Leo Fong is a former Methodist

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

 minister, boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

, martial artist

Martial arts

Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

, and actor who has been making films, acting and directing since the early 1970s.

Early years

Fong was born in Canton

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 in 1928. He arrived in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 with his parents at age five. The family settled in Widener

Widener, Arkansas

Widener is a town in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 335 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Widener is located at ....

, Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

. After suffering racial taunts

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

 at school, going home telling his father and finding out what they actually meant and then later suffering further racial taunts, he got into a fight at school and he was unfairly punished by a teacher. At age 12 he bought a book called The Fundamentals of Boxing by Barney Ross

Barney Ross

Barney Ross , born Beryl David Rosofsky, was a world champion boxer in three weight divisions and decorated veteran of World War II.-Early life:...

. He studied the book from cover to cover and learnt how to defend himself from bullies. He took up boxing at age 15. Having a knock out punch, his amateur record

Amateur boxing

Amateur boxing is practised at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, and in many other venues sponsored by amateur boxing associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration and fighters wear head protection, so this type of competition prizes point-scoring rather...

 was 18–7.

His entry into eastern martial arts began in the 1950s with judo

Judo

is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...

 and jiu jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting...

. Through the years he studied and practiced various martial arts styles to the point where he developed his own style called Wei Kune Do.

He was a sparring

Sparring

Sparring is a form of training common to many martial arts. Although the precise form varies, it is essentially relatively 'free-form' fighting, with enough rules, customs, or agreements to make injuries unlikely...

 partner and friend of famed martial artist Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...

. Fong appeared on the cover of the 10th anniversary edition of Black Belt magazine. Bruce Lee arranged it.

Fong has a bachelor of arts degree in physical education, a masters of theology degree as well as a degree in social work.

Film career

The first film in which he acted was Murder In The Orient (1974), a Filipino

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 martial arts exploitation film that co-starred Ronald L. Marchini and also featured Eva Reyes and Rodolfo 'Boy' Garcia. In 1975 he starred in Bamboo Trap with Filipino actors George Estregan

George Estregan

Emilio Marcelo Ejercito, Jr. , better known as George Estregan, Sr. or simply George Estregan, was a three-time FAMAS award-winning Filipino film actor....

, Chanda Romero

Chanda Romero

Chanda Romero is a Philippine actress. She is mostly seen on GMA Network.-Television:-Movies:-References:...

, Eddie Garcia

Eddie García

Eddie Garcia popularly known as Manoy is a Filipino film actor and film director.- Biography :...

, Rez Cortez and martial arts cult hero Ron van Clief

Ron van Clief

Ron van Clief is an American martial artist and an actor in Hollywood and Hong Kong action films. He is the father of poet Shihan van Clief.- Early life :Van Clief was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City...

.

Since the late '70s as well as being the main actor in films, he has branched out into writing, directing, and producing films. Some of his films in the early to mid-'80s featured the same stock of actors, Cameron Mitchell

Cameron Mitchell (actor)

Cameron Mitchell was an American film, television and Broadway actor with close ties to one of Canada's most successful families, and considered, by Lee Strasberg, to be one of the founding members of The Actor's Studio in New York City.-Early life and career:Born Cameron MacDowell Mitzel in...

, Hope Holiday

Hope Holiday

Hope Holiday was born in New York, NY. Has extensive Broadway Musical Comedy background; has acted in 1960s, 70s and 80s film and TV. Perhaps her best film role was that of "Mrs. Margie MacDougall," Jack Lemmon's partner in self-pity on Christmas Eve night, in the Billy Wilder film "The Apartment"...

 and Stack Pierce

Stack Pierce

Stack Pierce is an actor who prior to becoming an actor was once a boxer and then later on a pro baseball player -Acting career:His acting career mainly began in the early 1970s with film roles in Night Call Nurses , Fred Williamson's film Hammer and Cool Breeze as well as many acting roles in...

.

A more recent film of his is Transformed, a 2005 film with a somewhat Christian theme and anti-drug message that featured Tadashi Yamashita

Tadashi Yamashita

is an Japanese American martial arts instructor and actor.- Biography :Yamashita was born in mainland Japan but raised in Okinawa, where he earned a black belt at the age of 16...

 and Fred Williamson

Fred Williamson

Fred "The Hammer" Williamson is an American actor, architect, and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s.-Football career:...

. This was the second time that he had appeared in a film with Williamson. The first was Blind Rage, a 1978 film about a gang of blind men that rob a bank. As well as acting in Transformed, he also directed and produced it, composed the theme song and was involved in the editing. His latest film work includes Drifter TKD, a 2008 film in which he played Master Lee and The Last Musketeer 2009 which he produced.

Selected filmography

Actor

• Murder in the Orient (1974)
• Tiger's Revenge (1975)
• Bamboo Trap (1975)
• Enforcer from Death Row (1978)
• Blind Rage
  Blind Rage
  Blind Rage is a blaxploitation martial arts film from 1978 starring the former all-star football star Fred Williamson, Tony Ferrer and D'Urville Martin, about 5 blind martial artists pulling off a bank robbery....
  
  (1978)
• The Last Reunion (1980)
• Killpoint
  Killpoint
  Killpoint is a 1984 American action film directed by Frank Harris that stars Richard Roundtree, Cameron Mitchell, Leo Fong, Stack Pierce and Hope Holiday....
  
  (1984)
• Ninja Assassins (1985)
• Low Blow (1986)
• Rapid Fire (1988)
• License to Kill (1988)
• Jungle Heat (1988)
• Blood Street (1990)
• Showdown (1993)
• Cage II (1994)
• Carjack (1996)
• Transformed (2005)
• Drifter TKD (2008)