When Yin-Chieh Han was 3 years old, he moved to Beijing and from 9 to 18 years old joined a Pekin Opera group. In 1946, he went to Shanghai and debuted in the film industry at 19 years old as stuntman that same year. Next year he left the movies temporarily to do martial arts and circus exhibitions in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively. Later he returned to Hong Kong and joined Shaw Bros. Film Studio as stuntman and later martial arts choreographer. He also played bit parts in his movies. At that moment Han gained a large reputation and met director Wu Kam-Chuen, who asked for him in 1966 when he left Shaw Bros. to go to Taiwan. Han and Wu collaborated in several masterpieces of martial arts genre until 1970, when Han returned to Hong Kong, signing a contract with new film company Golden Harvest. Here he played his most famous evil role, Big Boss in the film with the same title of 1971, directed by Lo Wei, who also collaborated with Han in several famous films. Han worked with the most famous stars of his time and also directed a few films in the 70s. He died of cancer in 1991 at the age of 64.