He is best known to the international audience for playing principal characters in several Taiwanese films directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien.
Born in Taiwan in 1910,[1][2] Li Tien-lu had been trained in glove puppetry by his father since the age of eight.
[2] The group ended performances in 1937, soon after the Second Sino-Japanese War began and Japanese authorities censored Taiwanese Hokkien entertainment.
[3] Li's troupe premiered one of its most famous performances, 300 Years of Qing Dynasty — Keng Yao, in 1948.
He also played the patriarch of the extended Chinese family facing the events surrounding A City of Sadness (1989).