GARY DANIELS
Practitioner of Sillum Wong Ka Kune
Action Movie Actor (Expandables, Hunt to Kill, Tekken, etc.)
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Born in 1963, Gary Daniels, is known for being an actor of action movies such as Nicki Larson, The Expanding, Tekken or Hunt to Kill.
He has been around the biggest names in American action movies: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Jean-Claude Van Damne, Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lungreen, etc. But Gary Daniels is above all a true practitioner of Martial Arts!
But Gary is primarily a martial artist.
Tell us your beginnings in the world of martial arts. How did you come to practice martial arts? By what art? Master ? Dojo ?
As a boy of 8 I started my training in a system called ‘Mongolian Kung fu’ which was like a systemized form of street fighting which was being taught by Lajos Jakobs and Jim Russell. They combined Karate, Aikido and Judo. It wasn’t pretty but focused on effectiveness using hair pulling, eye gouges strikes to all vital areas and bone breaking techniques. Because I was young I was very flexible and particularly enjoyed the kicks so at the age of around 13 I moved to a Tae Kwon Do school under the I.T.F banner being taught be Raymond Choi. I quickly moved up through the grades and was a black belt within 3 years. I competed in TKD tournaments and was disqualified from 3 of them for excessive contact. At that time I decided to go into kickboxing with the P.K.A .
I had already been training with a gentleman by the name of Mickey Byrne since the age of 14 who was a P.T.A (physical training instructor) in the British army and a 9 year boxing champ in the army so he trained and guided me into the world of full contact kickboxing. When I moved to the states I started training Muay Thai with Benny Urquidez and Peter ‘Sugarfoot’ Cunningham at the Jet center, and at the same time I met and incredible Chinese man by the name of Winston Omega who was teaching his art of Sillum Wong Ka Kune privately, so he became my sifu and I stayed with him for the next 22 years. His teachings are my main influence today and i still travel to Asia to see him whenever i can.
Over the years , especially in the film business, you travel a lot and learn bits and pieces from a lot of teachers so even though you have your root systems you tend to develop an eclectic system that fits you as you evolve as a martial artist and as a human being.
Avec Benny Urquidez
What did you like? What made you love martial arts? What drove you and continues to push you to continue ?
As a young boy i was enamored with Marvel superheroes and collected every comic book i could get my hands on. I started martial arts after seeing a trailer for ‘Enter The Dragon’ when I was 8 years old. To me Bruce Lee looked like a real life superhero at that time and from that day i knew what i wanted to do with my life. In England Bruce Lee movies were 'X' rated so you had to be 18 years old to watch them but my father sneaked me in to a showing in London. I hid in the toilets while he purchased the tickets.
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Training in martial arts is a lifetime journey , its not something you can do temporarily or inconsistently. As i mentioned , in life we are constantly evolving as human beings , mentally , physically and spiritually so your training will emulate that natural path. There are times you will want to be a student , there are times you will want to compete , then you will want to teach and that cycle will go on and on. What you learn in life can be applied to your training and what you learn in your training can be applied to life until the line disappears and life is training and training is life.
What do you think the martial arts bring about physically, mentally and spiritually ?
There are so many benefits to a life of training in the martial arts as anyone who has devoted their life to it can attest.
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Physically - well there is the obvious external development of your muscles, increased strength , flexibility , balance and speed. As well as internally , constant training helps your blood circulation which carries oxygenated blood around your body to your vital organs , your heart , lungs, liver , kidneys , all the organs that keep you alive and give you a better quality of life. With the internal arts such as Qi gun and tai chi you learn to train , develop and manipulate your chi (breath) which again can extend and improve all aspects of your life.
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Mentally - I think training will affect everyone differently as we are all individuals that make our own choices and decisions but for me martial arts gave me a goal in life and the confidence to believe in myself and to follow my goals and my life journey no matter where it took me in the world. In your training there will be good times and bad , there are times you will have to deal with injuries , loses , there are times when you will plateau and feel like you are not improving or advancing but with discipline and mental strength you must push through all these negative times until one day you look upon these times and you see them , not as failures but as stepping stones to becoming the person you are today , the person you chose to be. As the saying goes , 'Life is falling down 7 times and getting up 8 times'.
Spiritually - They say that when you start martial arts it is 90% physical and 10% spiritual but the longer you train that changes around and it becomes 90% spiritual and 10% physical. Unfortunately i have observed that the martial arts today has become mostly about 'fighting' and not many schools (that i have observed) teach meditation. When martial arts was originally developed in was always taught in conjunction with religious beliefs i.e The Samurai would study Shintoism or different schools of buddhism and Zen. Shaolin monks and chinese warriors delved heavily into buddhist teachings. Its important that ones martial skills are tempered with spiritual teachings so there is a balance in the body , Yin and Yang. It is just as important in the day and age even though most 'martial artists' nowadays (unless you are a soldier) don't have to rely on their skills for everyday survival. but i always say that 'if you don't go within , you will go without".
Do you have master references? Examples that motivated you and still motivates you?
When i started training Bruce Lee was my inspiration , his movies , his books and his teachings which still permeate my training till today. Later i enjoyed watching the films of Jackie Chan , Sammo Hung , Yeun Biao , Whang Jang Lee and Tam Tao Liang , it was their kicking techniques that inspired me to take up Tae Kwon Do.
My boxing coach Mickey Byrne , who had been a P.T.I (physical training instructor) and a boxing champ for 9 years in the British army had a big influence on how i train with weights and cardio as well as teaching me the different mentality between competition and real fighting.
And my sifu changed my whole mentality towards training which was heavily influenced by chinese iron hand training, conditioning training for the bones in the hands , forearms and shins. As well as teaching me hand techniques and combinations more attuned to southern chinese kung fu. So i have been fortunate to see many different theories and applications which inspire and motivate me.
Do you have a daily martial routine?
Nowadays I still train 6 days a week with weights, cardio, running, jump rope, heavy bags, Mook Jong , bone conditioning e.t.c. I work a 3 day split which means 3 days on ,1 day off continuously pending sickness or work. Since 2004 I have been going to Thailand regularly where I stay in Muay Thai camps or train with Stephan Fox (vice president of the WMC) when both of our schedules allow.
For you, how to evolve the action / martial arts cinema over the years ?
Well the entertainment industry has changed so much over the past 20 years with the advent of technology. Up to the 80’s and 90’s, before CGI and green screen technology action actors really had be trained and adept in their field. We had Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan from asia who were gifted , highly trained martial arts athletes, we had Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone leading the way, developing great physiques to bring true authenticity to their action character roles.
But nowadays with all the technology you can pretty much take any actors and almost make them look like convincing action stars , ie ‘The Matrix’ and all the Marvel movies (which I love by the way). On the smaller, independent level of action movie making , we have really taken a hit due to piracy. Wheras producer could make 50 % of their profits on either video or DVD deals , these outlets are no longer viable. Everything is either streamed at a fraction of the price of a DVD or is down loaded illegally for free so profits are at an all time low. So with profits down , budgets have to be lowered which affects shooting schedules and with limited time you cannot shoot the array or the size of action set pieces that we used to in the 90’s on the bigger budgets.
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But every new generation has its own talent that comes along and pushes the envelope and effectively springboards off of the platform created by the last generation. It is natural. Nowadays the new generation combines martial arts with acrobatics and parkour so they are very exciting. It is not everyone’s cup of tea and I sometimes feel that the drama and reality of a fight or fight scene has now been lost in the importance of seeing how many times someone can spin before they throw a kick or punch. But as in all walks of life it is good that there are choices for audiences.
Action movie actor and stuntman are risky trades. Do you remember filming that is particularly difficult or perilous? Are you already injured on a plateau ?
Stunt men put their bodies at a lot more risk than actors. if an actor gets seriously injured the whole production has to close down and that can cost a lot of money. But as a martial arts action actor on smaller independent films you are often expected to do all of your own action and for me that is fine as that is why i train and stay in shape. I have received a few injuries over the years. In one of my first films shot in the Philippines an explosion went off near me and i was engulfed in flame as the SFX guy used to much gasoline. I have had a cracked jaw and stitches over my eye from actors who are not trained fighters losing control. But i will never complain , it's part of doing action films , it wouldn't feel right if i went home at the end of the day without some bumps and bruises.
I used to have a great double named Denney Peirce for 3 films i did called 'Rage' , 'Riot' and 'Recoil' which were full of big action pieces and i saw him burned and knocked unconscious doubling me so i am really appreciative of the work that stunt guys do.
You have played in many movies and in different actors like Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, Wesley Snipes or Sylvester Stallone. What is one of your best memories?
Well i have to say that i really enjoyed being part of 'The Expendables'. It wasn't the biggest or best role for me but it was nice to be working with good talent , especially Sylvester Stallone who has been an icon in action cinema for years.
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Working with Jackie Chan was definitely a highlight of my career. 'City Hunter' was a great experience which came early for me in my career. I would love to have worked with Jackie once I had become a little more seasoned. As it was I had been a huge Jackie Chan fan since I was about 15 or 16 years old so when I got the call to work with him I was thrilled. We spent almost 2 weeks shooting in Japan on a cruise Liner and then about 3 and a half months in Hong Kong and the whole experience was very positive. For me it was like going to film school, even the days I was not working I would go to the set to watch and learn. Doing the fight scenes were very physically demanding as they demand perfection so you have to do so many takes until they get the shot they want. My opening scene where I had to do the splits in slow motion took so many takes I could hardly walk for 2 days afterwards. The `Streetfighter' scene was a lot of fun but a lot of hard work. When they put me on the machine that spun me around I almost threw up. And I saw other Chinese stuntmen get carried of the set after the physical demands of some of the wire work. But as i say , a very positive experience, educational as well as enjoyable.
I must say that i enjoy working as a lead in some of the smaller independent films as i have more say in the way the action in the films is shot and i often do the choreography and i have the ear of the director. Plus i get to develop a character and work on my acting which i enjoy more and more as i get older. And yet it's nice to work on the bigger films as it's a chance to get more exposure. As they say 'the grass is always greener on the other side'.
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
You've done a lot of fights in your movies and you've 'clashed' with many martial arts practitioners, I think about your excellent fight scene against Jet Li and Jason Statham in Expandables 1. Which actor would you like to share with? the screen during a fight?
To be honest i do not watch a lot of martial arts films nowadays , unfortunately these kind of films usually have very similar plots and storylines and so it becomes just about one fight after another. I believe the 80's and 90's was the golden age for martial art films with so many great movies coming out of Hong Kong and China. I do think that Donnie Yen is doing some great stuff, I really enjoyed SPL and ‘Flash Point’, He has been very smart with the way his choreography has evolved and the way he adapts his choreography to the story telling so i would like to work with him if i was offered a good role.
To improve my career i need to work on bigger films with better actors and good directors that can bring out the best in me as an actor and with the action.
Do you have any tips for those they want to become an actor / stuntman?
For people that want to become actors i would tell them that there is no one way to do it. You need to get into acting classes , get a good agent , a good headshot and get out there and audition as much as you can. But there are other ways , if you truly believe in yourself you just have to make it happen. Becoming a stunt man is a little different as it will take a lot more physical ability , so take martial arts and gymnastic classes , learn precision driving , ride horses. The more skills you can bring to the table the more chances you have of being hired.
If it's not a secret what are your next projects ?
Right now i have a few new scripts to read and my manager and i are in discussion on a couple of projects but nothing is 100% right now so i don't like to jinx it by talking about them. I keep updates on my face book page so if anyone is interested they can visit :
Un mot pour la fin ? Quelque chose à rajouter ?
Thank you Julien.
I wish to thank you for your support and I wish you all peace and success for the future.
Internet links
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Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/therealgarydaniels/
Filmography: http://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-85420/filmographie/
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Entretien martial GARY DANIELS - Février 2019
