Meet Andy Le, The Self-Taught Martial Artist Who Played Death Dealer In "Shang-Chi"

    Quiet. Fast. Deadly.

    Stan Shunpike
    by Stan Shunpike

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings allowed the world to watch many excellent Asian actors on the big screen, some of them for the first time.

    Meng'er Zhang, Simu Liu, as Shang-Chi, Awkwafina
    Jasin Boland /© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / © Marvel Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection

    One such actor is Andy Le, who made his big-screen debut via Shang-Chi playing the character Death Dealer.

    Andy is a young actor and martial artist of Vietnamese descent from Southern California.

    Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    Born to parents who fled to the US during the Vietnam War, Le's parents wanted him to be a doctor or lawyer when he grew up, but the bug of martial arts bit him when he was a child.

    Le’s parents introduced him to the martial arts movies of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, and Le started formally practicing kung fu as a child. Le gave it up for a few years but resumed it during high school.

    He revealed, “I got bullied a lot in school and, you know, for me to come home and watch Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan fighting off like 10 guys, you feel, like, empowerment.”

    An interesting and inspiring thing about Le’s kung fu is that he is 90% self-taught, with the remaining 10% made up of the kung fu he learned from movies as a kid.

    Later, Le started Martial Club with his brother Brian and fellow martial artist Daniel Mah.

    The spectacular stuntman Brad Allan — who was trained by Jackie Chan — noticed Le’s talents and landed him a gig to star in a TV commercial with guess whom? Jackie Chan himself!

    "I showed Jackie the choreography," Le recalls. "And I’ll remember this moment forever: I told him, like, 'These are all your moves,' and the whole set cracked up. And Jackie was like, 'From 40 years ago. I’m surprised you know it.'"

    After Chan, Allan got him the chance to work with his future co-star, Michelle Yeoh — Shang-Chi wasn't their first movie collaboration! Yeoh and Le had worked together on a yet to be released science fiction film, Everything Everywhere All at Once.

    Le says of Yeoh, "During this time, I got to know [Michelle] as a person, and she’s even kind of taken me under her wing. And still, to this day, after spending a year with her, I can stand next to her and still be just as star struck."

    For Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Le and his brother were hired to perform stunts and train Simu Liu, who plays the titular role.

    Mike Marsland / Mike Marsland / WireImage

    "The stunt performers put their lives on the line to make the actors look good," added Le. "We were initially just martial arts teachers for a couple of months."

    A new role came up during the production and was offered to Le, who promptly accepted it. The role, as we all know now, was of the masked assassin Death Dealer.

    As expected, Le performed his own stunts for his role. And it wasn't easy shooting in a costume, wearing a mask and not being able to breathe properly.

    Despite this massive success, Le is very grounded and loves Little Saigon in Orange County, California.

    He says, "I think being at home, in my hometown, it keeps me rooted, it keeps me grounded. Being in Little Saigon always reminds me, like, 'This is where you came from. Don’t lose yourself.'"