Donnie Yen To Retire From Acting In 2013

It's sad but not surprising: At the age of forty six, with his body taking a pounding from years of work in martial arts film, Donnie Yen has set himself a goal of retiring from acting when he turns fifty. Forty six now, that means the on-screen end for Yen comes in 2013. Yen's departure will mean a huge void in the Hong Kong martial arts movie scene as he is indisputably the top of the heap right now and there is nobody on the horizon even close to being able to assume that mantle right now. Unless Wu Jing can take great strides forward over the next four years or someone appears out of nowhere to blow our minds, Hong Kong cinema will be without a true martial arts leading man for pretty much the first time since they began making films there.

This isn't to say that Yen is retiring from the industry entirely however. He makes it clear that he fully intends to stick around the industry as both a director and fight choreographer so his influence should be felt for quite a while to come. He also mentions that his performance schedule is already booked up through 2012 so if anybody out there wants him, you're going to have to act fast ...