Kam Yuen was born in Hong Kong and has studied the Northern System of kung-fu in the Orient and the Chinese communities of San Francisco and New York. He was the national director of the Tai Mantis Kung-fu Association and has taught his art at the University of Southern California, at California State in Los Angeles and at the University of Los Angeles. Besides being called upon to demonstrate at various martial arts tournaments, Yuen was also the technical and kung-fu advisor for ABC's weekly "Kung Fu" series. There, he worked as David Carradine's double for the difficult fight scenes and acted as one of the masters in the Shaolin Temple.
Kam Yuen's list of abilities include a proficiency in the Northern Shaolin System, Eighteen Law-Horn Forms, Seven Star Praying Mantis, Tai Chi Praying Mantis, Ta Chi Chuan and the use of numerous weapons of the Northern Shaolin System.