Roy Chiao

Roy Chiao (16 March 1927 – 15 April 1999) was a British Hong Kong-era Chinese actor most famous in the West for playing the minor villain Lao Che in the 1984 movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Chiao was born in Shanghai in 1927. His father was a supporter of Sun Yat-sen and was part of the Chinese Revolution. During the Korean War, Chiao went to Taiwan. He joined the United States Army at some stage, and with him being fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, and English, he was a broadcaster and interpreter for the army. In 1955, he went to Japan and there he met actress Bai Guang who cast him in the 1956 film Xian mu dan.

Chiao married Siu Kam-chi when he was in his twenties. She was a disc-jockey. Both he and his wife were Christians. Chiao had been a devout Christian since his early twenties. In 1964 he and his wife immigrated to Seattle.In his later years he became involved in missionary work.

He was the founder of "Artists' Home," a Christian Fellowship for actors in Hong Kong.Singer-songwriter Zac Kao is one of the people who have been positively affected by Chio.

He suffered three heart attacks before his heart disease-related death.

The English speaking film appearances that Chiao appeared in included roles in the 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Bloodsport, the 1973 Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon and the 1978 version of Lee's Game of Death. He performed in many Hong Kong films with a career total of 90 films.

1950s to 1960s

Chiao's screen debut was in the 1956 filmXian mu dan which came about as a result of his meeting actress Bai Guang. She had cast him in the film. On her recommendation he went to MP&GI in 1957 and that year he was signed to them.

Recognized as a handsome leading man, in the 1959 film, Ferry to Hong Kong, Chiao played the part of the Americanized Johnny Sing-Up, a black leather jacket, blue jean wearing Elvis styled gangster from America. Sing-Up was the partner of a pirate called Yen (played by Milton Reid) who board a ferry that has been battered in a storm and drifting near the China Coast.

1970s to 1999

In a type of send-up of his award-winning role in Summer Snow, Chiao played the part of the Alzheimer disease stricken grandfather of Tung Tzun inthe 1996 film Blind Romance.