Gary Daniels

The physical toll on the body from a career as a professional fighter can be grueling, and the glamour of being champion is reserved for the very few. So it was rather wise of English kickboxer Gary Daniels to leave the arena in good health in 1993 to focus on his acting career. Daniels originally got into martial arts after seeing Bruce Lee in the action hit "Enter the Dragon" as a child. He fought in England in the late '70s but came to the United States in 1980, finding his style more suitable to the American rules of the sport. He won several championships throughout the decade, retired on his laurels, and turned his sights to the action film genre. He did a few movies in the Philippines before returning to America to appear with Lorenzo Lamas in the actioner "Final Impact" in 1992. He received his first starring role that same year in "American Streetfighter." A bevy of B-level martial arts/action pictures followed for the remainder of the 1990s and into the 2000s, including his most famous turn, as Kenshiro in the live-action version of the anime hit "Fist of the North Star." Daniels has nearly 50 films to his credit (mostly with top billing) and has worked with many of the major stars of the genre such as Jackie Chan, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Steven Seagal, and Steve Austin.