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Birth Name: Yeung Lai Ching
Screen Name: Cynthia Khan Also Credited As: Cynthia Yang Birth Date: ? Birth Place: Taiwan |
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Birth Name: Yeung Lai Ching
Screen Name: Cynthia Khan Also Credited As: Cynthia Yang Birth Date: ? Birth Place: Taiwan |
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When Michelle Yeoh "retired" in 1987, producer Dickson Poon needed someone to replace the action actress. Enter Yeung Lai Ching, a Taiwanese dancer who up to that time had only appeared in a few small films made in her native homeland. She was dubbed Cynthia Khan, a moniker created by combining the names Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Khan. "In the Line of Duty 3" was her debut as an action actress, and she looks to be quite comfortable in the role of Inspector Yeung. Oh, and she looks good in her fight scenes, too! Cynthia remarks on training for ITLOD 3 in Bey Logan's Hong Kong Action Cinema "The most difficult thing for me was learning how to react to getting hit, with the stuntman teaching me how to fall."
But Cynthia's talent doesn't end with her fighting skills. She has a strong screen presence, being a very charming, beautiful woman with a wonderful smile, who at the same time can project a tough persona. One of the things I like about Cynthia is that she has an ability to quickly go from her pleasant personality to butt-kicking mode. When it's time to take action...watch out! This is when she dons what I call her "ass-kicking face". She just gets that look where she narrows her eyebrows, then takes a fighting stance...and you know it's all over for the bad guys! I first saw the "ass-kicking" face when I watched "In the Line of Duty 4", and it was one of the characteristics that put Cynthia on my list of favorite warrior women.
Obviously audiences liked Cynthia, as "ITLOD 3" was a big hit, and she went on to become a popular actress in gwg films. She starred in four more "In the Line of Duty" films, part four being the best of these sequels. "ITLOD 4" features a spectacular action sequence where Cynthia has a fight on top of a moving ambulance! Cynthia comments on this sequence in the book Hong Kong Action Cinema "I think the most dangerous scene in that film was the fight on top of an ambulance. It was hard just standing upright when the ambulance was moving, and I had to exchange kicks and punches with a stuntman." Cynthia's ability to handle herself in such hazardous situations made her one of the premiere action actresses of the late 80's/early 90's. Cynthia may have been popular in the Girls with Guns films, but she was not limited to this genre. She was able to crossover, to a degree, to period films such as "Zen of Sword"(1991) and "Blade of Fury"(1993). However, when the GWG genre began to die out in the early 90's, Cynthia found it hard to secure non-action roles, and ended up starring in many low-budget super-cop-type movies
Her GWG days behind her, Cynthia now wanted to acquire more "mainstream"(read: dramatic) roles, and to date has reached this goal. Currently, she is a successful TV actress, appearing in a number of shows on HKTV, and, I have read, wishes to pursue a singing career. Whatever she does, I'm sure she'll be successful--but I wouldn't mind seeing Cynthia put on the "ass-kicking" face one more time and clean house!
Cynthia Khan Action Gallery
Filmography
Note: Films with italicized titles can be considered part of the Girls With Guns genre.
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