Dick Wei

Dick Wei was born Tu Jilong in the town of Pingtung in southern Taiwan.^[1] He is of Hakka ancestry. He began studying martial arts in Junior High School, going on to win numerous competitions.^[2] He later served in the Taiwanese army, attaining the rank of captain, and was an instructor in unarmed combat, especially Tae Kwon Do.^[3] Prior his movie career, he also worked as a combat instructor for the Taiwanese police force.^[4] His first films were made while he was still in the army; most were low budget Taiwanese productions. His earlier movie appearances tended to be quite brief and he often played supporting or tertiary roles.

While operating a martial arts studio in Taipei, he was spotted by Chang Cheh who persuaded him to have a screen test which was shown to Sir Run Run Shaw. Impressed with the footage, Shaw signed him with the Shaw Brothers and he relocated to Hong Kong in 1977. Under the stage name "Tu Lung", he made several martial arts films with the studio including Five Deadly Venoms (1978), The Avenging Eagle (1978), Kid with the Golden Arm (1979), and The Kid With a Tattoo (1980).

In the early 1980s, he moved to Golden Harvest where he joined Sammo Hung's team of actors and stuntmen. Starring in films many of which were helmed by Hung, Dick Wei became known for playing villainous roles such as Suen in The Prodigal Son (1981), pirate king Lor Sam Pau in Project A (1983), and mountain bandit number 6 in Millionaires Express (1986). He also trained actresses Joyce Godenzi for her role in Eastern Condors, and Michelle Yeoh when the latter first began making martial arts movies.