Black Belt
Upon doing this list and researching I was actually shocked at some of these celebrities are legit black belts. Some even up to 6th-degree black belts. Now we all know about Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins, Wesley Snipes etc. All been training since childhood, highly skilled and black belts in multiple disciplines. The main thing is they star in martial arts movies where they get to show off their skills. Well, most the actors in this list have never been the main star of a martial arts action movies. It’s why I was shocked at some of them. Take a look at 10 Famous Celebrities You Might not Know Are Black Belts.
Can you believe John Cusack has been training for over 2 decades by none other than legendary kickboxer Benny The Jet Urquidez and now holds a 6th-degree black belt in Benny’s Ukidokan Kickboxing system. That’s crazy, who knew. He started training for his role in Say Anything and just kept up his training. Now I know why he was picked to star alongside in Jackie Chan in Dragon Blade. He has legit skills.
Another one I was gobsmacked by. James Cann ain’t just any black belt but a 6th-degree black belt in Gosoku Ryu Karate. Trained by Karate legend Takayuki Kubota. He has been training for over 30 years. He also an instructor himself and trains students from the Culver City Police Department. He has stared in some boxing movies but the only movie I ever saw really use any kind of martial arts was The Killer Elite and that wasn’t exactly Donnie Yen type stuff.
I first saw the Twilight Actor perform any kind of martial arts in a British sitcom called Cuckoo. He performed quite a cool fancy spin kick. This made me ask, was that him or a stunt double. So I looked it up and my god the guy has won tournaments and all sorts. Performing spectacular stunts and kicks. He earned his first Karate black belt aged only 8 and performed with Extreme martial arts which were co-founded by one of my favorite current martial artists, Matt Mullins. Winning several junior world championships. He could easily front a martial arts action flick or even be the main bad guy but unfortunately, I reckon his time on Twilight would make it hard for him to be taken seriously as a bad arse.
It kinda makes sense for him to train in martial arts being James Bond and having to fight a lot but the guy trained in Kyokushin Karate under the legendary Mas Oyama. One of the most bad-arse martial artists you will ever come across. Earning his black belt. In You Only Live Twice, Kyokushin Karate is the martial art that is being used at the dojo. There also a rumor flying about that Connery being a hot-headed student actually broke his instructor’s wrist but if his instructor was Mass Oyama, I find this hard to believe. His wrists were probably like steel pipes.
Another one I was shocked by. The aging Country blues singer, songwriter is a 2nd-degree black belt in Taekwondo. During the 90’s he started training in newcomer to the martial arts world GongKwon Yusul and somehow was awarded a 5th-degree black belt in it. GongKwon Yusul is influenced by Hapkido, Judo and Hakko-Ryu jujitsu. Sounds awesome. Seen as he was always on the road touring, he would practice his martial arts on his tour bus the send video to his master to review and critique. Must have been a big tour bus. I basically need Wembley arena to practice my forms.
The Oscar winner has a Black belt in Kenpo Karate and has also trained in Eskrima with the famed Dan Inosanto who trained with Bruce Lee and apparently taught him the Nunchukers. Now I bet you thought there would never be a link between Forest Whitaker and Bruce Lee.
Playing a legendary shield maiden, Viking queen and wife of the most famous mythical Vikings of all time Ragnar Lothbrok in Vikings probably requires a certain type of actress. Who better than Katheryn Winnick who happens to be a 3rd Dan in Taekwondo and 2nd Dan in Karate. I love Vikings but the funny thing is now her sons are fully grown and are legends in their own right. She doesn’t look like she’s aged a day.
A lot of people probably actually know this one but I thought I’d throw it in purely because of his martial arts accomplishments. The man mountain has a 3rd Dan in Kyokushin Karate. He captained the Swedish Karate team, took part in the open world championships, won the European championships and a heavyweight tournament in Australia. Just so you know Kyokushin Karate is no points fighting stuff. It’s full contact Karate with knockouts. There are many videos on Youtube of Lundgren competing. Dolph is not to be messed with.
Being ex-SAS you probably could have guessed Bear Grylls knows how to handle himself but pair his special forces hand to hand training with being a 2nd Dan black belt in Shotokan Karate and you have a legit bad arse on your hands. Speaking 3 languages, learning to skydive, extensive martial arts training and working he way through the army ranks to the SAS and on top of that breaking his back during a parachute accident only to fully recover. There’s just not enough hours in the week. He must have some Dragon Ball Z hyperbolic time chamber to learn all this stuff.
Some people probably could have guessed this seen as he starred in Best of the Best. Makes sense you gotta be a martial artist right? Well not really, with the use of stunt doubles and a little training anyone can come across in movies as a martial arts master. It’s all film karate like his co-star the late Chris Penn who was trained in martial arts for the movie. But Eric Roberts is a black belt in Taekwondo. He personally doesn’t really like talking about his martial arts history as he describes when he completed Best of the Best and being interviewed about it and his martial arts history, every Tom, Dick, and Harry would come up to him on the street, saying “Let’s go”.
I’m sure there’s many I’ve missed with martial arts belts. I’ve also purposely missed out the honorary belts such as Arnold Schwarzenegger honorary Taekwondo belt even though he’s had no formal training in it or gone through the different ranks. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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