Sheng Chiang

Born Chiu Kang-sang on April 4, 1951 in Taiwan. Chiang had family problems from a young age. His family was too large and his parents could not look after him properly, so he was sent to the Fu Sheng Opera School in Taipei, Taiwan. During his time here, he had met friends which would become part of the Shaw Brothers studio with him, such as Robert Tai, Lu Feng and Kuo Chui. When studying at the school, Chiang trained in martial arts and acrobatics. In the mid 70's, Director Chang Cheh started his own company and headed out to Taiwan to find the latest talent for future projects. It was on this trip where he met Chiang Sheng, impressed by his martial art and acrobatic abilities, Chang Chen invited him to go to Hong Kong and do some work for him. In 1976, Chiang started work over in Hong Kong, having already appeared in a few movies (but nothing major), he got a small part in the Sammo Hung movie, Traitorous (1976), before heading to Shaw Brothers to make an appearance in the movie Shaolin Temple (1976). From 1976 to 1978, he appeared in movies such as Cai li fa xiao zi (1976), Jiang hu han zi (1977), The Brave Archer (1977) and The Shaolin Avengers (1976). 1978 was to be a great year, as he starred in the all time classic Five Deadly Venoms (1978), where he would forge a great working relationship with actors Sun Chien, Kuo Chui, Lo Meng and Lu Feng. Chiang would continue to film more classics with Sun Chien, Kuo Chui, Lo Meng and Lu Feng. They starred in_Invincible Shaolin_, The Kid with the Golden Arm (1979), The Magnificent Ruffians (1979), Crippled Avengers (1978), Two Champions of Death (1980), Ten Tigers of Kwangtung (1980) and many others. Chiang could not only enrich the movie with his breathtaking acrobats and agility, but also bring the comic relief to the film. In 1981, Chiang and the rest of the venoms disbanded with. Chiang, Lu Feng and Kuo Choi starting a new production company in Taiwan. The first movie he and his fellow team made was Shu shi shen chuan (1981), which Chiang acted and choreographed the action scenes, Chiang shortly after wanted to go back to Hong Kong, but his wife convinced him to stay put in Taiwan. Not long after staying in Taiwan with his wife, Chiang found it very difficult, not being able to find work anywhere which led to him divorcing his wife and became a heavy drinker. On August 18, 1991 Ricky Cheng Tien Chi, an old friend of Chiang, came to see him, but found him dead. It is said that he was lying dead for three days before being found. He died from a heart attack. But Kuo Chui once said "it was more of a broken heart". He was only 40 years old.