Interesting thread.
Chuck Norris would be a Moo-duk-kwan actor
Chuck Norris statrted out with Tae Kwon Do, or rather, it's premature form at "Moo-duk-kwan". Tae Kwon Do, contrary to what people believe, unfortunately for Koreans and out self-esteem, has no direct relation with the ancient martial arts of the Korean peninula.
In the periods between 1910~1945, Korea was under Imperial Japanese rule as a colony, and many Korean students went to Japan to study in modern science and arts, and some of them were unbiasedly(and thankfully) taught by great Karate teachers of the time, such as Kichin Funagoshi. Like someone said, Karate itself is a relatively pretty young martial art, and it did originate from Okinawa, which was called Ryukyu and existed as a separate kingdom which was not a part of the Japan.
Karate standardized and modernized its ancestral counter part which originated in Ryukyu, and the Korean students of Karate, after gaining independance in 1945, optimized it as the form currently known, concentrating in kicks rather than punches. Some of the students did not go that path, and chose to stay with Karate - such as Oyama Matsudatsu, a Korean Choi Young-Eui, who became the legendary founder of the Kokujin-ryu Karate.
In the mean while, the former students of Karate organized themselves in five major schools, and "Moo-duk-kwan" was one of them.
("Moo", meaning 'military/martial', and equivalent of the Chinese "Wu" as in "Wushu", and Japanese "Bu" as in "Bushido". "Duk" means a combined concept difficult to translate to English - "integrity/compassion/right minded..", and "Kwan" meaning "place/school" - "The School of Integral Martial Arts" sounds about right as a translation)
The true ancient heritage of Korean martial arts, today, now rests in Tekkyun - also a form martial art concentrating in mainly the art of kicking, but which characterizes itself in its unique "rythm" of fighting which some people might familiarize with the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira. Also, the kicks in Tekkyun are mostly "non-lethal", concentrating in neutralizing the enemy rather than harming him. A series of rythmic tripping, pushing, stopping, the enemy using feet.
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Sammo Hung kicks ass... and taught Jackie half of what Sammo knows.
Interestingly, Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, and Bruce Lee have a common origin as an actor. Bruce Lee was the first of the new generation of action stars Hong Kong has produced. Bruce Lee was the top star of the Golden Harvest Pictures, and Sammo Hung worked under him as a martial arts choreographer. After Bruce Lee's death, Sammo Hung became one of the director of martial arts, and choreographed Bruce Lee's movements, teaching the stand-in look-alike's of Bruce Lee to finish the film "The Game of Death".
Also in those days, in Golden Harvest, was Jackie Chan in his younger ages, working as an extra guy. In the "Fist of Death"(known as "The Chinese Connection" outside Hong Kong. "Fist of Death" was the name given to the "Big Boss" outside of Hong Kong), Jackie Chan appears for a brief moment as "the guy getting beat up by Bruce Lee"
Guess where!
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...however Jet Li is fairly impressive
Jet Li, or Lee Ren-Jee is a five-time tournament champion of the Shao-lin tournaments of China.
After the Chinese Revolution, and the Cultural revolution of Mao, the Shao-lin temple of China was considered a gathering place for feudalistic retros and was under a lot of close inspection and oppression. After the death of Mao, China was quick to realize it had a chance to develop into a major tourist attraction, not to mention they started caring about their cultural heritages. Jet-li was never a Shao-lin monk, but he did learn from the martial arts school run by Shao-lin monks themselves, which talented young people were given a chance to admittance, sponsored by the government. Jet-li was one of them.
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Mr. Miagi is called 'Mr.' for a reason.
He is the all powerful, all seeing, all knowing Karate actor. Yes, it is true that Pat Morita would die at the hands of Bruce Lee, but nobody, and I mean nobody, can touch Mr. Miagi, especially not a blonde high-school bully from Beverly Hills.
Plus, he is good with Bonzai trees, eluding to a deeper, mysterious connection with nature that must translate into some degree of heightened asskicking ability the likes of which no amount of consumed dim-sum could help the Lee of Bruce.
And what is truly ironic, is Pat Morita never learned any kind of martial arts. In interviews, he exclaimed that it felt so funny to play the role of the teacher, when behind the scenes, he had to learn more about Karate than the disciple had to!
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Actually, Chow Yun Fat is a master of that greatest of all martial arts: Gun Fu
Chow Yun Fat is an all-round actor, but not a martial artist. In China(or rather, Hong Kong), martial arts is a sort of a mandatory, prerequisite course to people who wish to take up acting as a living. He did learn that, but did not learn in any single school, nor did he ever consider himself to be a serious fighter rather than an actor.
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