Celebrity Martial Artists

[Chronuss]

Elvis was promoted to 8th degree in EPAK and in some of his taped performances as well as some of his movies, the IKKA patch can be seen on some of his Gibsons. Elvis, along with Mr. Parker, funded a documentary called "The New Gladiators," (threads are everywhere on the board about the DVD) taking the US team to Great Britain in 1974. along with funding the making of the video, he also custom ordered gi's for the team at $400 a pop, and this was in 1974, imagine what that price could be today...

 

[Bigodinho]

Ah yes...the self proclaimed Capoeira master And his 5th degree black belt (which he proudly boasts of) that was presented to him by a group of his peers........in nothing in-perticular.

Emmanuel Lewis (of Webster fame) and Willie Nelson both study Taekwondo

Just so everyone knows, Wesley Snipes is not a capoeira master. He trained capoeira with my master, Mestre Jelon Vieira, the pioneer of capoeira in the U.S. In our group, it takes a lifetime to reach the level of master, anywhere between 20 to 25 years. Considering capoeira has only been in the U.S. since 1975, 30 Years ago... 'nough said. Although he is very talented as my master has told me in countless stories, he is definitely not a master.

 

[Corporal Hicks]

Dolph Lundgren is a high rank in Kyokushin Karate (BB? Not sure).

Sarah Michelle Gellar is a brown belt in TKD, and apparently continued to study at least informally with her stunt coordinator while she was doing "Buffy".


BROWN BELT??????????????????????

I've seen this somewhere before, there is no brown belt in TKD!

 

[ppko]

Muhammad Ali is also a BB under George Dillman

George gave Ali a BB back in the 70s

 

[Bigodinho]

Eddie Murphy trained capoeira under Mestre Jelon Vieira, the same master who trained Wesley Snipes... and me, by the way.
Mestre Jelon also trained Brooke Shields many moons ago.
Halle Berry trained capoeira with Mestre Boneco, one of the founding masters of my group.
Jean Claude Van Damm also trained with Mestre Boneco.

 

[bignick]

BROWN BELT??????????????????????

I've seen this somewhere before, there is no brown belt in TKD!

There is no standard in the belt colors used by different tae kwon do schools. The school i train in has one...as does every other school in the area...but I do know some schools do not.

Never assume that just because that's not the way you do it, that it is never done that way.

 

[sifu nick]

Michael Jai White from Tyson, Spawn, Exit Wounds is a black belt in a few styles. I read on here about Sasha Mitchell from Step by Step and Kickboxer 2,3,and 4 trained in kickboxing but I remember hearing somewhere he has a Black Belt in Aikido. Also on a side note our TKD school has a rank of Brown Belt so it is possible.

 

[bluemtn]

I heard somewhere that Jaleel White (a.k.a. Steve Erkel- or just Erkel- of "Family Matters") has MA experience. In what and how much, I don't remember, I heard about it a long time ago.

 

[The Kai]

Ladies and Gentalmen.

When it coems to Female Stars (that knows Martial Arts) there has to be a balance between beauty and skill. There for the best one I know of is Jenifer Garner from Alias. I do not know what style she studies but it looks like TKD.

Just on a personal note I have never seen TKD look so good.

Having seen the Alias star portrayed somewhat as a Martial Arts person, I sat down and watched the season premire.
What i noticed about the show
1.) Body mechaics are poor
2.) When she has to fight the guy with the blade, all you can say is Incrediablly primitive
3.) in the end she has to fight a assassin, who "thinks as himself as a modrn samurai"- Who wielded a sword like a baseball bat, did one handed slashs, and figure 8's with the weapon!

Yes I know it's only TV, but jeez can't we do a tad better?
Todd