It was ‘Shaolin Temple,’ Jet Li’s first movie. That was the movie that got me to want to learn martial arts. Then I became a huge Jet Li/Jackie Chan fan after that. – Daniel Wu
There’s a huge interest in the Chinese market, and Hollywood has a huge interest in the Chinese market with films like ‘Transformers’ making more money over there than here. – Daniel Wu
For us as Asian-Americans, I think the bane of our existence is one stereotype – ‘Sixteen Candles,’ the Long Duk Dong character. – Daniel Wu
I worked with Jackie Chan for a long time, and seeing how much pain he’s in, I realized that that might not be a sustainable career for me. So I started to develop my career as a dramatic actor rather than as an action actor. – Daniel Wu
I’ve built a career in Asia for 18 years, playing roles that had nothing to do with my race because everybody’s Chinese in the films. – Daniel Wu
When I was a kid, I loved watching kung fu movies – in San Francisco, we had ‘Kung Fu Theater’ on TV on Saturdays, and they’d air old Shaw Brothers movies with English dubbing, things like that. – Daniel Wu
I graduated from university with a degree in architecture and then ended up doing a series of internships with different firms. And once I was in an office environment, I realized that at school what I was doing was 98 percent creative, 2 percent makework, but in the real world, it was the other way around. – Daniel Wu
We’ll see what I do after ‘Badlands’ to show audiences that I have more in my repertoire besides martial arts. – Daniel Wu
I was a hyperactive kid, and it took awhile for me to find the right teacher. My master was a Shaolin kung fu teacher, but he also taught tai chi, Chinese medicine, brush painting – he was adept at all facets of Chinese culture. – Daniel Wu
In ‘The Matrix,’ you see the fight between Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne. It’s an amazing fight. But I know that they’ve rehearsed it for months beforehand. Because in some of the moves you can see them anticipating blocks before they actually happen. – Daniel Wu
Asian Americans haven’t had as many opportunities as other people to build their careers in Hollywood, just because there hasn’t been that much of an interest, especially in Asian American males. – Daniel Wu
I really want to take time and be in the moment with my kid for at least the first year. I know she’s not going to remember that, but it’s really for the family chemistry. – Daniel Wu
In my 20s, I could just power through stuff and be fine, but now, in your 40s? It’s kind of like Kobe Bryant. He plays basketball a little bit differently than he did when he first started out. – Daniel Wu
At Diversion, we want to do genres that people are not doing – or, if we’re doing genres that people are doing, to do them in a fresh way. – Daniel Wu
In my 20s, it was easy. In your 40s, it’s a lot more challenging. You have to look at it like you’re an actor, but you’re also a professional athlete. You have to train. – Daniel Wu
I’ve been lucky enough to build a career outside of America, where I got 18 years and over 60 films of experience. – Daniel Wu
If you’re down to 6% body fat, which I’ve done before, you burn out really quickly. Like, in a couple hours, you’re pretty much done, and then you’re useless. – Daniel Wu
To do eleven fights in four months is pretty crazy. In some shows that we do in Asia, there are three or four fights over a six-month period, so you have time to recover and gain your stamina. – Daniel Wu
Part of the Hong Kong style is the fact that a lot of the performers can perform the moves, and we don’t over-rehearse this stuff. – Daniel Wu
Because my master was this renaissance man, I wasn’t just learning a fighting style, I was learning how kung fu permeates all aspects of life, from eating to healthy living to mental state. – Daniel Wu
I turned 40, got married, got a kid, and my mother passed away. I experienced life and death, with the enjoyment of creating life and the loss, within one year. – Daniel Wu
Bruce Lee was the first star I idolized. Growing up as a Chinese American, there weren’t many people like me on the big screen. – Daniel Wu
