The film "Mortal Kombat II" is taking the box office by storm both domestically and internationally. In it, Max Huang, who plays Kung Lao, actually has a martial arts background from a young age. The actor studied Shaolin and Wing Chun martial arts, inspired by Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.
Learn Wing Chun and Shaolin martial arts.
Max Huang was born in 1988 in Germany to an Indonesian father of Chinese descent (a conductor) and a German mother (a singer). He trained at the Shaolin Temple from the age of 14, represented Germany in international competitions, and spent a decade working in Hong Kong action films under Jackie Chan.
Max Huang plays Kung Lao in the Mortal Kombat series (2021 and 2026).
Max Huang once shared that his passion for martial arts stemmed from films starring Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. “When I was three years old, my dad used to show me VHS tapes of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, so they were definitely the biggest motivation for what I’m doing now. A fire was ignited inside me. Watching them perform, I knew I wanted to do the same,” Max Huang said. He also revealed that Bruce Lee is his idol.
He also revealed that he studied Wing Chun as well as Shaolin martial arts: “ I started at a martial arts training center at fifty-one. I grew up in Germany, so there weren't many places to practice, especially Chinese martial arts; at that time, it wasn't widely known. I started with Wing Chun, a Chinese kung fu style, then competed in Wushu and became a member of the German national Wushu team. That's how I started with martial arts. I also studied at the Shaolin Temple for a while.”
Max Huang studied Wing Chun and Shaolin martial arts.
Nurtured by a childhood passion for action films inspired by icons like Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, he quickly identified the industry he wanted to enter and shine in. But what do you do when you're just an unknown talent with no significant experience? Huang's answer was: Show up at the 2010 premiere of The Karate Kid and find a way to personally hand Jackie Chan his showreel .
After successfully sending a DVD to Jaden Smith (Jackie Chan's younger co-star), Huang was incredibly surprised to receive a response email from Jackie Chan's team about a month later. After years of tireless effort, he earned the trust of the martial arts star and officially joined Jackie Chan's crew, dedicating over a decade to films such as Chinese Zodiac, The Foreigner, and Bleeding Steel.
Max Huang's martial arts background helped him perform the fight scenes well.
Max Huang has appeared in two film adaptations of the Mortal Kombat game (2021 and 2026), both playing Kung Lao, a warrior character whose iconic weapon is a brimmed helmet with a blade attached.
“It was amazing because the world of Mortal Kombat is a completely different world; it’s incredibly unique. To see all of that come to life, Kung Lao using his helmet and performing all those finishing moves (fatalities), it was really exciting. This project combined martial arts with fantasy and horror; we mixed all of those things together. It was fun to see how everything blended together so harmoniously. I really enjoyed the whole process,” Max Huang shared with Pop Culturalist in 2021 when he first played Kung Lao.
Max Huang's idol is Bruce Lee.
After five years, he returned to the screen with the aforementioned role. Speaking to the media, Max Huang revealed that to prepare for the latest Mortal Kombat film, he trained with a Shaolin monk for over a year.
“I sought out a Shaolin martial arts master named Shi Yan Lin in Berlin and he accepted me as his instructor. I trained with him for over a year to prepare myself physically for the role. With this second film, I wanted to bring more depth to Kung Lao's movements and behavior. For me, everything is connected to the Shaolin Temple, where both Liu Kang and Kung Lao grew up, so conveying that is extremely important to me,” Max Huang affirmed.
Inspired by Bruce Lee
On screen, Max Huang (as Kung Lao) interacts with his helmet with ease, controlling it as if with his mind. It moves incredibly fast; as a viewer, it's sometimes difficult to keep up, but it's the helmet itself that makes the fight truly special. Of course, mastering the helmet requires a tremendous amount of work. Fortunately for Huang, his background in traditional Chinese martial arts gives him a natural advantage.
"The philosophy in Chinese martial arts has always been to make the weapon a part of your body. And I try to do the same with the helmet. The approach is to integrate everything and make the helmet a part of Kung Lao instead of two separate entities," Max Huang asserted. He also revealed that he cut out a cardboard version of the helmet for practice, trying to make the helmet an extension of the Kung Lao body.
Max Huang created a cardboard version of the hat for training.
Max Huang stated that the execution of the fight scenes in the film depends not only on the actors but is the result of a large team effort, including action coordinators, choreographers, cinematographers, and many other departments. He particularly acknowledged the contributions of the action team in Mortal Kombat.
Drawing on 25 years of martial arts experience, Max developed the philosophy of "Creating Controlled Chaos," based on four core elements: choreography, acting, camera movement, and editing; lacking one element, the entire scene loses its effectiveness. He emphasizes the importance of rhythm, the way tension is created and released in action sequences. Growing up in a musical family, Max always visualizes the rhythm before choreographing fight scenes. He is also deeply influenced by the styles of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.
“If you watch Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee movies, they both do that (the fighting rhythm) but in a different way. Jackie Chan will do fast, 'slap, slap, slap' rhythms, using whatever is around him, then stop, pause, and continue fighting. Bruce Lee is the same; he's a master at building tension just through his eyes and facial expressions. He'll build it up until the rubber band snaps and then explode,” Max Huang analyzed.
Ludi Lin and Max Huang have appeared in two Mortal Kombat films.
Max Huang stated, “ I was deeply influenced and inspired by these action icons; I meticulously studied their work frame by frame. I probably watch a fight scene of Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan every day just to learn [laughs], it's crazy.”
“I feel that martial arts action is truly an independent art form, and it’s also quite underrated because sometimes critics or people just say, ‘Oh, it’s an action movie, it’s like this and that,’ but the amount of work you have to put behind it is enormous,” Max Huang shared.
In Mortal Kombat II, Max Huang's character has a spectacular fight scene with Liu Kang, played by Ludi Lin. "A huge amount of time was invested in this scene," Huang said about the battle between Liu Kang and Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat II. He affirmed, " Personally, I'm quite satisfied with the result. This is probably the best fight scene I've ever done to date. It's the fight of my life."