He began as an extra in television after enrolling in acting classes at TVB. Many of his films have become classics of Asian cinema such as John Woo’s The Crime Syndicate (1986), City on Fire (1987), The Killer (1989), The Associates (1991), Foolproof (1992) and Full Contact (1993).

From 1998, he continued his career in the United States, in the film A Killer for a Target (1998) with Mark Wahlberg in The Corruptor (1999) and with Jodie Foster in Anna and the King (1999). He will replicate Michelle Yeoh in 2000 in Crouching Tiger and Dragon by Ang Lee and turns with Johnny Depp in 2007 in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.