Born in China in 1946, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong. In 1986, he directed A Better Tomorrow, which established his distinctive directorial aesthetics combining the "Gun Fu" style and lyrical violence. He went on to direct masterpieces like The Killer (1989) and Hard Boiled (1992), before moving to Hollywood, where he directed Face/Off (1997), Mission: Impossible II (2000), and other major productions. In 2010, he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival.
