Andy On

Andy On (born May 11, 1977) is an American actor and martial artist. Life and career On was born on May 11, 1977, in Providence, Rhode Island. He is a native of the US, and can speak English, Mandarin, and a bit of Cantonese. Andy On did not graduate from high school. He worked as a bartender in Rhode Island. While doing this, he was approached by China Star founder Charles Heung and filmmaker Tsui Hark to take over the role of one of Jet Li's film characters, Black Mask, in Black Mask 2: City of Masks (2002). He had no martial arts background. Director Tsui Hark had to send Andy to Shaolin Temple one month for training. He even received some guidance from Jet Li himself. Despite the poor reviews and the bad box office ratings, On continued to act, improving in both martial arts and acting. Like fellow Hong Kong film star Nicholas Tse, On trained in martial arts under Chung Chi Li, the leader of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. On began training with Chan in 2001 for the film Looking for Mister Perfect/Kei fung dik sau (2003), which was released two years later. On trained in wushu at the Shaolin Temple and studied film fighting under former Jackie Chan Stunt Team leader Nicky Li for his first film, Looking for Mister Perfect, which was shot before Black Mask 2: City of Masks, but released one year later, in 2003. On continued his acting career with many injuries, sustaining a hamstring injury on the set of New Police Story (2004) in one of the two fights against Jackie Chan. On was nominated and won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Actor Award for his role in Star Runner/Siu nin a Fu (2003). He shared the screen with the man who influenced him, Jackie Chan, in New Police Story. On has also won the Best New Artist Award in 2004 at the Hong Kong Film Awards for his role as Tank Wong in Siu nin a Fu, beating favorite Vanness Wu by only one-tenth of the votes.