Favorite Martial Artists
by dford531 | created - 16 Jun 2019 | updated - 27 Dec 2021 | Public
1. Benny Urquidez
Actor | Grosse Pointe Blank
Benny Urquidez was raised in a very athletic family. His mother was a professional wrestler and his father a professional boxer, with all of his siblings black belts. He has earned black belts in nine different martial arts and trained in other styles.
The Jet decided to pursue full-contact karate ...
2. Ronda Rousey
Actress | Fast & Furious 7
Ronda Rousey burst onto the women's MMA scene in August of 2010. Born in Riverside County, California on February 1, 1987 to parents Ron Rousey and AnnMaria DeMars, little Ronda was born with an umbilical cord wrapped around her neck that damaged her vocal cords. She didn't speak coherently until ...
3. Randy Couture
Actor | Big Stan
Randy Couture is a collegiate wrestler and fighter turned actor from Everett, Washington. He served as a four time US Olympic wrestling team alternate as a soldier in the U.S. Army, and is also a 6 time world heavyweight and light heavyweight UFC champion and Hall of Famer. He is a graduate of ...
4. Oleg Taktarov
Actor | Predators
"Oleg makes an impression." On his DVD commentary for "Righteous Kill" (2008), director Jon Avnet remarks that he needed a powerful actor to play Russian mob enforcer Yevgeny Mugalat, a character who survives six gunshots at close range. International star Oleg Taktarov, born in Sarov, Russia, ...
5. Kelsey Andries
Stunts | The Last of Us
Kelsey Andries is an actor, stunt actor and stunt performer. She is a retired professional Muay Thai fighter. She is the 2014 IFMA Muay Thai World Champion and the 2016 IFMA Muay Thai Bronze Medalist at 67kg. She made the switch to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in 2016 and was set to have her ...
6. Al Leong
Actor | Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Asian American actor & stuntman has picked up a cult fan following based around his numerous appearances in high voltage action flicks from the mid-1980s onwards. Al nearly always turns up as a bad guy with his lean muscled physique, incredible agility, amazing martial arts skills, wispy black hair...
7. Carter Wong
Actor | Big Trouble in Little China
Carter Wong was born on March 22, 1947. He is an actor and assistant director, known for Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Rambo III (1988) and Kung Fu Arts (1978).
8. Chuck Liddell
Actor | Kick-Ass 2
Charles David Liddell is an American former mixed martial artist who was the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Liddell had 23 fights in the UFC. He is widely credited with helping bring MMA into the mainstream of American sports and entertainment. On July 10, 2009, he was inducted into the UFC Hall ...
9. Dolph Lundgren
Actor | Rocky IV
Dolph Lundgren was born as Hans Lundgren in Stockholm, Sweden, to Sigrid Birgitta (Tjerneld), a language teacher, and Karl Johan Hugo Lundgren, an engineer and economist for the Swedish government. He lived in Stockholm until the age of 13, when he moved in with his grandparents in Nyland, ...
10. Gary Daniels
Actor | The Expendables
Gary Edward Daniels (born 9 May 1963) is an English actor, a martial arts artist, a martial arts action film star, a producer, and a fight coordinator. . Daniels who was also interested in films, starred in two motion pictures in 1988 made in the Philippines. These were Teddy Page's action martial ...
11. Ray Park
Actor | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Ray Park was born in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He moved with his parents, younger brother and sister to London, UK, at the age of seven. Ray always wanted to be in the movies, and be like their heroes. He also began to nurture a love for martial arts from the age of seven, when his father's fondness ...
12. Tito Ortiz
Actor | Cradle 2 the Grave
Cited by film producer Jeff Most as "The next Vin Diesel", Tito delivers the audience as well as the sheer acting talent. The most electrifying Ultimate Fighting competitor alive today, as intimidating as Tito is in the ring, outside he is an unparalleled fan favorite. A dynamic speaker, Tito's ...
13. Jeff Speakman
Actor | The Perfect Weapon
Jeff Speakman was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where he became a All-American springboard diver in high school. He broke records in his school's district and conference all without ever having a coach. Determined to go to college, he worked for six years and graduated with honors from ...
14. Brandon Lee
Actor | The Crow
Born on February 1, 1965 to Bruce Lee (Martial Arts idol) and Linda Lee Cadwell. Brother to Shannon Lee. In 1970-71, they moved to Hong Kong, where Brandon lived until age eight, becoming fluent in Cantonese. By the time he was able to walk, he was already involved in learning about martial arts ...
15. Bolo Yeung
Actor | Bloodsport
Bolo Yeung was born in China. He began his martial arts training at the age of 10. Growing up he took an interest in bodybuilding. Later he became know as Chinese Hercules after becoming Mr. Hong Kong bodybuilding champion. He held the title for ten years. Because of his impressively muscular ...
16. Don Frye
Actor | Gojira: Fainaru uôzu
Don Frye dominated the world of mixed martial arts for 6 straight years. A former pro boxer and a licensed firefighter, Don Frye made an impressive professional fight debut by knocking out 6'1", 410 pound Thomas Ramirez in 8 seconds. Frye captured his first Ultimate Fighting Championship on Feb. 16...
17. Jackie Chan
Actor | Ngo si seoi
Hong Kong's cheeky, lovable and best-known film star, Jackie Chan endured many years of long, hard work and multiple injuries to establish international success after his start in Hong Kong's manic martial arts cinema industry.
Jackie was born Kong-sang Chan on April 7, 1954, on Hong Kong's famous ...
18. Donnie Yen
Actor | Ip Man
Donnie Yen was born in Guangzhou, China. His mother, Bow-sim Mark, was a kung fu master and his father, Kylster Yen, a newspaper editor and amateur musician. When Donnie was just two years old, the family moved to Hong Kong and then, when he was 11, to Boston, Massachusetts.
There, Master Bow-sim ...
19. Pat Morita
Actor | The Karate Kid
Abundantly busy and much-loved Asian-American actor who became an on-screen hero to millions of adults and kids alike as the wise and wonderful Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid (1984), the sparkling Noriyuki Morita was back again dishing out Eastern philosophy and martial arts lessons for The Karate ...
20. Tony Jaa
Actor | Ong-bak 3
Japanom Yeerum was born on February 5, 1976, in the northeastern province of Surin, Thailand. His parents were elephant herders. Jaa watched martial arts films as a young kid and began to emulate some of his idols, from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan to Jet Li. Jaa studied martial arts at the local ...
21. Andrei Arlovski
Actor | Universal Soldier: Regeneration
Andrei Arlovski was born on February 4, 1979 in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, USSR [now Belarus]. He is an actor, known for Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009), Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) and The Equalizer 2 (2018).
22. Michael Bisping
Actor | xXx: Return of Xander Cage
Born in Nicosia (Cyprus), where his dad Konrad was a sniper for the English Army, Michael Bisping lived pretty much the first half of his life doing dead end jobs between Clitheroe and Manchester. He's always been fascinated by MMA in general from the beginning, where mixed martial art wasn't even ...
23. Cynthia Rothrock
Actress | The Martial Arts Kid
Cynthia Rothrock is a martial arts expert and athlete, who went on to become a film actress, starring in a number of highly successful B action movies. She first made a name as an action actress in Hong Kong before going on to wow audiences in her home turf. At the time of her popularity, she was ...
24. Mark Dacascos
Actor | Le pacte des loups
Mark Dacascos is an actor, director, martial artist, and television personality. Whether seen on the big screen or small, playing the good guy or the bad, Mark has been making audience stand up and take notice for many years.
This May, Mark will be seen in highly anticipated film John Wick: Chapter ...
25. Jet Li
Actor | Huo Yuan Jia
Jet Li born Li Lian Jie in Beijing, China. He started training at the Beijing wushu academy (wushu is China's national sport, largely a performance version of various martial art styles) at age eight. He won five gold medals in the Chinese championships, his first when he was only 11. In his teens,...
26. Ernie Reyes Jr.
Actor | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Ernie Reyes Jr. was born on January 15, 1972 in San Jose, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), The Rundown (2003) and Red Sonja (1985). He has been married to Lisa Reyes since November 11, 2009. They have two ...
27. Mike Möller
Stunts | John Wick: Chapter 4
Mike Möller grew up in a small village in East Germany. Since his childhood days he was very interested in various kind of sports and was always a huge movie fan. Especially martial arts and action films influenced and motivated him the most.
At the beginning he started to train martial arts on his ...
28. Joe Taslim
Actor | Serbuan maut
Johannes Taslim or Joe Taslim (born 23 June 1981) is an Indonesian actor and former Judo athlete of Chinese descent. He became well known in the 2012 action film The Raid: Redemption.
Taslim was born in South Sumatera, Indonesia. He was exposed to martial arts at an early age. His martial arts ...
29. Gina Carano
Actress | The Mandalorian
From pioneering women's MMA to blazing a trail in movies, GINA CARANO is one of Hollywood's most unique rising stars. Carano began her training with Muay Thai to competitive MMA, where she competed in Strikeforce and EliteXC. Her popularity led to her being called the "Face of Women's MMA" and she ...
30. Manu Bennett
Actor | 30 Days of Night
"Shall We Begin!", the battlecry of The undefeated Gaul Crixus first bought Manu Bennett's voice & acting career to international attention. Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011) spoke a universal language that slowly but surely captured a massive audience. The the show lost lead actor Andy Whitfield...
31. Frank Grillo
Actor | The Grey
The oldest of three children, Frank Grillo was born in New York City, to an Italian-American family. He grew up in upstate New York, and got his first taste of acting in high school where he was in many plays. Frank was also a gifted athlete and his dream was to play sports professionally. Frank ...
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