John Lone

This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (November 2007) Find sources: (John Lone – news, books, scholar)

John "Johnny" Lone (traditional Chinese: 尊龍; pinyin: Zūn Lóng; born October 13, 1952 as 吳國良) is a Hong Kong born American actor of Chinese and Macanese descent.

Early life

Lone was born as Ng Kwok-leung in Hong Kong, to a Chinese father and to Portuguese or Macanese (Chinese and/or Portuguese from Macau) mother.^{[citation needed]} He was raised in a Hong Kong orphanage. He began training at Hong Kong's Chiu Chiu Academy and at the Peking Opera. It was here, at the age of ten he was given the name Johnny. He later chose the name Lone to reflect the fact that he was an orphan and for its similarity to Lung, his Chinese name.

Sponsored by an American family, he left the Peking Opera troupe and immigrated to Los Angeles, California. In the United States he continued his performing arts studies at American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, California. Eventually, he moved to New York City, to pursue a career on stage.

Career

Lone struggled for a time until the actor Mako recognized his talent and suggested him for a role in David Henry Hwang’s first play F.O.B. From his performance in this play, Lone received an Obie Award. While in New York City he was discovered by the talent agent Jadin Wong, who helped him to launch his career. Wong subsequently discovered Joan Chen, Bai Ling, Lucy Liu, and Ken Leung.

His first major role in films was as the title character in Iceman. He is probably best known for his portrayal of the Emperor Puyi in The Last Emperor, crime boss Joey Tai in Year of the Dragon and as corrupt Hong Kong cop Ricky Tan in Rush Hour 2.

Despite his Hollywood fame, he chose to further his career in the Asian market. He played Emperor Kangxi, another Manchu emperor, in a 30 episode TV drama series 《乾隆與香妃》in 2004.

Filmography

• Iceman (1984)
• Year of the Dragon (1985)
• The Last Emperor (1987) as Emperor Puyi
• The Moderns (1988)
• Echoes of Paradise (1989)
• Shadow of China (1990)
• Shanghai 1920 (1991)
• M. Butterfly (1993) as Song Liling
• The Shadow (1994)
• The Hunted (1995)
• Rush Hour 2 (2001) as Ricky Tan
• War (2007) as Chang

Award nominations

• Golden Globe Awards
  • 1986 Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture / Year of the Dragon
  • 1988 Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama / The Last Emperor

• Independent Spirit Awards
  • 1989 Best Supporting Male / The Moderns

External links

• John Lone at the Internet Movie Database
• Message Board of John Lone