20+ Actors Who, In Real Life, Are Formidable Martial Artists

Published on 10/21/2022
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Tony Jaa

By forgoing wires and stunt doubles, the next Bruce Lee gives his fight sequences a brutally ultra-realistic feel. Jaa, who was raised in a rural area of Thailand, studied martial arts through movies and in his father’s rice field, eventually becoming proficient in taekwondo, muay thai, aikido, krabi krabong, judo, and jiu-jitsu. The star of Ong-bak is also a high jumper who still clears two meters, a swordsman, and a gymnast. Jaa has an amazing, acrobatic style that is swift, fluid, and mind-blowing. He is shorter than Lee at 5 feet 6 inches, but he punches just as powerful.

Tony Jaa

Tony Jaa

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Iko Uwais

The emerging star began training in the Pencak Silat martial art when he was ten years old. Uwais was employed as a truck driver in Jakarta when Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans noticed him and cast him in the independent film Merantau from 2009, where he learned the “Sumatran tiger style” of combat. More of his work was displayed in The Raid and The Raid 2, and he even had a small part in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens.

Iko Uwais

Iko Uwais

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