Given the name "Johnny" as he was growing up in the opera school in Hong Kong, around the age of twenty he assumed as an English surname "Lone", reflecting the fact that he had been an orphan without a family, who never knew the names of his parents.
Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world [1990] Fluent in several mandarin dialects, although he speaks mainly cantonese. In Peking Opera, John Lone grew up with martial arts legends Lam Ching-Ying, Tai Po, Chiang Wing-Fat (aka Mars), Chung Fat and Chan Lung among others. Studied Peking Opera under Sifu Fan Fok-Fa.