| Billy Chow | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Name: | Bei-lei Chow | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 24 August 1958 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Hong Kong | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality: | Hong Kong Canadian | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation: | Actor, entrepreneur, kickboxer, martial artist, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years Active: | 1984–present | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Billy Chow Bei-lei (Chinese: t=周比利; born August 24, 1958) is a Hong Kong-Canadian former professional kickboxer and actor. He competed in the Welterweight and Super Welterweight divisions from 1977 to 1992. He was the WKA Super Welterweight champion from 1984 to 1986, and retired with a professional record of 45-0-8.
Chow is known to film audiences for his roles in several Hong Kong martial arts films, including as General Fujita in the 1994 Jet Li film Fist of Legend (1994), and Wong in the 1996 film Tai Chi Boxer (1996).
Chow was born in Hong Kong in 1958, and was later raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Hong Kong. He began training in martial arts, initially karate, at the age of 11. He was inspired by Bruce Lee's 1971 film The Big Boss. In 1976, he moved back to Canada for school, where he met Grandmaster Frank Lee in Edmonton, under whom he studied Fujian White Crane kung fu, boxing, American kickboxing, and Muay Thai.
Chow began competing professionally in 1977. In 1982, he won the Canadian Welterweight Championship. He was the WKA Super Welterweight Champion of the world from 1984 to 1986.[1]
His final match was on November 20, 2007, in which he lost via decision to Akarn Sanehha of Thailand.
He currently trains fighters out of Billy's Gym in Hong Kong, and Frank Lee's Muay Thai in Edmonton.
In the 1980s, Chow played an elite soldier in the 1987 film Eastern Condors alongside Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Yuen Woo-ping. Chow played thugs in two Jackie Chan movies: Dragons Forever in 1988, and Miracles in 1989.
In the 1990s, Chow had roles in three Jet Li movies: Fist of Legend in 1994 as General Fujita, Meltdown in 1995 as Kong, and Dr. Wai in "The Scripture with No Words" in 1996 as Chan / Japanese Embassy Guard. Chow played Jade Tiger's Brother in the 1995 film Iron Monkey 2 along with Donnie Yen. Chow played Wong, Great Kick of the North in the 1996 film Tai Chi Boxer along with Jacky Wu.
On August 26, 2006, Chow retired from acting at the age of 48, after his final film, Dragon in Fury.