Andy Cheng

Andy Cheng, born Cheng Kai-Chung in Hong Kong in 1966, is a stuntman, martial artist, choreographer, actor and director, roughly in that order of how the industry used him. He was a prominent member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team from the late 1990s into the early 2000s before joining Stunts Unlimited, doubled for Chan when Chan was too injured to perform, and was pulled out of a boat stunt that went badly wrong on Rush Hour 2 by Chan himself.

His credit list is what a stunt career looks like written down, and it is a useful thing to see. A wall of mid-1990s Hong Kong action titles where the row says uncredited or gives no character name at all: High Risk, The Blade, Return to a Better Tomorrow, Angel Terminators 2, The Saint of Gamblers, God of Gamblers 3, Sixty Million Dollar Man, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star. The people doing the most dangerous work on those films are frequently the ones the titles do not name.

The crossover to American production came through the same route as most Hong Kong stunt talent: Rush Hour 2, Big Momma's House, U.S. Seals II. From there he moved behind the camera, directing End Game and Redline, and has kept working as a stunt coordinator since.

Later credits include Master Hung in Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone, and an appearance as himself in the documentary series The Art of Action, where the people who made this era of action cinema finally get to describe it in their own words.