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Christian Howard | |
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| Born | Christian Howard 4 May 1984 Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, model, martial artist, filmmaker |
Christian Howard (born 4 May 1984) is a British actor, model, martial artist, and filmmaker. He is best known for his performance as Ken Masters in the short film Street Fighter: Legacy , the 2014 web series Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist and its follow-up Street Fighter: Resurrection .
Christian Howard was born in Sunderland, near Newcastle, in the United Kingdom on 4 May 1984. At the age of 13, Howard began his training in martial arts in Essex. Howard began his training in Kung Fu, but later trained in Karate, Taekwondo and Capoeira. He notes Bruce Lee and Jean-Claude Van Damme as his influences for training in the martial arts. [1]
Howard made his film debut in 2005 with the indie film Love Struck and worked primarily in television movies and short films. In 2010, he played the role of Ken Masters in the short film Street Fighter: Legacy opposite Jon Foo as Ryu. In addition to playing Ken, Howard also co-wrote the screenplay and assisted with fight choreography with director Joey Ansah. He earned his first male lead role in a feature film with Ross Boyask's sword and sorcery homage Warrioress opposite Cecily Fay, who met Howard while he worked as a stuntman. Howard worked as a fight choreographer on films such as Dragon Crusaders and the Bollywood film Force and doubled for lead actor John Abraham. Howard had worked as assistant fight choreographer and doubled for idol Jean-Claude Van Damme on U.F.O .
In 2013, Howard co-starred as Wedge and served as assistant fight choreographer on Green Street 3: Never Back Down .
The overwhelming success of the 2010 short film Street Fighter: Legacy led to Capcom and Machinima financing the web-series Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist . Howard was able to return to the role of Ken Masters, but since Jon Foo was unavailable, Mike Moh replaced Foo as Ryu. The series was also co-written by Howard and again, Howard assisted with the series' fight choreography alongside co-star and series director Joey Ansah.
In 2016, Howard returned to the role of Ken Masters in the sequel series Street Fighter: Resurrection alongside Mike Moh returning as Ryu and features Alain Moussi as Charlie Nash.
He has also expressed interest in playing the lead role of He-Man in Mattel's rumored Masters of the Universe film.
Akuma, known in Japan as Gouki, is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist of the Street Fighter series of fighting games created by Capcom. Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and boss. In the storyline of the Street Fighter video games, he is the younger brother of Gouken, Ryu's and Ken's master. In some games, he also has an alternate version named Shin Akuma or Shin Gouki in Japanese and Oni Akuma in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Since his debut, Akuma has appeared in several subsequent titles and has been praised by both fans and critics.
Ryu is a fictional character and the protagonist of Capcom's Street Fighter series. Having premiered in the first Street Fighter in 1987, Ryu appears as the game's lead character alongside his best friend and friendly rival Ken Masters. Other games in the series show Ryu to be highly focused on his training, aiming to become the strongest he can. Unable to control his dark nature, Ryu developed two alter egos: Evil Ryu, and Kage-naru mono or simply Kage.
Major Guile is a fictional character from Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games. He debuted as one of the original eight World Warriors in 1991's Street Fighter II and appeared in the game's subsequent updates. In the games he is portrayed as a major in the United States Air Force who is seeking to avenge the death of his Air Force buddy Charlie at the hands of the villainous dictator M. Bison.
Ken Masters is a character in Capcom's Street Fighter series. Ken's goal is to test his power against many different fighters, as he strives to become stronger. He uses improved Shoryuken techniques.
Yuen Woo-ping is a Hong Kong martial arts choreographer and film director who worked in Hong Kong action cinema and later Hollywood films. He is one of the inductees on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong. Yuen is also a son of Yuen Siu-tien, a martial arts film actor. He attended the China Drama Academy for one year as a day student of Master Yu Jim-yuen as well.
Bruceploitation is an exploitation film subgenre that emerged after the death of martial arts film star Bruce Lee in 1973, during which time filmmakers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea cast Bruce Lee look-alike actors ("Lee-alikes") to star in imitation martial arts films, in order to exploit Lee's sudden international popularity. Bruce Lee look-alike characters also commonly appear in other media, including anime, comic books, manga, and video games.
Street Fighter is a 1987 arcade video game by Japanese developer and publisher Capcom. It is the first competitive fighting game produced by the company and the first installment in the Street Fighter series. It was a commercial success in arcades and introduced special attacks and some of the conventions made standard in later fighting games, such as the six-button controls and the use of command-based special moves.
Flying Dragon, known in Japan as Hiryū no Ken Twin, is a fighting game with role-playing elements that was developed by Culture Brain and released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Part of the Hiryū no Ken series, it was published in Japan by Culture Brain, and by Natsume Inc. in North America and Europe.
Ansatsuken is a Japanese neologism used frequently in fictional works to describe any martial art style or fighting technique that has been developed with the purpose of killing an opponent. The term satsujinken is used interchangeably as well and the homophonous term satsujinken is used when the martial art style or technique explicitly revolves around swordsmanship rather than barehanded combat.
Philip Kwok is a Hong Kong-based Taiwanese actor, martial artist, and stuntman. He rose to fame as a member of the Venom Mob, an ensemble of highly-talented martial arts actors that starred in several films for Shaw Brothers Studio in the 1970s and 1980s.
Matt Mullins is an American actor and martial artist. At the age of 16, in 2000, he won his first World Kickboxing Association title in Dublin, Ireland. This would be his first of five championships in the next three years.
Jon Foo is a British actor, martial artist and stunt performer known for his role as Jin Kazama in the 2009 live action film Tekken.
Joey Ansah is an English actor, director and martial artist best known for his roles in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist (2014) and The Old Guard (2020).
Lau Kar-wing is a martial artist, Hong Kong film director, action choreographer and actor.
Street Fighter: Legacy is a live-action short fan film based on Capcom's popular fighting game series Street Fighter. The film is a Streetlight Films production, co-directed by Joey Ansah and Owen Trevor, produced by Jacqueline Quella and stars Jon Foo as Ryu, Christian Howard as Ken, and Ansah himself as Akuma/Gouki. Both Ansah and Howard are also the writers of the film.
Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist is a British martial arts web series, TV series and feature film developed by Joey Ansah and Christian Howard. Based on Capcom's Street Fighter video game series, the story focuses on Ryu and Ken as they uncover the past of their master, Gouken and learn the secrets of their Dark Art, Ansatsuken.
Snake kung fu is a Shaolin boxing style, one of several Chinese martial arts known as "snake boxing" or "fanged snake style" that imitate the movements of snakes. Proponents claim that adopting the fluidity of snakes allows them to entwine with their opponents in defense and strike them from angles they would not expect in offense. Snake style is said to especially lend itself to applications with the Chinese straight sword. The snake is also one of the animals imitated in Yang-style tai chi, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan. The sinuous, fluid motion of the snake lends itself to the practical theory that underlies the "soft" martial arts.
Chui Chung-San was a Hong Kong actor, director, choreographer, martial artist and stuntman. He was known for being an action director and stuntman. Chui was known for films such as The Rebellious Reign, Kung Fu Vs. Yoga, Two Fists Against the Law and 7 Grandmasters; as well as other various Taiwanese television shows.
Street Fighter: Resurrection is a live-action web mini series developed by director, fight choreographer, writer, actor and martial artist Joey Ansah. The series is based on the Street Fighter video game series by Capcom, its release coinciding with that of Street Fighter V to serve as a promotion. Resurrection is set ten years after Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist web series.
Ron Smoorenburg is a Dutch martial artist and actor, who is best known for his film debut as the high-kicking henchman in the final fight of Jackie Chan's Who Am I? in 1998. He currently lives in Thailand, where he works as an actor, stuntman, and fight choreographer.
