Raymond Park (born August 23, 1974) is a British actor, stunt man and martial artist, best known for his portrayal of Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
Park was born in Southern General Hospital in Glasgow and lived in the Govan area until the age of seven, when he and his family moved to London. It was at this age that he started training in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. Seven years later he would also start training in wushu and gymnastics. He has since earned his second-degree black belt in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. He has competed many times in martial arts competitions and brought home many awards for them including, at the age of 16, the United Kingdom's Martial Arts National Championship for his group. He competed as part of the British wushu team at the 1993 World Wushu Games in Malaysia.
He began working in movies as a stunt double for the movie Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, doing the stunts for both Robin Shou and James Remar. Park also did some cameos as monsters, including Baraka the Tarkata. All of these were non-speaking roles.
In 1999, Park appeared in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, as the Sith Lord Darth Maul. While the character had a few lines, Park's voice was dubbed over with that of actor Peter Serafinowicz.
In addition to this acting work, he has also been Christopher Walken's stunt double for the movie Sleepy Hollow. Park appeared in the scenes where Walken's character, the Headless Horseman, appears without his head.
Park had his first real speaking part in X-Men as Toad. In one scene of this film, after sending Storm (Halle Berry) down an elevator shaft, he picks up a length of pipe and swings it around in much the same way he swung his dual-bladed lightsaber as Darth Maul, a signature wushu movement.
Park has been asked to become a superhero himself, instead of a villain, in a movie about Marvel Comics character Iron Fist, but the movie has been in preproduction for some years now. Iron Fist deals with an American millionaire who becomes a martial artist with the power of focusing his "life force" or chi into his fist, making it glow with energy and become "like unto a thing of iron" and able to impact with superhuman force.
In December 2007, Park was confirmed for the role of Snake-Eyes, one of the original contingent of G.I. Joe, for the upcoming movie of the same name, involving a variation of the international G.I. Joe force, which in the comics fought the minions of COBRA.
He worked with comic book creator-turned-film-maker Kevin VanHook in the movie, Slayer, starring in the dual roles of acrobatic twin vampires. This film also saw him appearing again with Sleepy Hollow co-star Casper Van Dien.
ComiCon 2007 saw the premiere of the teaser trailer for The Descendants, another comic book adaptation based on an independent comic by writer Joey Andrade. As of this writing, the planned adaptation is a web-series, to be co-directed by web video gurus Michael Scott and Ryan Wieber, who also directed the teaser trailer.
Park currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife Lisa, daughter Sienna and son.
