Gary Edward Daniels (born 9 May 1963) is an English actor, producer, martial artist, fight coordinator and former world light heavyweightkickboxing champion. Born and raised in London, England, Daniels started to take martial arts lessons at the age of eight. By his late teens, he became a competitive kickboxer. In 1980, Daniels moved to the United States to continue the sport. In 1990, he won the WKBA California State Light Heavyweight Championship and the PKA World Light Heavyweight Championship.
Gary Daniels was born in London, England, on 9 May 1963.[citation needed] Daniels said that at the age of eight he was inspired to learn martial arts after seeing the trailer of the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon. Following this, Daniels said he joined a kung-fu school for three to four years, after he made the switch to taekwondo where he received a black belt in his mid-teens.[3] He became a 2nd dan and began competing in ITF taekwondo tournaments. His aggressive style did not sit well with British officials, however, and he lost 3 fights by disqualification.[citation needed]
Career
1979-1995: Kickboxing career to action film leading man
Daniels began kickboxing at the age of seventeen under the tutelage of former British Armyboxing champion Mickey Byrne. He debuted in 1979, and compiled a record of 13 victories (13 knockouts) and 3 defeats. Daniels early matches in England and in the United States were amateur matches.[4]
In 1980, Daniels decided to leave England and move to the state of Florida in the United States to continue his career.[citation needed]
Daniels had an amateur kickboxing record of 31 wins, 30 by knockout and 4 defeats.[citation needed]
By the late 1980s, Daniels moved to California and began practicing Muay Thai at Benny Urquidez's Jet Center and Yuki Horiuchi's Piston Kickboxing Gym. He also became a professional kickboxer.[citation needed]
In 1988, Daniels starred in the action films Final Reprisal, and The Secret of King Mahis Island.[citation needed] According to Daniels, a talent agent introduced him to a production company in the Philippines, with whom he made them.[3][5]
In November 1990, Daniels won the WKBA California State Light Heavyweight Championship and the PKA World Light Heavyweight Championship in England within the space of a month.[citation needed]
In 1991, Daniels acted in Ring of Fire,[6] and starred in Capital Punishment.[7] On 3 December in Birmingham, England, Daniels fought a 3-round, No Decision, exhibition match with 11-time World Kickboxing Champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson at the World Martial Arts Extravaganza.[citation needed] Daniels retired with an undefeated professional kickboxing record of 4-0-0 with 2 knockouts.[citation needed]
In 1993, Daniels acted in Wong Jing's film adaptation of City Hunter starring Jackie Chan, a significant early role for Daniels.[12][13] Daniels also acted in Albert Pyun's Knights.[14] Daniels said that he was offered the role of one of the villains in City Hunter while filming Knights in Utah, however shooting days overlapped. He went on to ask director Albert Pyun if he could finish his shooting schedule earlier to join the Jackie Chan film in Hong-Kong. Pyun accepted but had to reduce a few of his scenes and use a double. Daniels said he arrived late on the set and the introductory scene of the villains was already shot. He thinks it played to his advantage because the filmmakers edited in parallel a scene of him training and showing his physical prowess to introduce his character.[3] That year, he starred in Full Impact,[15] and co-starred with Chad McQueen in Firepower[16]
In 1995, Daniels starred in Fist of the North Star, which offered a notable boost to his career, particularly due to the film's successful home video release in Asian markets.[18][19] That same year, he would star in White Tiger,[20] and had a role in the movie Heatseeker.[21]
In the mid-to-late 1990s, Daniels found a niche as lead actor in many of PM Entertainment's action movies, including 1995's Rage,[22] 1996's Riot[23] and 1998's Recoil.[24][25]
In 2008, he played the role of Ed Parker in biographical mini series The Legend of Bruce Lee.[42] Also, Daniels made a one-fight comeback in Thailand at the age of 45 and he lost by decision after 5 rounds.[43] That year, he acted in Dark Secrets,[44]Cold Earth,[45] and Kiss of the Vampire.[46]
Wins WKBA California State Light Heavyweight Championship.
References
^ ab"Daniels' "North Star" Set for '95 Release". Black Belt Magazine (February 1995 issue). 1 February 1995. p. 69. Retrieved 9 March 2023. ... A black belt in taekwondo, Daniels has 23 years of martial arts training, including background in kickboxing, ninjutsu, aikido and shaolin kung fu.
^ abcdeTerrence Allen (January 1996). "Meet the Martial Arts Movie Stars of the Next Century". Black Belt Magazine (Jan 1996 issue). p. 57. Retrieved 9 March 2023. Beginning his martial arts studies at the age of 8, he has a black belt in taekwondo, has studied kickboxing and muay Thai[sic] with world champion Benny (The Jet) Urquidez, has ample knowledge of Chinese weapons, and has trained with former world full-contact champion Joe Lewis. He is currently studying exclusively with sil lum kung fu instructor Winston Omega.
^ abcdJing, Wong (1983). ''City Hunter'' (Blu-Ray) (in Cantonese and English). England: Eureka!. Event occurs at "Evolution of a fighter" - interview with kickboxer and actor Gary Daniels. 5 06000 703054.
^Jolliffe, Tom (2 February 2022). "Gary Daniels: Britain's Original Martial Arts Action Hero". Flickering Myth. Retrieved 9 March 2023. A former world champion Kickboxer with an imperious record, [Gary Daniels'] shift into movies began in earnest. Actually it began in The Philippines in a number of shoestring exploitation films (and offers to do 'adult' material along the way).
^"AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
^"Deadly Bet". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
^Ziller, Paul (1992). Bloodfist IV: Die Trying (VHS). USA: New Horizons Home Video. #NH00454.
^Austin, Steven. American Streetfighter (VHS) (in English and Spanish). Lucian. Luc 263.
^Jolliffe, Tom (2 February 2022). "Gary Daniels: Britain's Original Martial Arts Action Hero". Flickering Myth. Retrieved 9 March 2023. A first significant role would come as Daniels found himself cast as Richard Norton's henchmen in City Hunter. Complete with blond flowing locks (an early Daniels calling card), he stood out in this Jackie Chan star vehicle, with the showpiece being a bizarre fight scene where Chan and Daniels transform into Street Fighter characters Chun-Li and Ken respectively. Daniels is still the definitive Ken for me too (where was the call for the JCVD film huh?).
^Jolliffe, Tom (2 February 2022). "Gary Daniels: Britain's Original Martial Arts Action Hero". Flickering Myth. Retrieved 9 March 2023. In 1995 Daniels found himself cast in a project which on paper could/should have been the launching pad. By no means lavish, it still marked a significant jump in budget to many of the earlier films he'd appeared in. The live action manga adaptation Fist of The North Star brought with it a ready made fan base, and the addition of an impressive cast to star opposite Daniels (with Malcolm McDowell, Chris Penn and Costas Mandylor). Ending up straight to video in the US, it never quite managed to latch onto that fanbase, nor a growing trend in cyberpunk movies which were popping up with regularity at the time (though almost all were bombing at the box office). [...] Daniel's found his market as a leading man and it was firmly in video, but off the back of Fist of The North Star's popularity (which did well on video and in Asia) he was now on a level with Wilson et al, and a big draw in the market. [...] No longer would he play second fiddle to Chad McQueen for example, he'd be the headliner and given the backing of some of their more ambitiously budgeted films.
^Jolliffe, Tom (2 February 2022). "Gary Daniels: Britain's Original Martial Arts Action Hero". Flickering Myth. Retrieved 9 March 2023. It was around the mid-90's that Daniels went from being a PM entertainment also-ran, to being perhaps their star attraction. [...] Recoil, Riot and Rage in particular were all pretty spectacular, representing the pinnacle of a studio with an impish approach to scraping every penny from the coffers and putting it into the stunt department. PM became a breeding ground for stuntmen to indulge, and a good launching pad for stunt specialists like Spiro Razatos (who's overseen the action on several Fast films among an array of huge movies ). In the center of this chaos was Daniels, who never shied away from performing much of the physical work himself (and always the fight sequences). In delivering the fight sequences and physical prowess, he excelled to a level above most of his rivals.
^"Bloodmoon". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
