- Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (November 27, 1940 - July 20, 1973) was a martial artist, philosopher, instructor, and martial arts actor widely regarded as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century. Born in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, Lee is best remembered for the presentation of Chinese martial arts to the non-Chinese world.
- Jet Li
Jet Li (born Li Lianjie on April 26th, 1963 in Beijing, China) is a Chinese martial artist, actor, Wushu champion, and international film star.
- Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born 10 March 1940) is an American martial artist, action star, and Hollywood actor who is known for playing Cordell Walker on "Walker, Texas Ranger". In 2006, he became the subject of an internet phenomenon known as Chuck Norris Facts.
- Jean-Claude van Damme
Jean-Claude Van Damme (born October 18, 1960) is a Belgian-born martial artist and actor who is best known for his large catalogue of action movies. His Belgian background combined with his physique gave rise to his nickname "The Muscles from Brussels". Van Damme has also been called the "King of the Belgians" due to his international superstardom.
- Pavel Tsatsouline
Pavel Tsatsouline is a fitness instructor and former nationally ranked kettlebell competitor from the former Soviet government. He is heavily involved with the evolving field of martial arts fitness and is a major proponent of the traditional Russian fitness tool, the kettlebell, as an exercise and strengthening tool. Tsatsouline is a former physical training instructor for the Soviet special forces. Currently he is a subject matter expert to the U.S. Marine Corps, …
- Gordon Liu
Gordon Liu (born November 30, 1955) is a Chinese martial arts film actor. He was born in Guangdong Province, China and is the adopted brother of famed Shaw Brothers director and actor Lau Kar-leung (Liu Chia-Liang). Best known by Western moviegoers for his role as Pai Mei in "Kill Bill: Volume 2" (2004), and as Johnny Mo in "Kill Bill: Volume 1", the head general of the Crazy 88, O-Ren Ishii's (Lucy Liu) personal army.
- Yip Man
Yip Man (葉問 in pinyin: yè wèn; in Jyutping: jip<sup>6</sup> man<sup>6</sup>; alternative spelling "Ip Man"; also known as 葉繼問; 1 October, 1893-2 December, 1972) was the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun openly. He had several students who later became martial arts teachers in their own right, including Bruce Lee. Yip Man was the last Wing Chun student of Chan Wah-shun when he was 70 years old.
- Ed Parker
Edmund Kealoha Parker was an American martial artist and teacher. He is perhaps most famous as the founder of American Kenpo. Parker was born in Hawaii and raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He began his training in the martial arts at a young age in judo and later boxing. Some time in the 1940s, Ed Parker was first introduced to Kenpo by Frank Chow. After some time Frank Chow introduced Ed Parker to William K. S. Chow. Mr.
- Brandon Lee
Brandon Bruce Lee (李國豪 Cantonese: "Léi Gwokhòu" Pinyin: "Lǐ Guóháo"; February 1, 1965 - March 31, 1993) was an American actor of Chinese, German, English and Swedish descent. He was the son of the late legendary martial arts film star Bruce Lee
- Billy Blanks
Billy Blanks (b. September 1, 1955) is a fitness guru, martial artist, actor, and the inventor of Tae Bo. Blanks was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, the fourth of fifteen children. As a child he suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia. Blanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of fourteen. He quickly excelled, winning several local, state, and national championships. He emerged as a seven-time world Karate champion, and holds a seventh-degree black belt in tae kwon do.
- Masaaki Hatsumi
Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi is the 34th Grandmaster in an unbroken line of the last nine living traditions of authentic ninjutsu, some of which are over 1000 years old. He is considered a living national treasure by the Japanese government. Dr. Hatsumi is also an internationally know painter, whose works have been exhibited in galleries from Tokyo, Japan to Paris, France.
- Lau Kar-Leung
Lau Kar-Leung (劉家良; Mandarin: Liu Jialiang, Liu Chia-Liang is a famous Hong Kong Chinese martial arts film director, choreographer and actor. Lau Kar Leung was born in August 1936, the third child of Lau Cham, a martial art master who was a pupil of Lam Sai Wing (the pupil of Wong Fei Hung). Lau's wife is Mary Jean Reimer, a solicitor in Hong Kong, who was formally an actress known as Yung Ching Ching (Weng Jing Jing).
- George Dillman
George Dillman is a martial arts instructor who is controversial due to his claims regarding the use of pressure points and "Knockout" Chi. He refers to the art of using pressure points as Kyusho jitsu. He calls his style of karate Ryukyu kempo tomari-te.
- Ashida Kim
Ashida Kim is a Florida-based, controversial American martial arts teacher and author, best known for his books on ninjitsu training.
- Larry Hartsell
Larry Hartsell is a martial arts teacher and author, most well known for his involvement with Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do.
- Joe Lewis
Joe Lewis is an American kickboxer and point Karate fighter whose success in the ring in the 1960s and 1970s is still legendary. He has twice been voted the greatest fighter in karate history, and has attained the titles of "World Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion," "World Heavyweight Karate Champion," and "United States National Black Belt Kata Champion." Joe Lewis studied Shorin-ryu Karate with Eizo Shimabuku, …
- Geoff Thompson
Geoff Thompson is a writer, teacher and self-defence expert. He was born in Coventry, England in 1960. Geoff has received acclaim for writing dozens of books on self-defence, martial arts, fear control, and his most popular book, "Watch My Back", an autobiography about his early years and how he came to be a nightclub doorman working in his hometown of Coventry. Like many others in the field of self-protection, …
- Bill Wallace
Bill Wallace (December 1, 1945) is an American martial artist, best known as Bill "Superfoot" Wallace or simply "Superfoot", the dominant kickboxer of the 1970s. He was born in Portland, Indiana, and began his study of Judo and Shorin-ryu Karate in February 1967 while serving in the U.S. Air Force. After entering the point fighting tournament scene and achieving success there, he switched to full-contact kickboxing.
- Yuen Wah
Yuen Wah (元華 p.y. Yuan Hua, stage name, birth name 容志 p.y. Rong Zhi; born September 2, 1950) is a Hong Kong action film director, choreographer, actor and stuntman who has starred in more than 60 movies since his first, "Fist of Fury", in 1972. Wah was born in Tianjin, China. A member of the Beijing Opera school from which Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Yuen Qiu and Corey Yuen received their training, …
- Bruce Li
Bruce Li is one of the stage names of Ho Chung Tao, a Taiwanese martial artist and Bruce Lee imitator who starred in martial arts movies from the Bruceploitation movement.
- Lloyd Irvin
Lloyd was a National Masters Champion in Judo. He fought in the 30-34 year old division, and one of the people that he beat also placed in the Sr. Division. Lloyd was the USJF Coach of the Year. For a shodan to get that honor, in a Japanese dominated organization is an achievement in itself.
- Enson Inoue
Enson "Yamato Damashii" Inoue is a Japanese American mixed martial arts fighter. He has a professional MMA record of 11-8-0 as of April 16, 2004. He is the brother of Egan Inoue. He is credited with developing "Inoue Grappling", a hybrid martial art taught at Grappling Unlimited in Aiea, Hawaii. It is based largely on Brazilian jiu-jitsu with elements from boxing, wrestling and other martial arts integrated into the techniques. He has a notable win over Randy Couture.
- Bey Logan
Bey Logan (born November 15, 1963) is a respected expert on Asian cinema, particularly Hong Kong action cinema. He is also notable as a screenwriter and as a martial artist (trained in Hung Gar) who has had (usually minor) roles in a number of films, including "The Twins Effect". He is the author of "Hong Kong Action Cinema", an introduction to the subject, was a founder and editor of Impact magazine, …
- Jin Yong
Jin Yong, born February 6, 1924, pen name of Louis Cha, OBE, is one of the most influential modern Chinese-language novelists. Co-founder of the Hong Kong daily "Ming Pao", he was its first editor-in-chief and held this position until 1993. Cha's fiction has a widespread following in Chinese-speaking areas, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia.
- Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum (born Channing Matthew Tatum on April 26, 1980 in Cullman, Alabama) is an American actor and former model. After beginning his career as a fashion model, he has branched out into acting roles, appearing in the films "Havoc" (2005), "Coach Carter" (2005), "Supercross" (2005), "She's the Man", then "Step Up", and "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints", all of which were released in 2006.
- John Will
John Will is a notable martial artist from Australia. Will won gold in the first World Silat Championships held in Jakarta in 1982, the only non Indonesian to have won the championship at that time. Will also completed his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Jean Jacques Machado in 1998; making him one of the first twelve foreign nationals to have won a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. John Will's background includes training in amateur wrestling, …
- Joe Eigo
Joe Eigo (born February 19, 1980) is a Canadian gymnast, martial artist, and stunt performer.
- Hiroyuki Sanada
is a Japanese actor. He began training with Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club. Originally aiming to be an action star, he developed good all-round martial arts ability. He was first noticed as a serious actor in the movie "Mahjong Hourouki" directed by Makoto Wada. Wada and Sanada's relationship is similar to that of John Huston and Humphrey Bogart and since then Sanada has acted in every one of Wada's movies.
- Dave Lowry
Dave Lowry has been a student of Japanese martial arts since 1968, when he began studying Yagyū Shinkage-ryū kenjutsu under Ryokichi Kotaro of the Nara Prefecture of Japan. He has also studied Shintō Musō-ryū, a style that focuses on use of a four-foot long staff, as well as more modern arts such as karate, aikido, and Kodokan judo. Lowry is most well known as a writer who has written about a variety of topics related to budo, …
- Jillian Michaels
Jillian Michaels ' knowledge of fitness training stems from years of martial arts and intense personal training. Best known as a trainer and coach on NBC's hit TV show The Biggest Loser , Jillian Michaels is an amazing motivator, personal trainer and guide to nearly 15 million Biggest Loser viewers every week. Before she was a massive television star, Jillian struggled to maintain her own healthy weight.
- William Smith
William Smith (born March 24, 1934 in Columbia, Missouri, USA) is an American actor. He worked as a child actor, but is best known for his numerous roles in low-budget action films playing bikers, cowboys, tough-guys, and villains. He is possibly best-known for playing Falconetti on the TV mini-series "Rich Man, Poor Man".
- Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith is an American martial arts instructor, best known as the former seven-time PKA World Light Heavy Weight Karate Champion. One of his title defense matches was on the undercard for the Ali vs. Frazier "Thrilla in Manila." He currently operates a martial arts school in Virginia where he teaches Tae Kwon Do, in which he holds a 9th degree black belt.
- Fiore Dei Liberi
Fiore dei Liberi (ca. 1350s - 1420s) was a medieval master of arms and the earliest master of the Italian school of swordsmanship from whom we have an extant manual. The Flos Duellatorum is the name given to one of the manuscript versions of Fiore dei Liberi's illuminated manuscript fight book, written in 1410 (dated to 1409 in the old reckoning). There are two other surviving recensions, under the title Fior di Battaglia.
- Relson Gracie
Relson Gracie is a retired professional Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter and martial arts personality. He currently lives in Hawaii where he previously taught Gracie Jiu-Jitsu at his school in Honolulu. He has recently given up full time teaching at his gym in Hawaii in favor of nearly constant traveling to all of the schools in his association. Relson is the second oldest son of Helio Gracie, legendary Brazilian Ju-Jitsu pioneer.
- David Ross
Sifu David A Ross is the director and founder of New York San Da in Manhattan. He is also a founding member of San Da Training Systems, an organization that promotes combat sports training including San Da, Mixed martial Arts, Thai boxing, Jiu Jitsu, etc Ross has been involved in the martial arts most of his life. He began training in Western boxing at the age of 8. A few years later, he began his study of Korean Taekwondo and Hapkido, …
- Sho Kosugi
"'"' is a Japanese martial artist with training in ninjutsu who gained popularity as an actor during the 1980s, usually playing ninja. He is the father of Kane Kosugi and Shane Kosugi. After taking a hiatus from film, he started a taiko group in California.
- Wong Shun Leung
Wong Shun Leung was a Chinese Wing Chun stylist.
- Donn F. Draeger
Donald "Donn" Frederick Draeger (April 15 1922 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - October 20 1982 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) was an expert practitioner of Asian martial arts and author of related books, having lived and trained in Asia for decades. Draeger held the rank of Captain during peace time and Major during war time in the United States Marine Corps. His tombstone reflects his peace time rank of Captain. He spent several decades of his life in the Pacific area and Japan, …
- Raymond Chow
Raymond Chow Man-Wai (born January 1, 1929, Hong Kong) is one of the most important and influential film producers in the history of filmmaking for successfully launching martial arts and the Hong Kong cinema onto the international stage. As the founder of Golden Harvest, he would produce some of the biggest stars to ever grace the screen including Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Tsui Hark and countless others.
- Vladimir Vasiliev
Vladimir Vasiliev is the director and chief instructor of the Toronto School of Russian Martial Arts located in Thornhill, Ontario, where he teaches Ryabko's Systema as the top student of Mikhail Ryabko. He was born in Tver, Russia and joined the army as a young man and soon after he was inducted into one of the Special Operations Units. He has 10 years of extensive military and special operations service, including regular high-risk covert assignments and missions.