Biography

Early life

Dudikoff comes from a large family. His father, Michael Joseph Dudikoff, was from a Christian Orthodox family from Russia, and served in the Army before marrying Dudikoff’s mother, a French-Canadian native from Quebec who was extremely talented on the piano. The couple moved to California and had five children. Dudikoff is the fourth of the group.

Dudikoff graduated from West High School in Torrance, California and was studying child psychology at Harbor College, when he was discovered as a model. During this time, he also worked at a rehabilitation center for abused youth called Cedar House. He waited tables at Beachbum Burt’s in Redondo Beach, California to pay for his education.

During lunch one day, Dudikoff served Max Evans, a fashion editor with Esquire magazine, who came in with some models. Evans asked Dudikoff to walk in a Newport Beach fashion show, and his mother encouraged him to try it out.

After a couple of successful runways, Dudikoff retained an agent at the Mary Webb Davis Agency in Los Angeles. Dudikoff soon entered the high fashion world and counted Calvin Klein and GQ among his clients. He moved quickly to international print modeling and traveled between New York, Los Angeles, and Milan by his late 20s.

Film career

Dudikoff soon began acting, and he starred in several commercials for companies, including Coppertone, Coca-Cola for Japan, Army Reserve and Stridex.

His first television role took place after a meeting with theatrical agent Sid Craig. It was at this time that he landed the part as Joanie’s first boyfriend in the American sitcom Happy Days. Other television work included roles in Dallas, Gimme a Break!, and a Columbia Pictures movie-of-the-week called Sawyer & Finn. He is widely recognized for playing the character Private Joe Armstrong in the American Ninja (1985). There were five movies in the American Ninja series of which Dudikoff appears in the first, second and fourth films.

Other Dudikoff films include Tron (1982), Uncommon Valor (1983), Bachelor Party (1984), Avenging Force (1986), River of Death (1989), The Human Shield (1991), Chain of Command (fi; fr) (1994), Soldier Boyz (1996), Bounty Hunters (1996), Ringmaster (1998), The Silencer (1999), In Her Defense (1999), Gale Force (2002) and Quicksand (2002).

Dudikoff mentioned in an interview with TRASHOTHEK in September 2012 that he had a desire to be in The Expendables 3. He also hinted at a possible sequel to American Ninja and Avenging Force.

Private life

Dudikoff mentors other actors and participates in martial arts, including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He began his training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Rorion Gracie and stays connected with the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighting circuit, including Rigan Machado, an eighth degree red and black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and former world champion.

Dudikoff is married and has two children. The Dudikoffs also own two chihuahuas. He can speak a little Russian.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	The Black Marble	Millie's Houseboy	Film
1981	Bloody Birthday	Willard	Film
1981	Enter the Ninja	Venarius' Man	Film (uncredited)
1982	Making Love	Young Man in Bar #2	Film
1982	I Ought to Be in Pictures	Boy on bus	Film
1982	Star of the Family	Douggie Krebs	TV series
1982	Tron	Conscript #2	Film (as Michael J. Dudikoff II)
1983	Uncommon Valor	Blaster's assistant	Film
1984	Bachelor Party	Ryko	Film
1985	Radioactive Dreams	Marlowe Hammer	Film
1985	American Ninja	Pvt. Joe Armstrong	Film
1986	Avenging Force	Capt. Matt Hunter	Film
1986	North and South	Lt. Rudy Bodford	TV mini-series
1987	American Ninja 2: The Confrontation	Sgt. Joe Armstrong	Film
1988	Platoon Leader	Lt. Jeff Knight	Film
1989	River of Death	John Hamilton	Film
1990	Midnight Ride	Lawson	Film
	American Ninja 4: The Annihilation	Joe Armstrong	Film
1991	The Woman Who Sinned	Evan Ganns	TV Movie
1992	The Human Shield	Doug Matthews	Film
1993	Rescue Me	Daniel 'Mac' MacDonald	Film
	Cobra	Robert "Scandal" Jackson, Jr.	TV Movie
1994	Cobra 2	Robert "Scandal" Jackson, Jr.	TV Movie
	Chain of Command	Merrill Ross	Film
1995	Cyberjack	Nick James	Film
	Soldier Boyz	Toliver	Film
1996	Bounty Hunters	Jersey Bellini	Video
1997	Moving Target	Sonny	Film
	Strategic Command	Dr. Rick Harding	Film
	Crash Dive	James Carter	Video
	Soldier Boyz	Toliver	Video Game
	Hardball (aka: Bounty Hunters 2)	Jersey Bellini	Video
	The Shooter	Michael Atherton	Film
1998	Freedom Strike	Tom Dickson	Film
	Black Thunder	Vince	Film
	Counter Measures	Capt. Jake Fuller	Video
	Ringmaster	Rusty	Film
	Musketeers Forever	D'Artagnan	Film
1999	In Her Defense	Andrew Garfield	Film
	Fugitive Mind	Robert Dean	Video
2000	The Silencer	Quinn Simmons	Film
2001	Ablaze	Daniels	Film
2002	Gale Force	Jared	Video
	Quicksand	Bill Turner	Film
2004	Black Horizon	Ed Carpenter	Last Film before a ten-year hiatus
2013	Zombie Break Room (TV Series)	Tank Dempsey
2015	Navy SEALs vs. Zombies	Commander Sheer
	The Bouncer	Samuel James	Filming
2016	Enter the Fist and the Golden Fleecing	Superboss	Film

[ Source: Wikipedia ]