Born in 1953 in Ningbo, Zhejiang (East China), he left his studies before finishing middle school in 1966 to dedicate to fishing. In 1969 his family moved to Taipei. Then he decided enrolling in a filming company as stuntman. After 10 years doing stunts and little roles in movies, Ko attracted the attention of producer Karl Maka, who hired him as performer of motorcycle and car stunts of "Aces Go Places" in 1982. His work in this movie made him a very famous stuntman, so he participated in several sequels of the movie and other movie hits. At the same time Ko began to perform record-breaking jumps: in 1992 he jumped 38 meters over the Great Wall on his motorcycle, and in 1997 he jumped 55 meters over Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River in a car, so he obtained the title of "Asian Flier No. 1".