Jun Chong | |
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Born | Jun Chong 1944 (age 79–80) |
Occupation(s) | Martial artist, actor, filmmaker |
Jun Chong is a South Korean martial artist, filmmaker, and actor.
Jun Chong was born in 1944 in South Korea. At the age of eight, he began training in the country's national martial art of Taekwondo. While he won numerous competitions both nationally and internationally, Chong decided to try his hand at train in other forms of martial arts, including Hapkido, Judo, Aikido, and Boxing. Chong is currently a 10th-degree grandmaster in Taekwondo. After emigrating to Los Angeles in the 1970s, he opened his own school, which he continues to operate alongside his son, Yong, to this day. He has had his share of celebrity students, including Phillip Rhee, Simon Rhee, Lorenzo Lamas, Sam J. Jones, boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, and Heather Graham.
Chong is also the founder of the World United Martial Arts Organization (WUMAO), connecting martial arts schools from all over the world to support in the advancement and growth of martial arts.
Chong made his film debut in 1976 in a South Korean-made martial arts film shot on location in Los Angeles entitled Visitor of America, with Chong being credited as 케리・郑 (Ke-li Chong) in the original Korean version and as Bruce K.L. Lea in the English-dubbed and altered U.S. edit known as Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave.
In 1985, Chong founded his own production company, Action Brothers Productions. His first film as a producer and star was L.A. Street Fighters, also known as Ninja Turf. The film would include some of Chong's students as cast members as well as martial arts legend Bill Wallace and a pre-fame Thomas F. Wilson of the Back to the Future trilogy. His second film, Silent Assassins, had Chong team up with real-life student Sam J. Jones and Linda Blair. The film also had a brief fight scene between real-life brothers Phillip Rhee and Simon Rhee, who play a good guy and an assassin respectively. In 1990, Chong starred, produced, and choreographed the fight scenes for Street Soldiers, which he plays the martial arts teacher of a high school gang who want to take back the streets from a rival and more ruthless street gang. The film would mark the only Hollywood film from Korean-born martial arts film star Hwang Jang-Lee, who fought Chong in the film. After this film, Chong took a fifteen-year hiatus from films to focus on teaching.
Chong returned in 2006 in the role of Master Chong in the mixed martial arts film Maximum Cage Fighting, which he also produced under his Action Brothers Entertainment. In 2015, he made a cameo appearance as himself in the comeback film for Phillip Rhee, Underdog Kids as a judge alongside fellow martial arts legends Richard Norton, Don Wilson, Benny Urquidez, and Dan Inosanto.
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 the combat sport 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.
Jeet Kune Do is a hybrid martial art conceived and practiced by martial artist Bruce Lee. It was formed from Lee's experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense—as well as eclectic, Zen Buddhist and Taoist philosophies—as a new school of martial arts thought.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to martial arts:
Hwang Jang-lee is a Japanese-born Korean martial artist and actor best known for his Hong Kong martial arts films. He is a ninth-dan grandmaster in Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo who began training in 1957. Prior to his acting career, Hwang was a martial arts instructor for the Korean military in Vietnam.
Tang Soo Do is a Korean martial art based on karate and may include fighting principles from taekkyeon, subak, as well as northern Chinese martial arts. From its beginnings in 1944 to today, Tang Soo Do is used by some Kwans to identify the traditional Korean fusion of martial arts styles. In the mid 1950s, Tang Soo Do became the basis for the martial art Taekwondo when the Korean Nine Kwans united.
Best of the Best is a 1989 American martial arts film directed by Bob Radler, and produced by Phillip Rhee, who also co-wrote the story and co-stars in the film. The film starred Eric Roberts, James Earl Jones, Sally Kirkland, Simon Rhee and Chris Penn.
Rhee Taekwon-Do, also known as Rhee Tae Kwon-Do, Rhee Tae Kwon Do, or Rhee Taekwondo, is a martial art school in Australia teaching the Korean martial art of taekwondo. Its full name is "Rhee International Taekwon-Do (Australia)". Chong Chul Rhee, one of the original masters of taekwondo, founded the school in the mid-1960s. Two of Rhee's brothers, Chong Hyup Rhee and Chong Yoon Rhee, later came to assist him in the 1970s.
Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave, originally released as Visitor of America, is a 1976 Bruceploitation supernatural martial arts film starring tae kwon do instructor Jun Chong. The film was directed by Lee Doo-yong, though persistent misinformation claims that the movie was directed by Italian horror director Umberto Lenzi.
One Armed Boxer (獨臂拳王) is a 1972 Hong Kong wuxia film directed, written by and starring Jimmy Wang Yu. Produced by Raymond Chow, it was released in 1972 in Hong Kong and various countries, and in late 1973 in the United States under a new title, The Chinese Professionals.
Rhee Chong-chul was a South Korean Master of Taekwondo who arrived to Australia in the 1960s. He is the founder of Rhee Taekwon-Do, which is widely publicised as Australia's first and biggest Taekwondo school. Rhee holds the title 'World Master' and the rank of 8th Dan in Taekwondo. He is one of the twelve Original Masters of Taekwondo of the Korea Taekwon-Do Association (KTA).
Kenji Kazama is a Japanese. He played the henchman Spider who fought Fred Williamson in the 1973 action film That Man Bolt and he played Yokohama a mean and brutal Japanese official who fought Jhoon Rhee in the 1973 martial arts classic When Taekwondo Strikes. In 1974 he played the part of Senkaku Kan in the Sonny Chiba cult classic The Street Fighter.
When Taekwondo Strikes is a 1973 Hong Kong martial arts film directed and written by Feng Huang, and produced by Raymond Chow. The film is known for the collective martial arts experience of its cast and the high-quality fight choreography. The film stars an international cast of martial arts film actors, including Angela Mao, Jhoon Rhee, Anne Winton, Wong In Sik, Carter Wong, Kenji Kazama, Sammo Hung, Biao Yuen, and Golden Harvest producer Andre Morgan. This was Jhoon Rhee's only film, and Anne Winton's debut film.
The original masters of taekwondo is a group of twelve South Korean martial art masters assembled by the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) in the early 1960s to promote the newly established art of taekwondo. In alphabetical order following Korean naming conventions, they are: Choi Chang-keun, Choi Kwang-jo, Han Cha-kyo, Kim Jong-chan, Kim Kwan-il, Kong Young-il, Park Jong-soo, Park Jung-tae, Park Sun-jae, Rhee Chong-chul, Rhee Chong-hyup, and Rhee Ki-ha.
Ninja Turf is a 1985 martial arts film, starring Jun Chong and Phillip Rhee. Loren Avedon, Thomas F. Wilson in his feature film debut, and Peter Malota appear in this film in small roles.
Phillip Rhee is an American martial artist, actor, director, screenwriter, and film producer, best known for his role as Tommy Lee in the 1989 American martial arts film Best of the Best, and its sequels Best of the Best 2 (1993), Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1995), and Best of the Best 4: Without Warning (1998). Rhee's 1980 representation of the United States' Taekwondo Team against the South Korean team in the championships of the Asia Games formed the basis of his screenplay for the film Best of the Best. Rhee is trained in various martial arts such as Taekwondo, Hapkido, Wing Chun and Boxing.
Underdog Kids is a film directed by Phillip Rhee that premiered on July 7, 2015.
Street Soldiers is a 1991 American revenge martial arts film written, produced, and starring taekwondo master Jun Chong, and directed by Lee Harry. The film would be the only production to feature actor Hwang Jang-lee, who is credited in the film as "Jason Hwang".
Anne Winton was an American ballerina, martial artist and film actress. Hailing from Brewster County, Texas, she starred in two films during the 1970s. Her first film was When Taekwondo Strikes (1973), which she co-starred in. She was the first Caucasian female martial artist to star in an Asian film production. Her second film was Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story (1974), opposite Bruce Li. She was murdered in 1982.
Jun Lee is a Korean American Taekwondo Grandmaster 9th dan and the founder of Black Belt World, a Taekwondo school of the Korean Martial Arts. He has been referred to as one of the top ten martial artists in the United States. He holds the world record for breaking 5,000 one-inch thick boards in seven hours. The Kukkiwon named Grandmaster Lee its spokesperson for International affairs on February 22, 2021.