Still trying to come up with a good New Year’s resolution? We have a suggestion: Be more like Donnie and Cissy. Tama Miyake Lung talks to the power couple that has mastered everything from martial arts to filmmaking to family life

Writer, editor, actor, producer, director, choreographer, expert martial artist, first-class fencer and surprisingly skilled tennis player. Not to mention devoted husband, father, philanthropist and humanitarian ambassador. If you thought Donnie Yen does a lot, it’s only because you haven’t met his wife. Cissy Wang has worked behind the scenes on almost every one of Yen’s movies while also managing their family life, supporting their two kids’ budding careers, planning their off-duty activities, and launching and running multiple businesses and charitable foundations.

“I always say we work together but it’s more like I’m working for her,” Yen says, laughing, as we wrap the couple’s #legend cover shoot. “She does a lot more than I do. She does, seriously. You gotta see our schedule. She plans, like, the entire 365 days. Then she multitasks. She would say, ‘Let’s go visit our son, but at the same time, let’s do this and this on that same day.’ It can get physically tiring. But at the end of the day, we get a lot of things done.”

With a career spanning more than 40 years, Yen hardly needs an introduction. But for those who don’t know the action star’s origin story, the 62-year-old was born in Guangzhou and grew up in Hong Kong and, from the age of 11, Boston, Massachusetts. Influenced by his mother, grandmaster Bow-sim Mark, Yen practised various martial arts as a child. At 16, he was sent to train with the Beijing Wushu Team and at 18 he auditioned for famed Hong Kong martial choreographer Yuen Woo-ping.

Yen’s first starring role was in 1984 – in Yuen’s Drunken Tai Chi – and he quickly became known for his fast, powerful fighting style and innovative fight choreography. After appearing in several more martial-arts films, he launched his own production company, Bullet Films, in 1997 with his directorial debut, Legend of the Wolf. But Yen’s fame skyrocketed with his starring role in the Ip Man series, the story of the wing chun grandmaster for which he is currently working on a fifth instalment. Globally, he’s best known for his breakout roles in Star Wars and John Wick, the latter for which he has been tapped to develop, direct and star in an upcoming spinoff.

Wang, meanwhile, was born in Hong Kong and spent time in Lima, Peru, before moving to Canada with her parents and younger sister. She won the Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant in 2000, three years before she married Yen. Their daughter Jasmine was born in 2004 and son James in 2007. In addition to serving as Yen’s manager, she works with him to run Bullet Films and Super Bullet Pictures. The pair also co-founded Y.E.N. Charity Foundation in 2021 to organise various activities and projects to help Hong Kong communities of youth, the elderly and those in need. On the side, Wang even runs a speakeasy-style bar in Central.

To understand just how full Yen and Wang’s lives are, consider this past year. “So many things happening, right?” Yen says to Wang. “So busy.” The year began on the heels of the successful release of The Prosecutor – which Yen directed, produced and starred in, and which Wang co-executive produced – in December 2024, with the film earning a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and three nominations at the 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards.

While it certainly wasn’t the first film that Wang helped produce, it was the first for which she was officially credited. “With all his movies, I’m always there working alongside him. So I’ve learned a lot behind the scenes,” she says. “It’s all about solving problems, on the spot and throughout the whole film.”

For Yen, their partnership helps to make him a better director. “She gives another perspective, which is very helpful not only for me but I think in general for any creator,” he explains. “Of course, she’s knowledgeable – you need a sense of talent in terms of having that eye and taste and experience in life. Ultimately filmmaking is my life and sharing that experience, and even though she never went to school for filmmaking, she knows her stuff.”

With one challenge completed, Yen and Wang were ready for another – snowboarding. Together with their kids, the couple tried the sport for the first time. It was one of three sports Yen tried – and, not surprisingly, excelled at – in 2025. “Fencing wasn’t that tough. I took five lessons while we were visiting our son in London,” he says about preparing to face Olympic gold medallist Vivian Kong in a duel as part of the opening ceremony for the Kai Tak Sports Park in March. “But you did say it was very difficult because it’s very technical and repetitive, and he was sweating like crazy,” Wang chimes in.

The most difficult challenge, however, came in preparing to share the stage with another Olympic gold medallist – and undisputed legend of his sport. “With tennis, I found it was so challenging and difficult. I underestimated how difficult it is,” Yen says. “But at the same time, it was one of the most enjoyable physical experiences I’ve had.”

Yen, who had never once picked up a tennis racquet, agreed to play a celebrity doubles match with Roger Federer at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in October. Soon he was training five or six times a week. “It’s harder for someone like myself who’s naturally quite strong from martial arts,” he explains. “A lot of these professional tennis players, they’re quite skinny. Not that they’re not strong, but it shows that they don’t really need a lot of arm muscles. It’s all about technique and body coordination. And of course a lot of physicality. They’re super fit. According to my understanding from the two months that I invested in learning tennis, the standard of playing tennis today is so much more advanced than the past.”

That investment, however, more than paid off. Yen and Federer, returning to the court for the first time since his retirement in 2022, defeated actor Wu Lei and former WTA world no. 15 Zheng Jie in three sets in their exhibition match in Shanghai. “Dude, is there anything you can’t do?” asked one fan on social media after Yen posted a video of his #KungfuTennis.

Clearly, the answer is no. Even when it comes to his movies, Yen is a jack of all trades. “From the first film I witnessed, you’re not just an actor,” Wang tells him. “You’ve always been doing everything behind the scenes – the script, the lighting, the action, the music. He’s been involved in all aspects.”

Yen says that in the past he would let others take the credit. “But as I’m getting older, I’m more selective about the films that I choose. At one point I was doing four movies a year, and I was the action director and the producer of those four movies per year. So I never went home,” he says. “The last few years I’ve kind of narrowed it down to certain films, right? Because I’m doing fewer films, I put even more focus on those films. So therefore I’m just claiming my credit entirely.

“Way before I even met my wife, when I directed my first film, in 1997, it was obviously a small company. I had no money, nothing. And I had to learn pretty much every single aspect of making a film from the script to directing, lighting, editing, buying coffee, everything. And it’s just the accumulation of this knowledge that led to The Prosecutor.”

For Yen, it comes down to passion. Even 41 years after he starred in his first martial-arts movie, he remains passionate – or, as Wang likes to say, obsessed – about every aspect of filmmaking. Now, even Hollywood is taking notice, with the announcement in April that he would not only star in but also direct the John Wick spinoff centered on his character, the blind assassin Caine, making him the first Asian to direct and star in their own big-budget studio film.

“I just had a call with the head of Lionsgate,” Yen says. “He told me, ‘I have never in the whole history of the studio given a person this type of creative control. And I’m placing that on you.’”

Whether it’s luck, timing, years of hard work or a combination of all three, Yen feels he’s earned this level of responsibility. “It’s not just one movie or two movies or three movies. But years of proving that, oh, he did this, he did this, he did this. I believe he can do it,” he says. “I’m sure there are one-hit wonders or someone who’s just trendy. But in my case, it certainly took me years to get this far.”

No doubt Wang will be right there alongside him through every step of the process. “She’s always had a very practical mindset. We always turn to her for the final decision because nine out of 10 times she’s right,” Yen says when it comes to his career as well as that of Jasmine and James. “She always comes out with something interesting. And it always turns out to be pretty on point.”

Wang credits her loving family and worldly upbringing, which gave her confidence and a positive attitude. “I think the energy that I give out is so productive and positive,” she says. “And it comes back to you. So, for example, when we’re in LA [for Jasmine’s music career], I’m thinking the energy’s out there. And somehow during that trip we meet certain people who are talking about music and it all relates. I always say, maybe it’s my manifestation. I don’t know.”

“She loves life, meaning she’s fascinated with the world. She loves to explore anything. You name it – music, food, culture,” Yen adds. “Recently she’s really into Guandan, a card game that’s very popular, particularly in China. She loves to play. She loves to just absorb and learn.”

That sense of adventure fuels the family’s globetrotting lifestyle, with recent trips to everywhere from Iceland and Sicily to Ningbo, Xishuangbanna, Dali, Chengdu, Xinjiang, Shanghai and “so many more places in China”. “The most fun, first of all, is not what you expect,” Yen says about their trip to Iceland. “It’s a beautiful place with pretty good food. But I think the most fun thing about Iceland or any other trips is just being together as a family, being with her. That’s the most fun.”

Now, as they look ahead to 2026 and more projects, more adventures and more new things to learn, Yen and Wang are hoping to continue building on their success. “I think representation is one thing – to see more Asian faces,” Wang says. “But not in the stereotypical way. For me, when I first saw him in Star Wars, I had chills. Because I grew up with the Star Wars phenomenon and you never saw an Asian face ever. So for me that was like, ‘Whoa. Oh my God, I can’t believe it.’”

“I just want to leave a legacy in terms of being a Chinese actor/filmmaker, to pave the groundwork for younger generations so that they too have that opportunity. When I was coming up, it was very difficult to have your work recognised on a global platform. To make that stamp, it took years,” Yen says. “And I believe there’s still work to do. So that’s why I want to make films that really matter. Besides having success and influence and bringing entertainment to the audience, I want to leave something behind. I’m getting older, so I can only make so many films. But there are still a lot of things I want to convey through my films. Things I want to say to inspire young people out there, or the general audience.”

He also wants to help his fellow hard-working Chinese artists get the recognition they deserve. To that end, it’s impossible for him to single out one person as his #legend. “There are so many individuals past and present that I look up to, that I learned from,” he says. “The world is vast. There are so many great human beings out there that can inspire you. I can’t say one. It’s not fair to the others.”

CREDITS

Creative Concept / #legend
Creative Direction / Gordon Lam
Photography / Olivia Tsang
Styling / Jacky Tam
Hair / Kenji Ng
Make-Up / Sharon Siu
Lighting Assistant / Sing Chu & Michael Tang
Styling Assistant / Iris Lai
Venue / The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong

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