Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong-American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that is sometimes credited with paving the way for modern mixed martial arts (MMA). Lee is considered by some commentators and martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. He is credited with promoting Hong Kong action cinema and helping to change the way Chinese people were presented in American films.
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate school at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to hold the rank of 2nd-dan black belt in karate, and compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions. With the desire of becoming an actor, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he did odd jobs and worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).
Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike is a British actress. Pike studied at Wadham College, Oxford and began her acting career by appearing in stage productions including Romeo and Juliet at the National Youth Theatre. She had her breakthrough for her film debut as Bond girl Miranda Frost in Die Another Day (2002), and had supporting roles in the period dramas The Libertine (2004), Pride & Prejudice (2005), An Education (2009) and Made in Dagenham (2010).
Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" through a series of public demonstrations, and by promoting the development of university karate clubs, including those at Keio, Waseda, Hitotsubashi (Shodai), Takushoku, Chuo, Gakushuin, and Hosei.
Jackie Chan Adventures is an American animated television series developed by John Rogers, Duane Capizzi and Jeff Kline, and produced by Sony Pictures Television. The cartoon series premiered on September 9, 2000, and ran for five seasons until its conclusion on July 8, 2005. The series focuses on a fictionalized version of Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan, who operates in life as an archaeologist and special agent, combatting threats that are mainly magical and supernatural with the aid of his family and close friends.
Chopsocky is a colloquial term for martial arts films and kung fu films made primarily by Hong Kong action cinema between the late 1960s and early 1980s. The term was coined by the American motion picture trade magazine Variety following the explosion of films in the genre released in 1973 in the U.S. after the success of Five Fingers of Death. The word is a play on chop suey, combining "chop" and "sock".
Renzo Gracie is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and 7th degree coral belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and coach. A third generation member of the Gracie family, he is the grandson of Gracie jiu-jitsu co-founder Carlos Gracie, grandnephew of Helio Gracie, nephew of Carlos Gracie Jr. and the son of Robson Gracie.
James Milton Kelly was an American athlete, martial artist, and actor. After winning several karate championships, Kelly rose to fame in the early 1970s appearing in various action films within the martial arts and blaxploitation genres. Kelly played opposite Bruce Lee in 1973's Enter the Dragon, and had lead roles in 1974's Black Belt Jones as the title character and Three the Hard Way as Mister Keyes.
Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art and self-defence method originally developed in England in 1898–1902, combining elements of boxing, jujitsu, cane fighting and French kickboxing (savate). In 1903, it was immortalised by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery stories. Dormant throughout most of the 20th century, Bartitsu has experienced a revival since 2002.
Edward William Barton-Wright CE, FRSA, MJS was an English entrepreneur specialising in both self defence training and physical therapy. He is remembered today as one of the first Europeans to both learn and teach Japanese martial arts and as a pioneer of the concept of hybrid martial arts.
The Bill is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, Woodentop, broadcast in August 1983.
Jon Jones is a Welsh film and television writer and director working primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States. He has directed numerous dramas for British and American television including the award-winning When I'm Sixty-Four, The Diary of Anne Frank, Blood Strangers, The Alan Clark Diaries, A Very Social Secretary, Northanger Abbey, Zen, Mr Selfridge and Going Postal.
Edith Margaret Garrud was a British martial artist, suffragist and playwright. She was the first British female teacher of jujutsu and one of the first female martial arts instructors in the western world.
Matt McColm is an American actor and stuntman, and former model.
Jack Thorne FRSL is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer.
Mike Dibb is an English documentary filmmaker. In almost half a century of making films mainly for television – on subjects including cinema, literature, art, jazz, sport and popular culture – "he has defined and re-defined not only the televisual art documentary genre but has been able to make moving image pieces as a form of self portraiture". Dibb has made many acclaimed films, including on Federico García Lorca, C. L. R. James, Astor Piazzolla, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Barbara Thompson and other notable subjects. In the words of Sukhdev Sandhu in The Guardian: "In a career spanning almost five decades, it's possible Dibb has shaped more ideas and offered more ways of seeing than any other TV documentarian of his generation." Mike Dibb is the father of film director Saul Dibb.
Peter Consterdine is a British martial artist who holds a 9th Dan in karate. He was a Great Britain and England international spending nine years as a regular squad member of the Great Britain Karate squad. In 1969 he was a founder of the Shukokai Karate Union (SKU) and he was Vice President of the English Karate Federation until his resignation in 2017.
Geoff Hill is an author, journalist and long-distance motorcycle rider living in Belfast. He is a critically acclaimed author and award-winning feature and travel writer.
Sara Mayhew is a writer and graphic artist who works in English-language manga. Mayhew studied graphic design at Canadore College in North Bay, Ontario from 2002 to 2005. The recipient of a TED Fellowship, Mayhew spoke at the TED Fellows stage and was featured at an independent TEDx event in Sudbury, Ontario.
The Thundering Mantis is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts action film directed by Teddy Yip, starring Bryan Leung, Cheng Feng and Eddy Ko Hung.
