38 Facts About Gary Daniels

Gary Edward Daniels was born on 9 May 1963 and is an English actor and martial artist.

Originally a kickboxer fighting out of London and Tampa Bay, Daniels earned his first acting credits with Philippine companies.

Gary Daniels gained wider recognition in the manga adaptations City Hunter, opposite Jackie Chan, and Fist of the North Star, in a starring role.

In later years, Gary Daniels has been featured in more mainstream American fare, such as the two Tekken live action movies and the all-star vehicle The Expendables.

Gary Daniels was born on May 9,1963, in Woking, Surrey, England.

Gary Daniels grew up in the west London town of Hayes.

Gary Daniels played football from the age of 5, and was on nearby Watford FC's scouting list until the age of 14.

Gary Daniels started at the local Hayes Kung-fu Club, working under trainers Jim Russell and Lajos Jakab.

Gary Daniels started fighting on British PKA shows at 17 and spent two to three years on that circuit.

Gary Daniels trained under their mentor Joe Lewis, who lived in the area at the time, but was not a longtime student of his.

However, US purses were not what Gary Daniels had hoped for and he found it difficult to pay for travel expenses.

Around 1986, Gary Daniels flew down to the Philippines to explore acting opportunities, and remained there for two years.

Gary Daniels returned to the US in 1988 and moved to California the following year to further his film career.

Gary Daniels got back into Muay Thai and kickboxing, joining Benny Urquidez's Jet Center for about a year, and training with various fighters including Pete Cunningham and Stan Longinidis.

Gary Daniels had a stint at Yukio "Little Piston" Horiuchi's Piston Gym in Fountain Valley.

Gary Daniels briefly returned to competition for Horiuchi's World Kick Boxing Association, a regional offshoot of the Japan-based WKBA, winning the Californian light heavyweight title in November 1990 against Bob Smith.

On 23 November 1991, at the World Martial Arts Extravaganza in Birmingham, England, Gary Daniels took part in a three-round, no-decision kickboxing exhibition with 11-time world champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson, to promote their film Ring of Fire.

Gary Daniels has taken part in a few impromptu contests while there, the last on record being a five-round decision loss at the age of 45, against a substantially younger opponent.

Gary Daniels has declared that he considered himself retired since then.

Gary Daniels grew up a martial arts film enthusiast and accrued a large knowledge of the genre, later contributing opinions to the filmography segment of John Corcoran's Martial Arts Sourcebook.

When he arrived in Tampa Bay at age 20, Gary Daniels started taking acting lessons at Kathy Laughlin's Performers' Studio Workshop.

Gary Daniels found a few commercials and bit parts locally, including in a Miami Vice episode and the film Cocoon, the latter of which was cut.

Gary Daniels accepted an invitation from a director who turned out to be a fraud, but stayed there and was later scouted by Solar Films, whose wealthy Chinese owner Wilson Tieng was looking for Caucasian actors to expand into the international market.

Gary Daniels was given six-picture contract but after two, he was asked to do a softcore movie and walked out.

Gary Daniels's fortunes changed in 1989 when he met Roy Horan.

Elkins signed him up to his Los Angeles-based firm and Gary Daniels relocated to the area.

Gary Daniels was offered $50,000 to star in Death Touch for Menahem Golan's new company 21st Century, but it was cancelled.

In 1992, Gary Daniels traveled to Japan and Hong Kong for an adaptation of City Hunter starring Jackie Chan, an early breakthrough alongside one of his favorite action stars.

In 1993, Gary Daniels played the Malibu Comics character Hardcase in a promotional short by music video director Darren Doane.

Meanwhile, Gary Daniels started pitching a potential franchise character for himself called Union Jack, a former British Army sergeant with James Bond-like qualities, who became the bodyguard to a rich heiress.

Gary Daniels was signed to a three-picture deal with British-owned Overseas Filmgroup, of which Union Jack was meant to be the first.

Gary Daniels soldiered on with a new PM Entertainment contract, which saw him star in an informal trilogy known internally at PM as the "Three Rs": Rage, Riot and Recoil.

The early 2000s marked an end to the lucrative cable and foreign sales that had cemented Gary Daniels' leading man career.

Gary Daniels had better luck this time around, as his characters gained in relevance during the making of the films.

In 2012, Gary Daniels delivered a more subdued performance in the crime drama Angels, in a role written against type by his friend Wych Kaosayananda.

However, the director's cut still saw release in Vietnam thanks to co-star Dustin Nguyen's presence, and Gary Daniels was booked for another dramatic role in Farewell, Berlin Wall, a German-Vietnamese co-production which was selected for the 2015 Busan Film Festival.

In 2018, Gary Daniels was cast by Ross Boyask, whom he had mentored during his days as an amateur filmmaker, as the main antagonist of his first mainstream feature I Am Vengeance, opposite wrestler Stu Bennett.

Gary Daniels met his wife in the Philippines, and she later followed him to the US His first son Shane is a stuntman who has competed on the TV show American Ninja Warrior.