steven seagal

Steven Segal is a striking and somewhat boyishly handsome looking (often with ponytail) and usually impeccably dressed action star who burst onto the martial arts film scene in 1988 in the fast-paced Warner Bros. production Above the Law (1988). The enigmatic Seagal commenced his martial arts training at the age of seven under the tutelage of well known karate instructor and author Fumio Demura, and in the 1960s commenced his aikido training in Orange County, California, under the instruction of Harry Ishisaka. Seagal received his first dan accreditation in 1974, after he had moved to Japan to further his martial arts training. After spending many years there honing his skills, he achieved the ranking of a 7th dan in the Japanese martial art "aikido" and was instructing wealthy clients in Los Angeles when he came to the attention of Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz. Seagal's fighting style was rather different from that of other on-screen martial arts dynamos, such as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who were predominantly fighters from striking arts background such as karate or tang soo do. However, aikido is built around using an opponent's inertia and body weight to employ various locks, chokes and holds that incapacitate him. Seagal carries himself differently, too, and often appears wearing Italian designer clothes and usually favors an all-black outfit, generally with a three-quarter-length coat with an elaborate trim. Additionally, Seagal's on-screen characters were often seemingly benign or timid individuals; however, when the going gets rough they reveal themselves to be deadly ex-CIA operatives, or retired Special Forces soldiers capable of wholesale destruction! As his box office drawing power grew, Seagal began to influence his film projects to reflect his personal and spiritual beliefs, especially concerning the abuse of the environment. He appeared as an oil fire expert who turns against his corrupt CEO (played by Michael Caine) in On Deadly Ground (1994) to save the Eskimo population from an oil disaster; in Fire Down Below (1997) he plays an environmental agency troubleshooter investigating the dumping of toxic waste in Virginia coal mines, and in the slow-moving The Patriot (1998/I) he plays a medical specialist trying to stop a lethal virus unleashed by an extremist group. Unbeknownst to many, in 1997 Seagal publicly announced that one of his Buddhist teachers, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, had accorded Seagal as a tulku, the reincarnation of a Buddhist Lama. This initial announcement was met with some disbelief until Penor Rinpoche himself gave a confirmation statement on Seagal's new title. Seagal has repeatedly discussed his involvement in Buddhism and how he devotes many hours studying and meditating this ancient Eastern religion. While his box-office appeal has somewhat declined from his halcyon blockbusters of the mid-'90s, Seagal still has a very loyal fan base in the action movie genre and continues to remain a highly bankable star. Is the first foreigner ever to own and operate an Aikido dojo in Japan. Known as "Master Take Shigemichi", he was the chief instructor at the Aikido Tenshin Dojo in the city of Osaka.Is a vegetarian.Seagal's love of guitar and appreciation of rasta music led him to study with teacher in Jamaica, where he owns a vacation home.His Santa Inez home includes 200 acres planted with cabernet grapes, which is then sold to wineries.Master in Japanese KendoHas been a bodyguardIs a singer and guitarist. In 2005, he released an album titled "Songs from the Crystal Cave".Has worked with Street Fighter Ryu and Ken actors Damian Chapa and Byron Mann in two of his films as his team mates. He worked with Damian Chapa (Ken) in Under Siege (1992) in which Chapa is a fellow sailor, and worked with Byron Mann (Ryu) in Belly Of The Beast (2003), in which Mann's character is his friend and partner.Owns a very large and impressive collection of Guitars and Samuari Swords.Layout Created by Breakx_Herx_Facex_X