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Tan Tao-liang (Chinese: 譚道良; Tan Dao-liang; born 22 December 1947) is a Chinese-South Korean martial artist and former film actor. He used numerous pseudonyms throughout his career, mostly Delon Tam, Dorian Tan Tao-liang, Tan Tao-liang, Delon Tan, Dorian Tan and Delon Tanner. Noted for his leg holding and hopping skills, Tan was nicknamed "Flash Legs".

In his later life, Tan taught martial arts, notably to Yuen Biao, Ke Huy Quan of The Goonies, and Shannon Lee, daughter of the late Bruce Lee.

Early life

Tan was born on December 22, 1947, in Busan, South Korea. He is a Chinese Korean, aka hwagyo, whose parents fled mainland China after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out. At age 7, Tan began studying martial arts including taekwondo, judo, hapkido and kung fu. Of these styles, he favored taekwondo as it "allowed 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 won many championships including a world title.

At age 23, Tan began teaching taekwondo at the National Taiwan University. He went on to teach martial arts to action star John Liu.

Career

In 1973, Tan was noticed by filmmakers and got offered a role in the film The Hero of Chiu Chow. After the film's release, he continued to star in kungfu films while spending most of his time teaching martial arts. 1976 was when Tan achieved 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 taekwondo school in 1987 under the name Delon Tan. He eventually relocated to Taiwan (with his students taking over his studio in Southern California), and later returned to the film industry with the 1991 movie Breathing Fire, serving as executive producer under the pseudonym Delon Tanner. The plot was based on a story he wrote similar to that of his 1977 film The Flash Legs.

In 2006, Tan was arrested in Hong Kong for beating up five staff members at a restaurant, acting drunk and belligerent in disputing the bill.

Filmography

References

1. Francis, Tony (27 June 2009). "John Liu's Zen Kwun Do: The Secret Origins". Shaolin Chamber 36. Archived from the original on 10 March 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
2. ^ Valentin, Albert. "The Art of Kicking Part 1: Kickers of Classic Kung Fu". Kung Fu Cinema. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
3. "譚道良". October 18, 2024 – via Misplaced Pages.

External links

• Tan Tao-liang at IMDb
• Tan Tao-liang at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase

• 1947 births
• Cantonese people
• Hong Kong male film actors
• 20th-century Hong Kong male actors
• Hong Kong film producers
• Hong Kong kung fu practitioners
• Hong Kong hapkido practitioners
• Hong Kong screenwriters
• Living people
• People from Busan
• South Korean people of Chinese descent