Phillip Kwok was born October 21st, 1951 in mainland Taiwan. He enrolled in the Lu Kwan Peking Opera school at age 14, which was funded by the Taiwanese Army. As a student, he learned "Northern Style" kung fu: a combination of kicks, acrobatics, and weapon skills. In the early to mid 1970s, Kwok did alot of stunt work in Chang Cheh's films. He was pointed out by Lau Kar Leung on the set of Chang Cheh's "Shaoln Avengers" and got his big break in "Marco Polo" aka "The Four Assasins". He was introduced as the Lizard Venom in Five Deadly Venoms. From there he took lead roles in over 20 Shaw Brothers Films.

The only Venom to find continual work in Hong Kong, Philip Kwok turned his talents to directing after the Shaw sets closed in 1985. He is know one of the top leading action directors (next to Corey Yeun and Jackie Chan) in the world. He has worked with John Woo (Once a Thief, Big Heat, Hard Boiled). Kwok was hired as leading action choreographer for Tomorrow Never Dies and Brotherhood of the Wolf and Michelle Yeoh's "The Touch". He has worked with Yuen Biao, Donnie Yen and even shot never released spectacular fight footage with Jackie Chan for Police Story 3.