Early life

Gary Daniels was born in London, England, on 9 May 1963. Inspired by the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon, Daniels began training in martial arts at the age of 8 at a local school where he learned a hybrid martial art known as "Mongolian Kung Fu" that combined wing chun, boxing, Mongolian Wrestling and Wushu, that was found in late 1960's. He then took up taekwondo at 12 years old and received his black belt after 3 years. At 16, 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. Daniels also trains kickboxing, muay thai and kung fu.

Amateur kickboxing career

Daniels began kickboxing at the age of seventeen under the tutelage of former British Army boxing champion Mickey Byrne. He debuted in 1979, and compiled a record of 13 victories (13 knockouts) and 3 defeats; including two matches with Jean-Claude Van Damme opponent, Michael J. Heming. Daniels early matches in England and in the United States were amateur matches.

In 1980, Daniels decided to leave England and move to the state of Florida in the United States to continue his career.

Daniels had an amateur kickboxing record of 31 wins, 30 by knockout and 4 defeats.

Professional kickboxing career

In 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 kick-boxer,

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.

On 3 December 1991 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.

Daniels retired with an undefeated professional kickboxing record of 4-0-0 with 2 knockouts.

Fifteen years later in 2008, Daniels made a one-fight comeback in Thailand at the age of 45 and he lost by decision after 5 rounds.

Acting career

Daniels began his film career in the Philippines, appearing in two low-budget films Final Reprisal and The Secret of King Mahis Island. His first starring film role was in the David Huey film Capital Punishment in 1991. He played a villain alongside Richard Norton in the film adaptation of City Hunter starring Jackie Chan; he was particularly known for a fight scene where he and Chan transform into various characters from the video game Street Fighter II. By 1996 Daniels had begun working on projects as a producer. His first producer credit occurred in the Joseph Merhi film Rage. Throughout his career he has also served as a fight coordinator. He can also be seen in the Steven Seagal project Submerged, directed by Anthony Hickox. He is still best known for portraying the heroic Kenshiro in the American live-action version of Japanese manga Fist of the North Star.

Among Daniels's fans, films that stand out include American Streetfighter, White Tiger, Bloodmoon, Recoil, Rage, Riot, Firepower, Heatseeker and Cold Harvest. Fist of the North Star also holds a considerable cult following. In 2012 he was in a film called "The Encounter: Paradise Lost"

Gary portrayed Bryan Fury in the film version of the popular video game series Tekken. He also starred in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables as the Brit and appears in a controversial scene in which his neck is snapped. Daniels re-teams with Steve Austin and Eric Roberts in Hunt to Kill.

Daniels was once considered for the role of Johnny Cage in the movie version of Mortal Kombat. He was also a front runner for the lead role in the hit series Highlander: The Series but lost the role to Adrian Paul.

Compared to martial arts actors such as Jet Li or Steven Seagal, Daniels's fighting style is much less classifiable. He has studied muay thai, kickboxing, taekwondo, boxing, ninjitsu, and Northern Shaolin kung fu. In his films, he employs a mixed martial arts style, leading with strong, sweeping kicks and sometimes engaging in close quarters fights with complex hand to hand choreography. As he mentions on the commentary track on the Fist of the North Star DVD, his main discipline is the hybrid kung fu art, Siu Lum Wong Gar Kune (Shaolin Wong Family Fist), which he studied under Sifu Winston Omega, who also served as fight choreographer on Fist of the North Star.

Titles

• Professional Karate Association
  • PKA World Light Heavyweight Championship
• World Kick Boxing Association
  • WKBA California State Light Heavyweight Championship

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Final Reprisal	David Callahan	First lead role
	The Secret Of King Mahis Island	Chuck	Second lead role
1991	Ring of Fire	Bud	First time partnered with Don "The Dragon" Wilson
	In Between	The Guardian
	Capital Punishment	James Thayer	Lead Role
1992	Jin san jiao qun ying hui	Martial Artist in Prologue
	Final Impact	Nick's Club Fighter
	Deadly Bet	Fletch
	Bloodfist IV: Die Trying	Scarface	Second time partnered with Don "The Dragon" Wilson
	American Streetfighter	Jake Tanner	Lead role and also fight choreographer
1993	City Hunter	Kim	First time partnered with Jackie Chan
	American Streetfighter 2: Full Impact	Jared Taskin	Lead role and also fight choreographer
	Hardcase	Tom Hawke/Hardcase	Lead role
	Knights	David
	Firepower	Nick Sledge	Lead role
1994	Pocket Ninjas	The White Dragon	Lead role, but not released until 1997
	Deadly Target	Charles Prince	Lead role
1995	Fist of the North Star	Kenshirô	Lead role
	Heatseeker	Xao
	Rage	Alex Gainer	Lead role and also associate producer
1996	White Tiger	Mike Ryan	Lead role
	Hawk's Vengeance	Eric Hawke	Lead role and also fight choreographer
1997	Bloodmoon	Ken O'Hara	Lead role and also associate producer
	Riot	Maj. Shane Alcott	Lead role
1998	Recoil	Det. Ray Morgan	Lead role and also associate producer
	Spoiler	Roger Mason	Lead role
1999	No Tomorrow	Jason	Lead role
	Cold Harvest	Roland Chaney/Oliver Chaney	Lead role
	Delta Force One: The Lost Patrol	Capt. James Wellford	Lead role
2000	The Ides of March	Thomas Cane	Lead role and unreleased to date. Title also changed to Ultimate Target
	City of Fear	Steve Roberts	Lead role
	Fatal Blade	Richard Fox	Lead role and also associate producer
2001	Queen's Messenger	Captain Anthony Strong	Lead role
	Witness to a Kill	Captain Anthony Strong	Lead role and it's a sequel to Queen's Messenger
2002	Epicenter	Nick Constantine	Lead role
	Black Friday	Dean Campbell	Lead role and also producer
2004	Retrograde	Markus	First time partnered with Dolph Lundgren
2005	Submerged	Col. Sharpe
2006	Reptilicant	Ryan Moore	Lead role
2007	Immortally Yours	Sebastian
2008	Dark Secrets	Darryl Van Dyke	Lead role
2009	La Linea	Martin	First time partnered with Andy Garcia
2010	Game of Death	Zander
	Tekken	Bryan Fury
	The Expendables	The Brit	Second time partnered with Dolph Lundgren First time partnered with Jet Li, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Roberts
	Hunt to Kill	Jensen	Straight to DVD Second time partnered with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Roberts
	Across the Line	Michaels	Second time partnered with Andy Garcia
	The Lazarus Papers	Sebastian Riker
2011	Johnny's Gone	Unknown
	Forced To Fight	Shane	Lead role and fight choreographer
2012	The Mark	Joseph Pike	Third time partnered with Eric Roberts
	A Stranger In Paradise	Derek
	The Encounter: Paradise Lost	Charlie Doles
	The Mark: Redemption	Joseph Pike	Fourth time partnered with Eric Roberts
	The Rogue	Kiefer
	Liberty	Agent Gunner
2013	Branson's Country	Unknown	rumored
	Human Factor	Chad
	Payday 2 Web Series	Hector
2014	Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge	Bryan Fury
	Quyên	Hans
	Misfire	Cole	Lead role
2015	Skin Traffik	Bradley	Lead role. Second time partnered with Mickey Rourke, Michael Madsen and Jeff Fahey. Fifth time partnered with Eric Roberts.
	Rumble	David Goran	Lead role
	Zero Tolerance	Sammy

Professional kickboxing record

Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Location	Method	Round	Time
2008	Loss		carlo la Torre	Thailand	Decision	5	3:00
1993-00	Win		Professional Karate Association	London, England	KO
1992-00	Win		Professional Karate Association	London, England	KO
1991-12-03	No Decision	Don "The Dragon" Wilson	World Martial Arts Extravaganza	Birmingham, UK	Exhibition	3
1990-11	Win		Professional Karate Association	London, England
1990-11	Win		World Kick Boxing Association	California, USA

[ Source: Wikipedia ]