Up until the mid to late 1970s, American exposure to martial arts onscreen was generally through the famed Bruce lee film Enter The Dragon, the David Carradine show Kung Fu, or badly dubbed Hong Kong movies on television.
But by the '80s, movie stars like Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, and Jean-Claude Van Damme brought different forms to the big screen. That paved the way for Asian stars like Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, and Jet Li to make a splash in the '90s and beyond.
These days, martial arts action movies are a big staple of our streaming diet, so we've rounded up 10 of our favorite movie martial artists.
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A major superstar in Asia, Donnie Yen has been making movies for 35 years. He really mixes things up as a martial artist, and his disciplines include Tai Chi, Hapkido, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Wushu, and Wing Chun. The 55-year-old star helped popularize the latter form throughout China by starring in the highly successful Ip Man (aka Yip Man) series (part 4 is on the way), where he portrays the man who trained Bruce Lee.
He may not have made it as a household name in America, but Yen first emerged to Westerners on a larger scale in the '00s with supporting turns in movies like Blade II, Hero, and Shanghai Knights. Most recently, he made more of an international splash in the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and xXx: Return of Xander Cage.
By the way, Yen's mother Bow-sim Mark is a Tai Chi grandmaster, who began teaching Wushu in Massachusetts before it became known in the West. Apparently, badass runs in the family.
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A Chinese peer of Yen's who is the same age, Li is a realist when it comes to onscreen fights. In reality, a real fight could be over in less than two minutes, as opposed to the epic brawls we often see on screen. Like many of his screen brethren, he started training young in the martial art of Wushu. He won his first national championship at age 11 and traveled to more than 45 countries with the Bejing Wushu Team. He mastered several styles of Wushu and also learned Baguazhang, Taijiquan, Ying Zhao Quan, Tang Lang Quan, and other Northern Shaolin styles.
Li is also pretty handy with a sword. His first film in 1982, Shaolin Temple, reportedly became one of China's biggest blockbusters ever, and he's had a busy career since then, both here and in his homeland. His Hollywood breakthrough came with Lethal Weapon 4 in 1998, and Western audiences have come to know him well through titles like Romeo Must Die, Hero, War (with Jason Statham), and The Expendables trilogy.
Although his movies provide plenty of action, Li is a pacifist at heart who believes in an honorable use of martial arts. In recent years, Li seems frail and appears to have aged a lot. He has been suffering from hyperthyroidism over the last decade, a condition which can severely alter one's appearance, but he's still active, working, and scheduled to be in the live-action remake of Disney's Mulan next year as The Emperor.
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The difference between Jackie Chan and everyone else on this list comes down to two things: comedic timing and crazy stunt work. Chan is well-trained in Wushu-which he produced a film about it in 2008-and Hapkido, and the 64-year-old has cranked out so many movies (more than 150) and engaged in so many wild stunts over the past 57 years that it's dizzying to contemplate.
He has a unique, hyperkinetic quality to his fighting, and brought in a slapstick element (thanks, Buster Keaton) that requires impeccable timing. Chan has made comedic action flicks, like 1994's Drunken Master and the Rush Hour trilogy, but he also took a darker turn in the 2017 revenge movie The Foreigner as a father who is seeking revenge for his daughter's death during a terrorist bombing.
Chan has taken a beaten through the years, but he keeps on kicking. He's been scraped, kicked, punched, burned, thrown through windows, and hit by cars- and he's got the scars and footage to prove it. Even after an on-set injury left him in a coma while filming Armour of God in 1986,he kept going. In 2012, the Guinness Book of World Records honored him with “Most credits in one movie” and “Most stunts by a living actor” records.
If his body of work isn't enough, Chan also has a successful singing career in Asia and can be heard on some of his movies' soundtracks. He's an unstoppable force who knows how to lighten up.
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Although he may have gone rogue on us and jumped ship for Russia (where he was granted citizenship in 2016), Seagal was certainly one of the giant martial arts names in the late '80s through the mid-1990s. His 1992 Navy action thriller Under Siege, directed by Andrew Davis and co-starring Tommy Lee Jones, is certainly the high point of his career and still fun to rewatch.
Seagal is a black belt in Aikido and actually began teaching martial arts in Japan. He was the first foreigner to operate an Aikido dojo there before relocating to L.A. to continue teaching. His 1988 acting debut Above the Law turned him into an action star, and other hits included Marked For Death, Out For Justice, and two Under Siege films.
Since the late '90s, Seagal's movie career has mostly been relegated to direct-to-video titles. Off the big screen, he has found new ways to reinvent himself, including playing guitar on two solo albums (Stevie Wonder appeared on one tune playing harmonica), serving as an environmental and animal rights activist, and starring in the reality series Steven Seagal: Lawman as a real-life reserve deputy sheriff in Louisiana. Last year, he was even appointed as Russia's special envoy to the U.S. (We won't go there.) He earned several Golden Raspberry Award nominations and won one (for Worst Director), and his stoic acting style actually worked in some of his movies.
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Although Bruce Lee is arguably the most legendary martial arts icon, most Americans have probably only seen or heard about Enter The Dragon, the 1973 film that was his lone foray into Hollywood filmmaking. A bonafide classic, it helped secure his legacy before his untimely death at age 32 from a cerebral edema that same year. A Hong Kong native, he came to America to finish high school and began teaching Jun Fan Gung Fu (his version of Wing Chun) in Seattle in 1959, then moved to Oakland, CA in 1964.
Lee actually started out in Hollywood in the mid to late '60s, appearing in a season of The Green Hornet, three episodes of Batman, and landing a smaller role in the James Garner film Marlowe. Seeking more prominent roles and a better chance to showcase his formidable talents, Lee returned to Hong Kong and made the action-packed Kung Fu flicks The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, and Way of the Dragon, which led to his breakout role in Enter the Dragon.
That film forced a break in the production of Game of Death, which he never finished shooting. After his death, the film was completed with body doubles and later released in 1978. While his tenure as an action star was brief, Lee made a great impact on Eastern and Western culture, paving the way for future Asian and Asian-American stars to make their mark in Hollywood, including his son Brandon, who tragically died in an on-set accident during the making of The Crow in 1993 at the age of 28.
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After serving in the United States Air Force between 1958 and 1962, Chuck Norris became a championship martial artist and later founded his own school called Chun Kuk Do. He earned black belts in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo, and slowly began his Hollywood ascent by appearing in the 1969 Dean Martin film The Wrecking Crew, then in Bruce Lee's directorial debut, Way of the Dragon, in 1972. (He and Lee became close friends.)
Between the late '70s and mid-'90s, Norris made numerous films, including Good Guys Wear Black, The Octagon, the Missing In Action trilogy, and two Delta Force movies, endearing himself to fans with his John Wayne swagger and uncompromising stance. The movies cost little, did well on return, and were steady home video and cable staples. When his movie fortunes waned, Norris became a TV star with the eight-year run of Walker, Texas Ranger between 1993 and 2001.
Norris' last major film appearance was a tongue-in-cheek role in 2012's The Expendables 2. He has since been involved in many philanthropic endeavors for children and military vets. The 79-year-old is one of the most revered American martial arts stars. He also wrote a few books (The Secret Power Within: Zen Solutions to Real Problems, Against All Odds) and had one written about him (The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World's Greatest Human) along the way.
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The most underrated action star on this list, Rothrock has made more than 60 films since 1985, including No Retreat, No Surrender 2, Martial Law, the Tiger Claws trilogy, and two China O'Brien films with Robert Clouse, who also directed Bruce Lee. Her first film,1985's Yes, Madam, co-starred another future female icon, Michelle Yeoh.
From the time she was 13, Rothrock dove deeply into martial arts, winning numerous competitions throughout the '80s. She has mastered many disciplines in various forms of martial arts throughout her career, including five black belts in Eagle Claw, Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, Wushu, and Northern Shaolin. After doing a karate-themed KFC commercial in 1983, she was approached by major Hong Kong production company Golden Harvest and soon turned into an Eastern star before making her way into American action films.
In Hong Kong, her film work was credited under 羅芙洛 (Fu Lok Law). She was very active onscreen in the '90s, and since 2004, she has focused more on teaching at her studio in Studio City, CA, and raising her daughter Skylar. She ocassionally makes movies, including 2015's The Martial Arts Kid with fellow legend Don “The Dragon” Wilson, and the Mortal Kombat video game character Sonya Blade was reportedly inspired by Rothrock.
Like Chuck Norris, she has aged very well, and like him, she seems invincible. She's won innumerable awards throughout her career, and she is one of very few people to be inducted into both the Black Belt Hall of Fame and Kung-Fu Hall of Fame. Psychology Today recently profiled her, and she has been called “The Queen of Martial Arts” by the Martial Arts Museum and others. A documentary on her life is reportedly in the works.
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After Wesley Snipes first emerged in movies in 1986, he was generally cast in comedies (some sports-oriented) and dramas like Major League, Mo' Better Blues, and Jungle Fever. But 1992's Passenger 57 transformed him into an action star, and he has resided in that realm ever since. He began training in martial arts at 7 years old, and he is accomplished in Shotokan Karate and Hapkido. He has also trained in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and kickboxing.
Those skills ultimately helped pave the way to bigger stardom, most notably the Blade vampire hunter trilogy. Just watch him slaughter a bunch of partying bloodsuckers in the opening to that first film. He looks vicious. Following a string of hits, including Demolition Man, U.S. Marshals, Blade I, and Blade II, Snipes' 21st century fare has mostly existed in the direct-to-video arena. However, his return in 2014's The Expendables 3 proved that, like fellow action icon Nicolas Cage, he is due for a career resurgence.
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At 43 years old, Thai martial artist and actor Tony Jaa is the youngest living person on this list, and he has quite a diverse resume that also includes director, action choreographer, and stuntman. (He even joined an order of Buddhist monks in 2010.) Having made films since the early 90s, Jaa gained notoriety for the Ong Bak trilogy, and he has been making inroads in the West through Furious 7, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, and the upcoming Monster Hunter with Milla Jovovich.
At the insistence of Jackie Chan, he was reportedly almost cast in 2007's Rush Hour 3, but production schedule conflicts with Ong Bak 2 prevented that from happening. His martial arts skill set includes Muay Thai, Wushu, Tae Kwon Do, swordplay, and gymnastics.
Jaa is influenced by Chan, Bruce Lee, and Jet Li, and he says he aspires to blend elements of all of their styles into his own. He is a rising star on a global scale and could end up joining their elite ranks.
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Prior to being in movies, Jean-Claude Van Damme competed in full-contact Karate competitions as a teen and into his early twenties. A skinny kid, he also took to weightlifting at a young age, studied ballet in, and would later learn Taekwondo and Muay Thai. After many years in the background of Hollywood, Van Damme landed his first first major film role, Bloodsport (1988). That film opened the floodgates for a career that, over the course of the next decade, was driven by low-budget, high-grossing vehicles that made him an international household name.
Movies such as Lionheart, Death Warrant, Double Impact, and Timecop kept his fans happy. Since 1999, his work has mainly been relegated to limited theatrical and direct-to-video releases, although Van Damme's career has taken some interesting turns in recent years.
In 2008, he played a fictitious version of himself in short film, JCVD, fought Sylvester Stallone onscreen in The Expendables 2 in 2012, and he's now become, of all things, the television spokesman for Tostitos. You've got hand it to him, Van Damme knows how to adapt and is more self-aware than many older action stars.
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