While a fantastic many actors (and actresses, however we’ll get to that in another list) play kick-ass powerful guys, these actors have real martial arts skills and have spent a few years training to turn out to be fully-fledged bad-asses.
Some are just a little too cliché or apparent, and hence we’re leaving Steven Segal out this time. We assume you’ll discover that there are some actors, generally recognized as anything but motion heroes, that could, maybe surprisingly, kick your butt. You’ll want each of these fifteen stars on your aspect when you ever find yourself in a brawl, and if they are not in your aspect, run.
Here are 15 Male Actors with Serious Martial Arts Skills.
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15. Ed O’Neil
While most famous for his roles in Married with Children and Modern Family, where he plays the quintessential “dad” role, Ed O’Neill is definitely a highly-skilled martial artist. A proficient athlete as a younger man, Ed O’Neill received a football scholarship to Ohio University but he had a popularity as a celebration animal and transferred to Youngstown State University, the place he was a defensive lineman. He signed for the Pittsberg Steelers, but was reduce throughout training camp.
For the final 22 years, O’Neill has educated in Brazilian jiu-jitsu after being introduced to it by his pal, the author and director John Milius. He has studied underneath Grand Master Rorion Gracie, and in December 2007 obtained his black belt. O’Neill has talked brazenly about his coaching and in the 2012 documentary I Am Bruce Lee, he referred to getting his black belt as “the greatest achievement of my life, other than my youngsters.”
14. Ashton Kutcher
Another actor you’d generally affiliate with comedy over action is Ashton Kutcher. Since making his name in That ‘70s Show alongside Topher Grace and future wife Mila Kunis, he’s gone on to make numerous movies and even returned to television when he replaced Charlie Sheen because the lead, alongside Jon Cryer, on Two and a Half Men. While he hasn’t made a reputation for himself within the action genre, ought to he selected to maneuver in that path, he’s actually got some nice skills to bring to the big screen.
Kutcher has trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ricardo De La Riva Goded, a sixth-degree black belt and master of his signature move, the “De la Riva” Guard (grappling) place. Kutcher has trained with him for several years and has achieved his black belt. He credit jiu-jitsu as a part of his wholesome way of life when folks ask about his physique. He has even travelled to Brazil several times to coach – now that’s devotion to the art!
thirteen. Jason Statham
One of the largest names in action cinema right now might be Jason Statham. Since his break-out roles in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, he’s gone on to carve out an unlikely niche as one of the most in-demand men in Hollywood.
Training in numerous martial arts, in addition to diving and soccer, since a baby, Jason Statham has stepped it up a gear since becoming an action icon and is now considered to be as skilled as most MMA fighters. His speciality is kickboxing, but he is additionally extremely skilled in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. His insistence on doing his personal stunts in films, all unchoreographed, is credited for the authentic look of his battle scenes. It’s not just preventing either, whereas capturing The Transporter sequel, he really did make the leap to the rear of a college bus from a jet ski, proving his athleticism isn’t just confined to kicking butt.
12. Mickey Rourke
Having educated as a boxer as a youth, Mickey Rourke turned his attention to appearing and have become one of many more recognised faces of the Nineteen Eighties with performances in films similar to Diner, Rumble Fish, and 9 ½ Weeks. It was for the Charles Bukowski biopic, Barfly, that he acquired the most important acclaim. Rourke surprised many when he quit acting in 1989 and became a professional boxer. He had turn out to be more famous for his private life and his appearing selections, and by his own account had “had no respect for [himself as] an actor”.
Despite being too old for so much of boxing promoters to take critically, his skilled report was surprisingly solid. Rourke was undefeated in eight fights, with six wins (four by knockout) and two draws. Having retired from boxing in 1994, Rourke returned to performing but struggled in mainstream Hollywood. However, appearances in Sin City, The Wrestler (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award), The Expendables, and Iron Man 2 have seen his profession have a degree of resurgence. He has studied the martial art of Hwa Rang Do for six years under Tae-joon Lee, the son of the art’s founder, and he credit the self-discipline he has found underneath Lee as inspiration for turning his life around.
eleven. Jean Claude Van Damme
It’s hardly shocking that Jean-Claude Van Damme has critical martial arts expertise. He began his coaching in Shotokan karate on the age of ten and earned his black belt at the age of 18. At age 12, Van Damme coaching for the nationwide karate team, and by age 15 started a competitive career in semi-contact karate, with a formidable forty four wins to his name. He also took up body constructing to improve his physique, which led to him earning a Mr Belgium bodybuilding title. At sixteen he took up ballet to improve his general physique and balance. While he additionally studied both taekwondo and muay thai, his fashion is mostly a mixture of karate and kickboxing. After a full-contact profession that consisted of 18 victories, he caught the attention of Hollywood casting directors after small roles in the TV sequence War and Remembrance and the film, No Surrender, No Retreat.
After being fired as the original Predator, replaced by the late Kevin Peter Hall, he broke out within the low finances movie Bloodsport. Numerous roles adopted through the ‘80s and ‘90s that made use of his martial arts abilities, together with Kickboxer, Lionheart, and the more revered Universal Soldier and Timecop. While his profession has become much less high-profile in latest times, roles similar to these in The Expendables 2 show that he nonetheless has plenty of moves left.
10. Dolph Lundgren
Lundgren has typically claimed that his tough relationship together with his father encouraged him to push himself to continually obtain extra. Not merely content to focus on his tutorial research, he holds a level and master’s diploma in chemical engineering, he also took up karate and earned a 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin karate. After becoming a bodyguard for Jamaican singer Grace Jones, the 2 started a relationship which saw them relocate to New York. When Jones was cast in the James Bond thriller A View to a Kill alongside Roger Moore and Christopher Walken, Lundgren scored a small position as a KGB henchman.
His huge stature combined along with his physicality caught the attention of Sylvester Stallone, after Lundgren petitioned exhausting for the role, and he was solid as the iconic Ivan Drago in Rocky IV in 1985. He educated in each weightlifting and boxing for 5 straight months in preparation for the function. Sylvester Stallone stated in an interview: “During Rocky IV, Dolph had hit me so onerous I had swelling across the heart and needed to stay in intensive care at St. John’s Hospital for four days.”
9. Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes started training in martial arts on the age of 12, incomes a 5th dan black belt in Shotokan karate and 2nd dan black belt in hapkido. He has also educated in capoeira underneath Mestre Jelon Vieira and in a quantity of other disciplines together with kung fu on the USA Shaolin Temple and Brazilian jiu-jitsu and kickboxing.
While he initially gained consideration for severe roles in Jungle Fever and New Jack City, it wasn’t long before he was as in demand for his martial arts abilities as a lot as his performing expertise (if not more so).
Roles in Passenger fifty seven, Demolition Man, Money Train, The Fan, and U.S. Marshals led to him changing into a bona fide motion star in addition to a dependable main man. His martial arts expertise could be used to their fullest impact in the motion flickBlade in 1998. His martial arts abilities along together with his brooding performance captured the character perfectly and ushered in the modern age of comic book-based field office hits.
eight. Taylor Lautner
Taylor Lautner might well have been born doing martial arts. Truthfully, he began coaching in karate at the age of six, incomes a black belt by age eight, and was at one time ranked number one in his class by the American Sports Karate Association.
A talented athlete, Lautner additionally excelled in football and dance. His distinctive expertise at such a young age was put to good impact within the movie The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl the place he played the imaginary hero Sharkboy. While the movie was met with unfavorable evaluations, he did handle to bag several more roles as a baby actor, often as a jock or “cool kid”. When he bagged his breakout position as Jacob Black within the Twilight series of movies, he put on over 30 kilos of muscle through intensive weight coaching alongside his persevering with martial arts training.
While his career hasn’t quite matched expectations post-Twilight, his background in martial arts may nonetheless lend itself in the path of future motion roles if he can shake off the teen-idol picture as he matures.
7. Neil Brown Jr.
Neil might be still most recognised for his position on AMC’s The Walking Dead in season 1 as Guillermo, chief of the Vatos. The seemingly menacing adversary to Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), he’s later revealed to be a kind-natured custodian, searching for a home stuffed with elderly survivors of the zombie apocalypse.
Overall, he’s spent twenty-six years coaching in martial arts and boxing and appeared in the martial arts TV collection WMAC Masters. The show lasted 2 seasons and featured heavily choreographed battle scenes between genuine martial artists. While the show wasn’t a large hit, it did enable him enough display screen time to garner some attention. While still principally identified for background roles, he has appeared in numerous TV reveals such as Castle, Harry’s Law, Suits, and Weeds, as well as roles in high-profile movies such as Fast and Furious (2009), Tigerland (2000) and Battle Los Angles (2011). He lately appeared in the biopic Straight Outta Compton as DJ Yella.
6. Mark Dacascos
Typically forged in action roles all through his career, Mark Dacascos is a extremely skilled martial artist having trained extensively because the age of seven. Between the ages of 7 and 18 he competed in, and received, a number of kung fu and karate championships. While Dacascos is proficient in his father’s style of martial arts, Wun Hop Kuen Do, he has additionally studied muay thai with kru puk, capoeira with Mestre Amen Santo, and wushu with Coaches Eric and Debbie Chen.
He has used these skills in several movies and TV reveals over time and obtained a lot consideration for his role in the film Drive (1997) which grew to become a cult-hit and the sequel to The Crow, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven taking part in Eric Draven, a job made well-known by the late Brandon Lee.
In current years he has become acquainted to tv audiences in exhibits such as Iron Chef America, Hawaii 5-0 and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
5. Michael Jai White
Most well-known for his appearances in the Tyler Perry films Why Did I Get Married? and Why Did I Get Married Too? and the spin-off TV series, Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse, Michael Jai White has also carved out a distinct segment in several action films over the earlier few many years. He additionally holds the excellence of being the first black actor to star as a significant comedian e-book superhero in a serious motion picture: 1997’s Spawn, beating Wesley Snipes’ Blade by a full 12 months.
White is an exceptionally gifted and dedicated martial artist holding no fewer than eight black belts in shotokan, taekwondo, kobudo, goju ryu, tang soo do, wushu and kyokushin, having been training in jiu-jitsu for the explanation that age of seven.
While lots of his movies have made good use of his martial arts expertise, most notably 2001’s Exit Wounds alongside Steven Seagal, he has been in a quantity of high-profile action movies the place he has performed bodily imposing characters, but has had no fight scenes himself, corresponding to 2008’s The Dark Knight the place he played a mob boss.
4. Chuck Norris
It has been stated that when Chuck Norris does a push up, he doesn’t push himself up a lot as he pushes the world down. While the amusing sequence of Chuck Norris details are less than reliable (under his beard isnotanother fist), his status as a tough man is well-deserved.
He joined the Air Force in 1958 and was stationed in Korea the place he first skilled in tang soo do. His curiosity led to black belts and eventually in growing his personal preventing type, chun kuk do. He currently holds a 10th degree black belt in that, a ninth diploma black belt tang soo do, an 8th degree black belt in taekwondo, 5th diploma black belt in karate, third degree black belt in brazilian jiu-jitsu and a black belt judo. In 1990, he grew to become the primary westerner to be awarded an 8th diploma black belt in taekwondo, becoming a Grand Master.
Besides his impressive martial arts skills, he has also had a successful movie and television career after a breakout role in Bruce Lee’s Way of the Dragon. A string of motion films during the Nineteen Eighties, together with the Delta Force collection, made him a family name, but by the ‘90s his star had appeared to fade. In 1993 he began the function he is most well-known for, Texas Ranger Sgt. Cordell Walker, in the lengthy operating collection Walker, Texas Ranger.
three. John Foo
One of the extra up-and-coming actors on the record, John Foo is quick carving out a role for himself as a reliable motion star. He started out as an extra/stunt performer in motion pictures such as Batman Begins (2005), the place he played a member of the League of Shadows, and Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2010). He is presently starring within the TV series Rush Hour, based on the movie sequence of the identical name, as Detective Lee, the character played by Jackie Chan within the original. His version of the character is extra confident, and less like a fish out of water, than the previous model.
He is a practitioner of Wushu and has been seriously coaching for the rationale that age of 15. He studied Kung Fu and Judo from the age of eight. This talent set gave him an edge when breaking into Hollywood, and combined together with his abilities as a stuntman and his surprisingly fast supply with a deadpan one-liner makes him a star to keep a watch on transferring forward.
2. John Cusack
John Cusack rose to fame within the mid-1980s in films such as Say Anything, Stand by Me, and Sixteen Candles. Since then he’s taken incredibly various roles in the comedies High Fidelity and Hot Tub Time Machine, the darkish comedy Grosse Point Blank, and blockbusters such as Con Air and 2012.
It was while preparing for 1989’s Say Anything that John Cusack started to train as a kickboxer, as his character, Lloyd, was an aspiring kickboxer himself. He skilled under former world kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez, and continued working with him for over 20 years. He at present holds a degree six black belt in Urquidez’s Ukidokan kickboxing system.
While he has appeared in some motion movies through the years, he’s not often displayed his impressive expertise on-screen, preferring to keep the two elements of his life separate. However, should he ever make a sequel to Grosse Point Blank, we’d love to see him kick ass as the veteran hitman once again.
1. Keanu Reeves
Initially planning on a profession in ice hockey, an damage led a younger Keanu Reeves towards appearing. Roles as an airhead-type in motion pictures like Parenthood and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and extra severe roles in Point Break (1991) and Speed (1994) established him as a strong action star. It wasn’t until making The Matrix (1999) that Keanu grew to become hooked on martial arts.
Playing the saviour of mankind in the post-apocalyptic world of The Matrix involved Reeves coaching in quite a few martial arts, including Jiu Jitsu, Wushu, Boxing, and Krav Maga. His respect for the varied stunt performers he labored with on the film led to him petitioning for them to receive greater salaries for the sequels Reloaded and Revolutions (both 2003) and him continuing to train in various forms ever since. His real-life friendship with stuntman Tiger Chen led to his being impressed to make the film Man of Tai Chi (2013).
While he doesn’t profess to be an expert in any type, roles in Man of Tai Chi (2013) and John Wick, amongst others, have seen him practice in but extra types such as Judo and Karate. If he continues at this rate, it won’t be lengthy before he principally turns into Neo…
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