# Karate Actors...



## Karate_Warrior

Hello.
Is it anyone who knows about some actors that practise Karate?


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## SFC JeffJ

James Caan used to do some style of karate.  Can't remember which one though.

Jeff


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## zDom

Karate_Warrior said:
			
		

> Hello.
> Is it anyone who knows about some actors that practise Karate?



Does Elvis count?


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## twendkata71

*James Caan practices Gosoku ryu karate under Hanshi Kubota Takayuki. *
* The guy from the price is right has a black belt in Tang soo do from Chuck Norris.*
*Sonny Chiba practices an off shoot of Kyokushinkai. He was a direct student of Oyama Hanshi.*
*Actor Martin Kove (from the karate kid series of movies, Cobra Kai) practices Okinawa te.*
*Juan Claude Van Dame actually studied Shotokan karate for several years before cross training in other styles. He still practices martial arts regularly.*
*Sean Cannan(karate kid III, bad kid oposite Daniel San) Practices Shito ryu karate.*


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## twendkata71

*One more side note. Chuck Norris as most of you know is really a martial artist. He is an actor by profession.*
*He is the founder of Chun kuk do. A combination of Tang soo do, Shito ryu karate, Gracie Jujitsu, and Judo. All of which he has black belts in. He also trained for a short time with Bruce Lee.*


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## Karate_Warrior

thank you so much for all the info twendkata71.:asian:


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## twendkata71

*Oh yes, one more. Arnold Swatzenegger studied Ryobukai karate and iaido with Kiyoshi Yamazaki. I know there are more,but I will have to do some more digging.*


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## TimoS

Dolph Lundgren is, I believe, a 3. dan (or was it even higher) in Kyokushin


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## zDom

I can't recall the names just now, but the guy who did the Perfect Weapon movie (Jeff something?) was Kenpo or Kempo, and the guy who did the Renegade series, Lorenzo Lamas?, is also a karate stylist, I believe.


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## twendkata71

*Jeff Speakman is a 6th dan in American kenpo and a 4th dan in Goju ryu karate  the last I heard. Also Doph Lundgrin is still practicing Kyokushinkai. And Lorenzo Lamas studies Taekwondo. I believe with Chong Lee in Los Angeles. Charles Bronson studied karate with Kobuta for a while. Pat Morita(Miyagi on karate kid) actively studied karate after doing the karate kid series. He trained with Pat Johnson(Tang soo do) and Fumio Demura( Genbukai Shito ryu). Fumio Demura did the fight scenes in karate kid and many other movies. He is an 8th dan. Kevin Sorbo from the Andromida series as well as Hurcules studied martial arts for a while,but I am not sure with who.**James Colburn (flint,and countless other movies) also studied with Bruce Lee and continued to study martial arts for many years.*
*Karem Abdul Jabar(former basket ball player and sometimes actor studied Jeet Kune do with Bruce Lee. Bob Wall(played the bad guy in several Bruce Lee movies) studied Tangsoo do with Chuck Norris.*
*Tadashi Yamashita played the Ninja in "The Octagon" is a 9th dan in Shorin ryu Shorin kan. Jet Li has studied Martial arts in China since the age of 7 and was Chinese National Champion for several years before becoming an Actor. James Lew who has been in many many martial arts movies and TV shows Studies Choy Li Fut Gung fu. *
*The majority of actors on the Mortal combat series of movies where tournament champions before acting. I am not sure of all of their names. I will have to do some more digging.*


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## Ronin Moose

Here are a few links that relate to this topic.........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts_film


http://www.fightingmaster.com/actors/index.htm


http://www.martial-arts-network.com/qa_robert_conrad.html

-Garry


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## twendkata71

*Correction. Lorenzo LLamas studied Taekwondo with Jun Chong Taekwondo in LA. Wesley SNipes is a 5th dan in some style of karate/or Taekwondo I am not sure which. I saw him recieve his promotion at an awards ceremony for Black Martial artist in New York. **Actor Gregory Hines studied Shotokan karate with Thomas Lapuppet in the Bronx for many years before he passed away.*


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## zDom

twendkata71 said:
			
		

> *Correction. Lorenzo LLamas studied Taekwondo with Jun Chong Taekwondo in LA. Wesley SNipes is a 5th dan in some style of karate/or Taekwondo I am not sure which. I saw him recieve his promotion at an awards ceremony for Black Martial artist in New York. **Actor Gregory Hines studied Shotokan karate with Thomas Lapuppet in the Bronx for many years before he passed away.*



Wesley has a very Korean-looking sidekick. Good-looking kicks, overall.

I googled him and the top page I read said he

"trained martial artist in a number of different disciplines including Karate, Kung Fu and Capoeira."

Looks like a Korean sidekick to me, though.


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## twendkata71

*Steven Segal is an actual Aikido master. As most of you know. *
*He did study in Japan and ran his own dojo in Japan for several years. David Carradine is an avid kung fu practitioner and has been for over 30 years.  Sho Kosugi of "enter the ninja" and "revenge of the ninja" studies Shito ryu karate as well as ninjutsu when he was a young man in Japan. Billy Blanks who was only in a few movies and is known now of TaeBo is a master of Taekwondo as well as black belts in several styles of Japanese karate. He was several times world champion including wining a silver medal in the 1980 WUKO world karate championships. Eric Roberts has trained in several martial arts over the years.*


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## bag

Has anybody ever met Tom Laughlin, the actor who portrayed the native american film character in the string of "Billy Jack" movies, is he still active with Hapkido lessons from Master Bong Soo Han ?
Jeffrey Meek, actor who starred in the 1990's "Raven" tv series with Lee Majors as side kick, does anybody know if Jeffrey really studied Ninjitsu as did his role in "Raven" ?


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## twendkata71

*I thought that Tom Laughlin passed away. I do know he did study with Master Han for years.*







bag said:


> Has anybody ever met Tom Laughlin, the actor who portrayed the native american film character in the string of "Billy Jack" movies, is he still active with Hapkido lessons from Master Bong Soo Han ?
> Jeffrey Meek, actor who starred in the 1990's "Raven" tv series with Lee Majors as side kick, does anybody know if Jeffrey really studied Ninjitsu as did his role in "Raven" ?


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## Touch Of Death

zDom said:


> Does Elvis count?


He held a black belt in Karate before switching to EPAK.
Sean


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## Hand Sword

William Shatner was an EPAK student, I read somewhere.


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## twendkata71

*Elivis Presley had a shodan in Chito ryu karate,  before he started training in Kenpo karate with SGM Ed Parker. Parker  promoted Elvis to 7th degree after years of training. Elvis also trained with Kang Rhee in Taekwondo and recieved an 7th and 8th degree from him.*
*Even though his celebritiy had something to do with the high dan rank. I have heard that he was actually a talented martial artist and trained hard.  *














Touch Of Death said:


> He held a black belt in Karate before switching to EPAK.
> Sean


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## ArmorOfGod

Here is an interesting article about Elvis Presley:

http://www.tracyskarate.com/Stories/was_elvis_really_a_black_belt.htm


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## chinto

Hand Sword said:


> William Shatner was an EPAK student, I read somewhere.


 

ok, I gota ask.. what the hell is EPAK?  I remember his "kirk fu" which was the old Applegate fairbairn military hand to hand stuff from the old original Star Trek.


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## exile

chinto said:


> ok, I gota ask.. what the hell is EPAK?  I remember his "kirk fu" which was the old Applegate fairbairn military hand to hand stuff from the old original Star Trek.



Ed Parker American Kenpo. There are a number of different Kenpo/Kempo styles, substyles and subsubstyles... EPAK is one of the most prominent ones.


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## cstanley

Ricky Nelson was a nidan in Shotokan.
James Coburn has dan rank in karate.
Robert Culp was dan rank in Judo.


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## twendkata71

James Colburn originally trained with Bruce Lee at his home in Oakland. Later he trained in karate with Dan Ivan I believe. That may be the other way around.
Robert Culp I believe trained with Howard Nishioka in Judo.
John Saxson still trains in Jujitsu. Originally his martial arts training was with Bruce Lee for the Enter the Dragon Movie.


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## Tames D

twendkata71 said:


> *I thought that Tom Laughlin passed away. I do know he did study with Master Han for years.*


I think he is still alive.


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## chinto

exile said:


> Ed Parker American Kenpo. There are a number of different Kenpo/Kempo styles, substyles and subsubstyles... EPAK is one of the most prominent ones.


 

ok thanks for clearing that up for me.   I am fumilure with the parker system as there is an ed parker kempo dojo in the aria. thanks.


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## jtbdad

Didn't the guy who played Kato in the Green Hornet study some kind of MA?   (JK)

I had the opportunity to meet Tom Laughlin and last I heard he is still alive.  He's was very softspoken when I met him.  Don't like his politics.


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## Nobody

You know there are many people that do martial arts that are in movies!
Not a one of the are actors, except Kelly Hu!  She gets the pass cause she is hot an sexy.
http://www.actressarchives.com/kellyhu/

Chuck may be one bad mo but he can't act at all!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chuck+norris 
See Chuck is so bad he can act!

As for most martial artist they just can not act!


Though many martial artist don't study Karate they still can not possibly!


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## Darksoul

-I've always been a fan of Chuck Norris, ever since I saw him in Lone Wolf McQuade, the movie that perked my interest in martial arts and law enforcement. Course, now I study nothing and work security, but thats besides the point. Chuck's acting can be a little atrocious at times but he's always been big about playing a good guy, being a role model. In this day and age, that is sorely lacking. I think the one movie where his acting is most believable is Firewalker with Louis Gossett Jr. In that film he seems totally natural and has fun with the character. Just my opinion.

A--->


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## cstanley

jtbdad said:


> Didn't the guy who played Kato in the Green Hornet study some kind of MA? (JK)
> 
> I had the opportunity to meet Tom Laughlin and last I heard he is still alive. He's was very softspoken when I met him. Don't like his politics.


 
Uh, I think that was Bruce Lee.


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## twendkata71

Your kidding right. The guy that played kato in the green hornet was Bruce Lee..




jtbdad said:


> Didn't the guy who played Kato in the Green Hornet study some kind of MA? (JK)
> 
> I had the opportunity to meet Tom Laughlin and last I heard he is still alive. He's was very softspoken when I met him. Don't like his politics.


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## cstanley

twendkata71 said:


> Your kidding right. The guy that played kato in the green hornet was Bruce Lee..


 
No, actually I believe it was, indeed, Bruce Lee.


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## Tames D

Darksoul said:


> -I've always been a fan of Chuck Norris, ever since I saw him in Lone Wolf McQuade, the movie that perked my interest in martial arts and law enforcement. Course, now I study nothing and work security, but thats besides the point. *Chuck's acting can be a little atrocious at times* but he's always been big about playing a good guy, being a role model. In this day and age, that is sorely lacking. I think the one movie where his acting is most believable is Firewalker with Louis Gossett Jr. In that film he seems totally natural and has fun with the character. Just my opinion.
> 
> A--->


Don't say that out loud...


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## twendkata71

I don't know if this has been stated before, but James Caan has been a student of Takiyuki Kobuta for over 30 years and holds a legitimate 5th dan in Gosoku ryu karate. 
Charles Bronson also studied karate with Kubota Hanshi. 
Gregory Hines studied Shotokan karate with Thomas Lapupett.
Bob Barker trained with Chuck Norris in Tangsoodo and was an active black belt. Not sure if he still does it.
Dolf Lundgrin studies Kyokushinkai karate and is a 4th dan.
Arnold swatzenegger studied Ryobukai/shindojinen ryu and Iaido with kiyoshi Yamazaki.


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## TimoS

twendkata71 said:


> Your kidding right



He is, notice the *(JK)*, short for just kidding


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## Nobody

*Pat Morita an James Caan an Colburn are good actors, but the rest are so bad at acting it is hard to watch there movies all the way through.*
So please excuss my saying there is no martial artist that can act.  Pat can act.


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## The Elemental

Sonny Chiba practices, Mas Oyama was his mentor.


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## jtbdad

cstanley said:


> Uh, I think that was Bruce Lee.




I know it was supposed to be a joke.


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## Nobody

Not to pick on Sonny Chiba again another martial artist that just was so hard to watch acting it hurt just to see him act.


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## Em MacIntosh

Chuck Norris can't act, can't sing and gets paid for both.
(openeing theme for Walker)


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## Em MacIntosh

Firewalker was the best chuck movie ever, followed by code of silence.
I thought van dam was just a bodybuilder with some kickboxing exp.


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## Darksoul

-Yeah Chuck's singing isn't going to win any awards but it doesnt' bother me at all. I've heard some bad Karaoke, little girls screechin out brittney spears and little boys singing country tone deaf. I just figure for a lot of things, there is always someone worse out there. Code of Silence is a good movie, haven't seen that one in years. Forced Vengeance is another favorite of mine.

-Has anyone heard Steven Segal's album?

A--->


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## cstanley

jtbdad said:


> I know it was supposed to be a joke.


 
It was Bruce Lee. Look it up.


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## jtbdad

cstanley said:


> It was Bruce Lee. Look it up.




Again I know it was supposed to be a joke.


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## cstanley

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059991/

Ah, punctuation problem. You should have said, "I know. It was supposed to be a joke." Sorry. Anyway, the green Hornet was pretty corny stuff.


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## twendkata71

Van Damme studied Shotokan karate in his youth. and for the movies he added taekwondo and muythai. He still trains.






Em MacIntosh said:


> Firewalker was the best chuck movie ever, followed by code of silence.
> I thought van dam was just a bodybuilder with some kickboxing exp.


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## Martin h

TimoS said:


> Dolph Lundgren is, I believe, a 3. dan (or was it even higher) in Kyokushin



Yes, he is 3rd dan in Shin-Kyokushin. he took it a few years ago. He still trains and works out with his old shihan Brian Fitkin when he is home in sweden. He was offered the 3rd dan as a honorary belt long ago, but declined -preferring to earn it the hard way.
He started out as knockdown karate fighter and was "discovered" by Gracie Jones and drafted as her bodyguard after she watched him win a Australian knockdown karate open -which eventually led to her helping him into the movie industry. 
He was also part of the swedish national knockdown karate team in the 70ies.


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## Martin h

The Elemental said:


> Sonny Chiba practices, Mas Oyama was his mentor.



Chiba did judo. He was coached by Oyama when he was making the movie triology based on Oyamas life, and I think he got a honorary belt, but he never did karate seriously.


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## Martin h

Sensei Nicholas Pettas (K-1 fighter/kickboxer. formerly kyokushin, now independent) has starred in several movies in japan (but not in any major roles). Not sure if you can say that he has acting as his occupation though.

I could name many more well known karate guys who starred as "bad guy #4" -but thats not really what we are talking about.
Lol, all the "ninjas" from "you only live twice" with Sean Connery were kyokushin guys. They borrowed in most of kyokushins Hombu dojo students as extras.


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## Karatedrifter7

Yeah, I can think of a few.. Jason Alexander from Seinfeld.
Danny Bonaduce a black belt in I believe Villari Kempo, and something else. Donny Osmond studied with Chuck Norris. Fred Williamson blaxploitation actor, is a black belt in both Kenpo and Shotokan. Blake Edwards the director is a black belt at least, in American Kenpo.
(Not really an actor) but Howard Stern has taken Shotokan. And Priscilla Presley, has studied with Mike Stone.


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## Leopard claw

Buddy Rich (jazz drummer/actor) had a black belt.  Don't know what style, but he is in the Karate Hall of fame in Tokyo.


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## Nebuchadnezzar

twendkata71 said:


> James Colburn originally trained with Bruce Lee at his home in Oakland. Later he trained in karate with Dan Ivan I believe. That may be the other way around.
> Robert Culp I believe trained with Howard Nishioka in Judo.
> John Saxson still trains in Jujitsu. Originally his martial arts training was with Bruce Lee for the Enter the Dragon Movie.


 
No, John Saxon did some Judo in the late '50s and was a Brown Belt in Shotokan before he even met Bruce Lee.


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## Nebuchadnezzar

jtbdad said:


> Didn't the guy who played Kato in the Green Hornet study some kind of MA? (JK)
> 
> I had the opportunity to meet Tom Laughlin and last I heard he is still alive. He's was very softspoken when I met him. Don't like his politics.


 
Bruce Lee was Kato.  DUH! :mst:


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## twendkata71

Buddy Rich was a black belt in Goju ryu karate. He trained with Aaron Banks.









Leopard claw said:


> Buddy Rich (jazz drummer/actor) had a black belt. Don't know what style, but he is in the Karate Hall of fame in Tokyo.


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## chinto

does or did William Shatner ( old Captian Kirk) study any martial arts? I know they used basicly the old Applegate system that the military tought some in WWII and after that at least some to most soldiers and sailors and marines in the 1950'a and 1960's in the star trek series.


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## Karatedrifter7

Add Sean Connery to that list with Kyokushin Karate.


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## Martin h

Karatedrifter7 said:


> Add Sean Connery to that list with Kyokushin Karate.



Sean Connery got a Honorary belt in kyokushin from Oyama after "you only live twice" (when they hired a LOT of kyokushin guys as extras to play the "ninja" force). He never actually trained it.
When asked about it by a kyokushin guy a few years ago, he could not even remember it.


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## Karatedrifter7

Hmmm perhaps? if you've looked into it. But Connery could kick some ***  back in his day. He once told gangster and woman abuser Johnny Stompanto he'd kill him if he didint leave Lana Turner alone.
You dont have to be in Karate to be an *** kicker. Also comedian Schekey Green was able to knock out several guys back stage who jumped him hired by Sinatra. As this was reported by the late Mike Douglas.


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## chinto

Karatedrifter7 said:


> Hmmm perhaps? if you've looked into it. But Connery could kick some *** back in his day. He once told gangster and woman abuser Johnny Stompanto he'd kill him if he didint leave Lana Turner alone.
> You dont have to be in Karate to be an *** kicker. Also comedian Schekey Green was able to knock out several guys back stage who jumped him hired by Sinatra. As this was reported by the late Mike Douglas.


 

Connery as i understand it had some boxing training and provably some hand to hand combat training for diferent roles at least. the bond role had lots of use of martial arts in it at diferent times when he had the role. I think he is provably a pretty tough old scottsman.


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## TjThunder

Jeffrey Meek has a blackbelt in Aikido, at least it says that on his www.imdb.com profile.  The internet movie database is a good site for info on actors.  Michael Jai White has 7 Blackbelts in different forms of Karate/Taekwondo styles.  You should check out his training regime on youtube he's amazing!!


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## TjThunder

speaking of James Bond, ex-Bond George Lazenby had more than one blackbelt and he was supposed to be in a film with Bruce Lee before Lee died.


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## jtbdad

Nebuchadnezzar said:


> Bruce Lee was Kato.  DUH! :mst:




Really guys for the fourth time it was a JOKE.  Please notice the LOL after the comment.

I really didn't think anyone would not catch this.


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## Karatedrifter7

Okay here's another two, females this time.  One Jillian Kesner a Karate Champ who played in alot of 70's and 80's TV, including Happy Days, Three's Company, and Laverne and Shirley. She also had one action flick to her name called (Firecracker)-- all this was pre Cynthia Rothrock.
 And number 2 Playboy Playmate November 1984, and "former cop" Roberta Vasquez. A black belt in some kind of Karate. She was in "The Rookie" with Charlie Sheen, made an appearance in a Cheech and Chong video, also in many Andy Sidaris movies.


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## Brian Jones

Let's not forget legendary stnutman and soemtimes actor "Judo" Gene LeBell.  Or Robert Conrad from "Wild, Wild, West".  or Honor Blackman from Goldfinger (she was judo I think). Earlier there was a question about Wesley Snipes.  I am pretty sure he trains in ShotoKan.

Brian Jones


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## Nebuchadnezzar

Brian Jones said:


> ...Earlier there was a question about Wesley Snipes. I am pretty sure he trains in ShotoKan.
> 
> Brian Jones


 
Among other styles.


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## rmclain

Brian Jones said:


> Let's not forget legendary stnutman and soemtimes actor "Judo" Gene LeBell. Or Robert Conrad from "Wild, Wild, West". or Honor Blackman from Goldfinger (she was judo I think). Earlier there was a question about Wesley Snipes. I am pretty sure he trains in ShotoKan.
> 
> Brian Jones


 
Gene LeBell has been in the film industry for a long, long time.  You've probably seen him and didn't know it.  His stunt career started in 1950.  He's a legend in the industry.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0494061/

R. McLain


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## twendkata71

Wesly Snipes studied Shotokan with Thomas Lapupett, as well as Taekwondo with other instructors in New York. He is currenly ranked 5th dan.


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## chinto

twendkata71 said:


> Wesly Snipes studied Shotokan with Thomas Lapupett, as well as Taekwondo with other instructors in New York. He is currenly ranked 5th dan.


 

I thought he had some goju training at least... wasnt he the one who was also in "passanger 57"? or have I got some one else mixed up with him?  have not seen that movie but once several years ago...


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## AmericanTangSooDo

twendkata71 said:


> *James Caan practices Gosoku ryu karate under Hanshi Kubota Takayuki. *
> * The guy from the price is right has a black belt in Tang soo do from Chuck Norris.*
> *Sonny Chiba practices an off shoot of Kyokushinkai. He was a direct student of Oyama Hanshi.*
> *Actor Martin Kove (from the karate kid series of movies, Cobra Kai) practices Okinawa te.*
> *Juan Claude Van Dame actually studied Shotokan karate for several years before cross training in other styles. He still practices martial arts regularly.*
> *Sean Cannan(karate kid III, bad kid oposite Daniel San) Practices Shito ryu karate.*



Actually former Price is Right host Bob Barker never received a black belt in "American" Tang Soo Do under Chuck Norris. The highest he ever went in TSD was red belt though I'm not sure what degree (gup) he was. My instructor is a black belt under Chuck Norris, he received his black belt from Norris back in the 1970s. He has a copy of the original Chuck Norris black belt family tree (1962-1979) and either Barker or any other celebrity is listed on then. Not even any of Norris' children are black belts atleast not during those years.

Oh and William Zabka a.k.a. Johnny from The Karate Kid is a black belt in Tang Soo Do. Along with child actor and former Blue Ranger Blake Foster who is a second degree black belt under Tom Bloom.


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## Jeff Richardson

Elvis - Parker Kenpo - studied with Mike Stone

Jerry Piddington - Grand Master American Open Style Karate and recently inherited one of the Shor-In Ryu lines - see Bloodport 2, the Quest (don't blink), and Nightrealm.  There are a few others.

Ricky Smith (Ricky and Randy Smith - aka the Gold Dust Twins)- American open Style Karate.  Several films including Bloodsport 2 - was involved in the making of LaPoppett's (sp) last film.

Joe Lewis....

Mark DaCoscos - The Crow tv series, Brotherhood of the wolf..

Anthony DeLongis- Highlander TV series, Circle of Iron, Star Trek Voyager, Fearless, Road House - studied with Danny Inosanto

How about Jason Scott Lee - reportedly took up Jeet Kun Do and stuck with it until becoming an instructor when he portrayed Bruce Lee in his biography film.


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