Tony Jaa
Biography
Japanom Yeerum was born on February 5, 1976, in the northeastern province of Surin, Thailand. His parents were elephant herders. Jaa watched martial arts films as a young kid and began to emulate some of his idols, from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan to Jet Li. Jaa studied martial arts at the local temple school and later under a scholarship at the Physical Education College in Khon Kaen, Thailand where he continued to study Muay Boran, Muay Thai, Wushu, Judo and Tae Kwando. Ja later did some stunt for in a film for'Panna Rittikrai', This resulted in Jaa being seen and getting work, doubling for Robin Shou and James Remar in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), and when his demo reel was seen by director Prachya Pinkaew, the film Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003) was created for Ja. Jaa adopted the English name Tony Jaa. In 2013 after ending his association with Sahamongkol Film, Jaa was contracted by Universal Studio's for a role in Fast and Furious 7. Jaa now has starring roles in several international films being filmed in 2014 and is concentrating his efforts more towards international audiences.
Family
Trivia
Stunt-man turned actor who does not use any wire work or CG effects in his stunts.
Highly Skilled in Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, swordplay and gymnastics.
Watching Jackie Chan movies and a Thai movie called Gerd ma lui (1986) influenced him to do stuntwork and eventually become a action star, but he says his biggest influence is Bruce Lee.
Born in a northeastern province of Thailand called Surin.
Robin Shou's stunt double in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997).
Does 8 hours of gymnastics, Muay Thai, and other sports training a day.
Is actually of Cambodian descent, more known as "Khmer Surin".
He speaks Thai, Khmer and he is learning English.
In training for the sequal to Ong-Bak. [September 2003]
Joined monastic order of a Buddhist temple in Surin, Thailand. [May 2010]
He has a Black belt in Taekwondo and a Black belt in Wushu.
Personal Quotes
Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Bruce Lee are my masters; they're the inspiration for my work. Bruce Lee was a heavy fighter who threw hard punches. Jackie moves very fast and uses a lot of comedy, and Jet Li is very fluid. I've tried to combine all of their styles and added some things of my own.
I want a strong foundation in Thailand. Hollywood? Maybe in the future.
What they [Chan, Lee and Li] did was so beautiful, so heroic that I wanted to do it too. I practiced until I could do the move exactly as I had seen the masters do it.
