Robin Shou (full name Robin Shou Wan Por; Chinese: 仇雲波, born July 17, 1960) is a Chinese actor working in the American movie industry. Usually appearing in martial arts films, he is best known for his portrayal of Liu Kang in the movie Mortal Kombat.
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 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.
Shou returned to California State University, Los Angeles and obtained his B.S. in civil engineering. He spent a year and a half in this field and he was convinced he needed a different career. He found computer and electronics boring. He was always trying to follow the ideal; finishing school, getting a job, getting married… He was unhappy and the only thing that kept him going was martial arts.
He soon took off to Hong Kong, planning to vacation and think. Soon after his arrival, however, he was offered a chance to appear in a movie as a stuntman. He was offered job after job, and for his first two years in Hong Kong, he played big parts in action films. He lived in a little Kowloon rooftop apartment for $250 a month.
When Shou is not making films he takes ceramic classes, paints, welds and does woodworking. He likes to do anything that involves working with his hands.
Shou's first real dramatic role was in Forbidden Nights in 1990, where he played opposite Melissa Gilbert. Though only a TV film, this was his first American debut. However, Shou went back to Hong Kong and continued making movies there. By this time, he was more choosy about the roles he would play. He wanted other roles besides that of a bodyguard or a stuntman. He began turning down roles and after nine years he was bored and ready to quit acting.
In 1994, Shou returned to Los Angeles to start an import/export business. Then he got the call from his agent, ranting about a "perfect role" for him in a movie called Mortal Kombat. Robin was uninterested, assuming he would be playing a villain who gets killed in the end. His agent begged him to audition, and he did, along with other top contenders; Jason Scott Lee (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), Russell Wong (The Joy Luck Club), and Dustin Nguyen (21 Jump Street). Seven auditions later, he was cast as Liu Kang.
Shou also appears in a minor role in another fighting video game adaptation, DOA: Dead or Alive, based on Tecmo's video game series of the same name, produced by Mortal Kombat director Paul W. S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt. His next role is Gen in 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which is also based on a popular series of fighting video games, Street Fighter.
