Biography

Dacascos' father, Al Dacascos, is from Hawaii, and is a martial arts instructor of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese ancestry. His mother, Moriko McVey-Murray, is of Irish and Japanese ancestry. She was a rock-star and performed in 46 states and Canada. Eighteen years in show-biz. In the History Channel presentation, "Samurai", he revealed that many of the Japanese side of his mother's family were killed in the bombing of Hiroshima. Mark's mother Moriko McVey-Murray was also a student of Sifu Al Dacascos in San Leandro, California. Dacascos attended Los Angeles Valley College and was on their 1983-1984 Gymnastics Team coached by Gary Honjio. He also attended Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Dacascos is proficient in his father's style of martial arts, Wun Hop Kuen Do. He has studied Muay Thai with Kru Puk, Capoeira with Mestre Amen Santo, and Wushu with Coaches Eric and Debbie Chen, though he self-admittedly is still very much a beginner/intermediate student in those arts.

Personal life

He is married to actress Julie Condra, who starred with him in Crying Freeman. They have three children: two sons and a daughter. Mark has five siblings: two brothers and three sisters.

Career

Dacascos became an actor after being discovered walking down the street in San Francisco's Chinatown by Chris Lee (at that time, assistant director) and Rexall Chin (hairstylist) for director Wayne Wang. Though his first scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, he went on to establish a film and television career primarily playing martial artists. He was originally set to play as the Red Ranger, Victor Lee in Bio-Man produced by Haim Saban which never got picked up but would later evolve into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

His breakout role was in the 1993 film Only the Strong, in which he played Louis, a Capoeira master who takes a high school's potential failures and turns their lives around by teaching them the Brazilian martial art based on the West African martial art brought by slaves. In the following year, Dacascos co-starred with Party of Five's Scott Wolf as Jimmy and Billy Lee, respectively, in the movie, based on the video game, Double Dragon.

He plays the role of the Chairman of Iron Chef America and Iron Chef Australia. In the series' backstory he is the nephew of the original Iron Chef Chairman, Takeshi Kaga; the actors hold no relation in real life.

He has been featured in many action films such as Brotherhood of the Wolf, Crying Freeman and Cradle 2 the Grave, in which he squared off against Jet Li. He also performed in three video games: voice acting in Stranglehold, live acting in Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom and digitally recreating The Chairman in the Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine video game for Wii.

Dacascos was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2002 for his role in Brotherhood of the Wolf. He also appeared in the television series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, which was a follow-up to the 1994 film The Crow. He also appears in the children's television show, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, where he portrays Eubulon, also known as the Advent Master, mentor of the Kamen Riders and creator of the Advent Decks.

Dacascos plays the recurring role of Wo Fat on the CBS series, Hawaii Five-0. He portrayed Kung Lao in the second season of the YouTube series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other Notes
1985	Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart	n/a	Film (scenes deleted)
1990	Angel Town	Stoner Driver	Film
1991	Dead On The Money	Martial arts master	TV movie
1992	American Samurai	Kenjiro Sanga	Film
1993	Only The Strong	Louis Stevens	Film
1993	Roosters	Filipino's Son	Film (Cameo)
1994	Dragstrip Girl	Johnny Ramirez	TV movie
1994	Double Dragon	Jimmy Lee	Film
1995	Deadly Past	Leo	Film
1995	Kickboxer 5: The Redemption	Matt Reeves	Film
1995	Crying Freeman	Yo Hinomura/Freeman	Film
1996	The Island of Dr. Moreau	Lo-Mai	Film
1996	Sabotage	Michael Bishop
1997	Drive	Toby Wong	Film
1997	Sanctuary	Luke Kovak	Film
1997	DNA	Dr. Ash Mattley	Film
1997	Deathline (a.k.a. Redline)	Merrick	Film
1998	Boogie Boy	Jesse Page	Film
1998	No Code of Conduct	Paul DeLucca	Film
1999	The Base	Maj. John Murphy/Cpl. John Dalton	Film
2000	China Strike Force (Lei ting zhan jing)	Tony Lau	Film
2001	Le Pacte des loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf)	Mani	Film
2001	Instinct To Kill (AKA The Perfect Husband)	J.T. Dillon	Film
2002	Scorcher	Ryan Beckett	Film
2003	Cradle 2 the Grave	Ling	Film
2005	Solar Strike (AKA Solar Attack) (USA)	Lucas Foster	TV movie
2005	Junior Pilot (aka Final Approach)	Kato	Film
2006	Only the Brave	Steve "Zaki" Senzaki	Film
2006	The Hunt for Eagle One	Lt. Matt Daniels	Video
2006	The Hunt for Eagle One: Crash Point	Lt. Matt Daniels	Video
2006	Nomad	Sharish	Film
2007	Code Name: The Cleaner	Eric Hauck	Film
2007	Alien Agent	Rykker	Film
2007	I Am Omega	Renchard	Film
2008	Gideon Falls	Set	Film
2009	Serbian Scars	Peter Olsen Obilich	Film
2010	Shadows in Paradise	Lt. Max Forrester	Film
2010	Secret of the Sultan		Film
2011	The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone	Cobra	Film
2013	Mortal Kombat: Legacy	Kung Lao	Second series
2014	The Extendables	*Cameo	Film
2016	Showdown in Manila	Matthew Wells	Film, director

Television

Year	Title	Role	Episode/Notes
1987	General Hospital	Police cadet	TV series
1990	New Dragnet	Kevin Chow	TV series
1990	Doogie Howser, MD	Julian	Episode: "The Grass Ain't Always Greener"
1991	The Flash	Osaku	Episode: "Child's Play"
1992	Mighty Morphin Power Rangers	Victor Lee/Red Ranger	Galaxy Rangers Test Pilot
1994	Tales from the Crypt	Felix Johnson	Episode: "The Pit"
1995	One West Waikiki	Moku	Episode: "Rest in Peace"
1998-99	The Crow: Stairway to Heaven	Eric Draven	TV series
1999	Martial Law	Steven Garth	Episode: "Ninety Million Reasons to Die"
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Ananda the Monk	Episode: "Felonious Monk"
2005-present	Iron Chef America: The Series	The Chairman	TV series
2007	Stargate Atlantis	Tyre	Episode: "Reunion"
2008	The Legend of Bruce Lee	Muay Thai boxer King Charles	TV series
2008	The Middleman	Sensei Ping	Episode: "The Sino-Mexican Revelation"
2008	Stargate Atlantis	Tyre	Episode: "Broken Ties"
2009	Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight	Eubulon	Episodes: 32-40
2009	Dancing with the Stars	Himself/guest dancer	Episodes" 1-7
2009	Wolvesbayne	Von Griem	TV movie
2008-present	The Next Iron Chef	The Chairman	TV series
2010	Samurai	Himself	TV documentary
2010-2014	Hawaii Five-0	Wo Fat	TV series
2010	Iron Chef Australia	The Chairman	TV series
2012	Iron Chef America Countdown	The Chairman	TV series
2014	Chicago PD (TV series)	Jimmy Shi	TV series
2014	Bagatami's Case	John Bagatami	Russian TV series
2015-2016	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Mr. Giyera	Recurring role; TV series

Awards

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films

Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient
2002	Nominated	Saturn Award	Best Supporting Actor for: Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]