this is the only mention of his martial arts training i have found so far...
Thursday, August 20, 1998
Martial law
By LOUIS B. HOBSON -- Calgary Sun
NEW YORK -- Wesley Snipes knows the healing power of martial arts.
"I practise many different martial arts disciplines, and have ever since I was a youngster. They are what taught me how to deal with adversity in my life," explains Snipes, whose latest film, a science-fiction/horror epic called Blade, opens tomorrow.
"You have to endure and overcome so much physical pain to learn these moves that you can apply the same principles to life experiences."
Snipes, 35, says he turned to martial arts as a matter of survival. He was born and raised in the South Bronx in New York.
"I was small as a child. I matured late. It made growing up in a tough world even tougher. I started out using my martial arts training to defend myself so my style is traditional martial arts mixed with Bronx street fighting."
Snipes' early street training has come in handy in recent years. He has had to defend himself against strangers who have been intimidated by Snipes' screen image and felt obliged to challenge him in public. Two years ago, Snipes tackled a London woman who had been stalking him for three years.
"This poor woman thinks she and I are a princess and prince who have five or six children together. She's been tracking me to reunite us.
"I was rollerblading along the beach (in Marina del Ray, California). She started following me on a bicycle. She got off her bike and grabbed me.
"I had visions of what happened to John Lennon. I honestly thought it was my time so I reacted physically."
Snipes was not charged but police reports indicated that the woman suffered a broken leg. She was deported back to England.
Snipes says his interest in martial arts has led him to study other Asian philosophies such as meditation, herbology, acupuncture and massage.
He is living with an Asian woman named Donna Wong.
They met on a blind date set up by one of his assistants. He says Wong has "brought out more of my yang side. I have found that Asian women are more compassionate than either African-American or white women.
"Asian women are also more comfortable with their beauty. They don't try to find ways to compensate for being beautiful or to compete with men."
Snipes was married when he was 22. The marriage lasted five years and produced a son, Jelanie, who is eight.
"I agonized over breaking up my son's home but my wife and I did not agree on where my life and career should go and how I should get it there."
Snipes has found so much inner peace in recent years that he wants to help others do the same.
"I am founding a martial arts and healing temple in New York. It will be like a school. People who complete the course will be recruits for my security company and for my film stunt team."
The current members of Snipes' elite fighting force are on view in Blade. Based on a popular 1980 comic book, it is the story of a modern vampire slayer.
"Blade came out of the Dracula comic book series. Because he was an African-American superhero, Blade became very popular. I loved that his comic books pushed the envelope of the imagination."
Snipes not only stars as Blade and produced the film for his Amen Ra Films, but helped choreograph all the dazzling fight sequences with his martial arts partner Jeff Ward.
"We rehearsed the fight sequences with our stunt team for a month before we brought in the cameras and then we rehearsed for a week with the cameramen so they could learn to track around our moves."
Snipes says he became a producer out of necessity.
"People would ask me when I was going to be in a really good film. The only way that can ever happen for an actor is when he is also the producer. That's the only way you get any real control over the final product."
Snipes says he has a five-year plan for his production company.
"I want us to have our fingers in every aspect of the entertainment industry.
"I'm a Leo and my Asian sign is the Tiger. Those are powerful, determined hunting signs. It means I should be able to achieve my goals if I really apply myself."
