation Red Sea	Albert
	Justice in Northwest
	A or B
	House of the Rising Sons	Kin's father
2019	Change of Gangster
	The Human Comedy	Ba Ye
	Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch	Lee Keung
	Thaiflavor
	Little Q	Li Baoting
	My People, My Country	Wah
2021	Raging Fire	Lok Chi-fai
2021	Fireflies in the Sun	Zhang Zhengyi
2022	Death Notice	Officer Tsang
	Cyber Heist	Ben Suen Ban
	A Light Never Goes Out	Biu
2023	I Did It My Way	Chung Kam-mibg
2023	The Goldfinger	K.K. Tsang
TBD	Under Current

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	A House Is Not a Home	Lok Wah
1979	The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
1980	The Shell Game
1983	The Return of the Condor Heroes
1984	The New Adventures of Chor Lau-heung
1985	Reincarnated Princess
1986	New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre
1987	The Legend of the Book and the Sword
1989	War of the Dragon
1994	Heaven's Retribution
1996	ICAC Investigators 1996	To Wing-fat	Episode: "The Eagle in the web"
1999	My Date with a Vampire II	Cheung San
2006	Tokyo Juliet	Chu Xing
2018	The Great Adventurer Wesley
2019	The Thunder	Undercover Officer Li Jianzhong (alias Zhao Jialiang)
2019	One Dream One Home	Liang Dingwen
2021	The Dance of the Storm	Mu Chuan