Gary Edward Daniels (born 9 May 1963) is an English actor and martial artist. Originally a kickboxer fighting out of London and Tampa Bay, Daniels earned his first acting credits with Philippine companies. He gained wider recognition in the manga adaptations City Hunter, opposite Jackie Chan, and Fist of the North Star, in a starring role. During the 1990s, he toplined many independent action pictures, most notably those of PM Entertainment. In later years, Daniels has been featured in more mainstream American fare, such as the two Tekken live action movies and the all-star vehicle The Expendables.
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Early life
Gary Daniels was born on May 9, 1963, in Woking, Surrey, England. He grew up in the west London town of Hayes. He played football from the age of 5, and was on nearby Watford F.C.'s scouting list until the age of 14. After seeing a preview of Enter the Dragon on television at age 8, Daniels asked his father to take him to a martial arts club, and the elder Daniels took on the sport on the same day to encourage his son. Before breaking through as an actor, he supported himself as a nightclub bouncer and dancer.
Martial arts
Daniels started at the local Hayes Kung-fu Club, working under trainers Jim Russell and Lajos Jakab. They taught a style called "Mongolian kung-fu", which in practice turned out to be a mix of karate, judo and aikido geared towards self defense. Finding his kicking abilities underused in this style, Daniels moved to taekwondo under trainer Raymond Choi at around 12 or 13, and received his black belt within three years. However, his aggressive style caused him to get disqualified from several ITF tournaments. At 14, he sought a second trainer in Mickey Byrne, a striking specialist and military instructor working out of a gym at Brunel University, with the goal of entering the then nascent sport of kickboxing with the PKA. Daniels started fighting on British PKA shows at 17 and spent two to three years on that circuit. Among the seven fights he had there, he claims a draw against the organization's world middleweight champion. However, fights paid poorly and were hard to come by.
Just after his 20th birthday in 1983, he emigrated to the U.S. with only a few hundred pounds in his pockets, settling in Tampa, Florida, on the advice of British PKA promoter George Stefas, who considered it the best compromise between talent pool and cost of living. There he started training under karate instructors John and Jim Graden, as well as teaching at St. Petersburg Junior College. He also trained under their mentor Joe Lewis, who lived in the area at the time, but was not a longtime student of his. However, U.S. purses were not what Daniels had hoped for and he found it difficult to pay for travel expenses. As a result, he mostly stuck to the Florida scene. However points karate, which he disliked, was much more prevalent than full contact at the time, and he quit after a couple unsuccessful tournaments. Despite early misgivings, he also trained in Ninjutsu for about a year, first under a trainer named Mark Russo, and then his mentor Steven Hayes.
Around 1986, Daniels flew down to the Philippines to explore acting opportunities, and remained there for two years. He returned to the U.S. in 1988 and moved to California the following year to further his film career. Shortly after, he was introduced to Winston "Omega" Wong, a Malaysian of Chinese descent. He also got back into Muay Thai and kickboxing, joining Benny Urquidez's Jet Center for about a year, and training with various fighters including Pete Cunningham and Stan Longinidis. Daniels also had a stint at Yukio "Little Piston" Horiuchi's Piston Gym in Fountain Valley. He briefly returned to competition for Horiuchi's World Kick Boxing Association (California), a regional offshoot of the Japan-based WKBA, winning the Californian light heavyweight title in November 1990 against Bob Smith. This led to further opportunities in Hollywood, and he stepped away from prizefighting due to scheduling conflicts. Thereafter, Daniels trained exclusively with Omega.
Film
Daniels grew up a martial arts film enthusiast and accrued a large knowledge of the genre, later contributing opinions to the filmography segment of John Corcoran's Martial Arts Sourcebook. When he arrived in Tampa Bay at age 20, Daniels started taking acting lessons at Kathy Laughlin's Performers' Studio Workshop. He found a few commercials and bit parts locally, including in a Miami Vice episode and the film Cocoon, the latter of which was cut. In 1986, he asked a Filipino friend if he could pitch his demo tape to the film companies of his native country. He accepted an invitation from a director who turned out to be a fraud, but stayed there and was later scouted by Solar Films, whose wealthy Chinese owner Wilson Tieng was looking for Caucasian actors to expand into the international market. He was given six-picture contract but after two, he was asked to do a softcore movie and walked out.
Daniels returned to Florida in 1988. His fortunes changed in 1989 when he met Roy Horan. Horan put him in contact with agent "Hilly" Elkins, who had an affinity for English talent. Elkins signed him up to his Los Angeles-based firm and Daniels relocated to the area. In 1990, he was signed to a four-picture deal with Cinema City of Hong Kong, but it went out of business soon after. By that time, the success of Bloodsport had opened the door for real-life martial artists to appear in movies. He was offered $50,000 to star in Death Touch for Menahem Golan's new company 21st Century, but it was cancelled. After he won a regional WKBA belt, Elkins sent him to an audition for the PM Entertainment film Ring of Fire. This was his first featured role in the U.S., and earned him a SAG card.
Daniels' first American starring roles came in a series of co-productions between the Philippines' Silver Star company and their American partners Cine Excel, starting with 1991's Capital Punishment. Although they were of a very low standard, Daniels struck a friendship with Cine Excel boss David Huey and kept working with him over the years. In 1992, Daniels traveled to Japan and Hong Kong for an adaptation of City Hunter starring Jackie Chan, an early breakthrough alongside one of his favorite action stars. The Briton also took advantage of a break in filming to appear opposite Moon Lee in Mission of Justice. In 1993, Daniels played the Malibu Comics character Hardcase in a promotional short by music video director Darren Doane. Concurrently, he entered his first multi-picture deal with PM Entertainment, graduating to co-starring and, soon after, leading roles for the company with 1994's Deadly Target.
Personal life
Daniels met his wife in the Philippines, and she later followed him to the U.S. His first son Shane is a stuntman who has competed on the TV show American Ninja Warrior. His second son, Kenshiro, named after his Fist of the North Star character, has played professional association football in the Philippines. He also has a daughter.
Titles
1990 WKBA (California) Light Heavyweight Champion
