Jimmy Wang Yu (28 March 1943 – 5 April 2022) was a Hong Kong-Taiwanese martial artist, actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. Initially a contract player for Shaw Brothers, he rose to fame for his starring role in The One-Armed Swordsman (1967) and its sequels, and was one of the first major stars of martial arts and wuxia cinema. At the height of his fame in the 1970s, he was the highest-paid martial arts actor in the world. According to The New York Times, Wang was "the biggest star of Asian martial arts cinema until the emergence of Bruce Lee."

Wang Yu was well known for his volatile personality and ties to organized crime off-screen. He was a suspected member of the Bamboo Union triad, and was charged in the 1981 murder of several Four Seas Gang members, though he was acquitted due to a lack of evidence.

Born Wang Zheng Quan (王正權) in Shanghai in 1943, Wang and his family moved to Hong Kong when he was still a child. From a young age, he trained in karate, tai chi, Wudang quan and taijijian. For a time he served in the National Revolutionary Army, and was also a competitive swimmer and a car racing enthusiast.

Wang joined Shaw Brothers Studio in 1963 as a stunt performer, and had his first acting role in the 1965 film Temple of the Red Lotus. In 1968, he acted with Cheng Pei-pei in the wuxia film Golden Swallow, directed by Chang Cheh. Following that, Wang starred in many other wuxia films, including One Armed Boxer (1971), Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976) and Return of the Chinese Boxer (1977).

If The One-Armed Swordsman was the movie that launched Wang's acting career, The Chinese Boxer was the film that sealed his fame in Hong Kong cinema. The latter has been credited^{[citation needed]} as being the first Hong Kong martial arts film that kickstarted the unarmed combat genre, mainly kung fu. It also triggered a phenomenon that filled the ranks of many Chinese martial arts associations across Southeast Asia. Chinese youths, in their bid to emulate Wang, took to punching sandbags, and reading up on the history of Shaolin Kung Fu.

Controversy dogged Wang after the fame that exploded with The Chinese Boxer. He broke his contract with the Shaw Brothers Studio, and was promptly slapped with a lawsuit. The legal tussle that ended in the studio's favour led to Wang being banned from making films in Hong Kong. Wang then looked to Taiwan for better career prospects, linking up with Golden Harvest and other independent film outfits. His subsequent works were mostly filmed in Taiwan.

With the success of The Chinese Boxer, Wang stood unchallenged in Southeast Asia for a short time as the Chinese actor with the most formidable fists and legs. But beginning in the 1970s, Wang's star began to be eclipsed with the entry of new actors, many with superior martial arts training such as Ti Lung, David Chiang, and especially Bruce Lee, whose role in The Big Boss (1971) revolutionised the martial arts film genre.

In 1975, Wang starred in the Australian action film The Man from Hong Kong. In 1976, Wang appeared alongside Jackie Chan in Lo Wei's Killer Meteors. That same year, Wang wrote, directed, and starred in Master of the Flying Guillotine, produced by Wong Cheuk-hon, which became a cult classic and was later cited by Quentin Tarantino as one of his favorite films.. In the late 1970s, Wang helped Chan when then the latter sought his help in settling a dispute with Lo Wei that allegedly involved Triads. Chan eventually repaid the favor with his roles in Wang's films, Fantasy Mission Force (1982) and Island of Fire (1990).