Roy Horan

Biography

Roy Horan, presently CEO and founder of Innovea Ltd., began his career as a martial arts student of renowned Korean taekwondo master and popular Hong Kong movie super-villain "lord of the super kickers" Jang Lee Hwang. American-born Roy had emigrated initially to Taiwan and finally Hong Kong after graduation from the University of Rhode Island. In 1975, with Hwang's help, he broke into Hong Kong film acting with roles in "Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story (1977)", "Snuff Bottle Connection (1977)" and "Jung-ri's School of Yong-hyung-ma (1980)". Roy soon became best-known to kung-fu movie fans as the evil "Russian Assassin" disguised as a Jesuit priest in Jackie Chan's "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978)" and later, as "Lewis", a wealthy kung-fu fighter who befriends "Tang Lung" (Bruce Lee's stand-in), in "Game of Death II (1981)". Between 1978-1989, Roy served as executive-in-charge of distribution, sales, marketing and international production for Seasonal Film Corporation in Hong Kong during the era in which the company produced Jackie Chan's first comedy kung-fu hit films. During his tenure at Seasonal, Roy also formulated and directed an instructional video series including, in 1980, "The Art of High Impact Kicking (1980)", based on Hwang's legendary kicking methodology. In 1987, he wrote, produced and appeared in "No Retreat, No Surrender 2 (1987)", performing on-camera as the "American Consular General". This role was his final acting gig. He subsequently left Seasonal Films to establish other companies for TV and video production, sales and distribution. In 1999, Roy shifted to an academic career and became a professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's School of Design where he taught filmmaking, helped establish the Multimedia Innovation Centre and, in 2005…