Gary Edward Daniels (b. May 9, 1963) is a British born kickboxer, martial artist, and martial arts actor. Daniels appears mostly in action-oriented B-movies. Daniels has been in over 50 films since his start as an extra in an episode of the 1980s television series Miami Vice. He is best known for playing Kenshiro in the live-action version of Fist of the North Star.
Gary Daniels was born in Surrey, England. By his own account, he had always been "enamoured with the world of superheroes", and was inspired to study martial arts after having seen a trailer for Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon, saying "this was like a real-life superhero, that's something you can actually do." Daniels went on to master a multitude of different martial arts, and eventually entered the pro kickboxing circuit.
Gary "DangerMan" Daniels began his martial art's career in England. Daniels competed in tournaments sanctioned by the British Amateur Full-Contact Association (Formed in 1979 with Steve Babbs as chief instructor). His aggressive style didn't sit-well with British officials, and he lost 3 fights by foul.
Daniels decided that his fighting style was more suited for the United States, so in 1980,he traveled to Florida in the United States to continue his career.
In his first U.S. fight, Daniels defeated Sherman "Big Train" Bergman on the opening night of the Sunshine State Tournament in Coconut Grove, Florida. However, in the semi-finals, Daniels lost a decision. He next fought in Orlando, Florida where he knocked out Tim "Night Life" Williams in 18 seconds at a WKA (World Karate Association) event. At a PKA (Professional Karate Association) promotion, Daniels knocked out Calvin Brown in 2 rounds.
Soon after, Daniels travelled to California were he went on to win the Professional Karate Association Light Heavyweight Kickboxing Championship. In 1993, after compiling a 22-4 (21 knockouts) kickboxing record, Gary Daniels retired and turned his career to the acting and motion picture profession.
Daniels began his film career in the Philippines, appearing in two low budget films. 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. 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 live-action American version of Fist Of The North Star.
Among Daniels's fans, films that stand out include American Streetfighter, White Tiger, Bloodmoon, Recoil, Rage, Firepower and Cold Harvest. Fist of the North Star also holds a considerable cult following.
He is going to portray Bryan Fury in the upcoming film version of the popular video game series Tekken.
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, karate, taekwondo, aikido, judo, and several styles of 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, Sillum Wong Gar Kuen (Shaolin Wong Family Fist), which he studied under Sifu Winston Omega, who also served as fight choreographer on Fist Of The North Star. Interestingly enough, Daniels can be seen as more of a general action star as he employs the use of guns as much as Steven Seagal (martial arts) or Bruce Willis (dramatic action). His trademark handgun is most often a Beretta, as showcased in such films as Recoil and Witness to a Kill.
