He is a Chinese Korean[clarification needed], aka hwagyo, whose parents fled mainland China after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out.
At age 7, Tan began studying martial arts including taekwondo, judo, hapkido and kung fu.
1976 was when Tan achieved breakthrough success by starring in John Woo's Hand of Death, which also featured early performances by Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao.
[2] He eventually relocated to Taiwan (with his students taking over his studio in Southern California), and later returned to the film industry with the 1991 movie Breathing Fire, serving as executive producer under the pseudonym Delon Tanner.
In 2006, Tan was arrested in Hong Kong for beating up five staff members at a restaurant, acting drunk and belligerent in disputing the bill.