James Lew
Born: 1952-09-06 in Escalon, California, USA
Known For: Acting
Biography
James Jene Fae Lew (born September 6, 1952) is an American actor and martial artist. Raised in South Central Los Angeles, James Lew's destiny was to answer a cattle call in Hollywood for the hugely popular Kung Fu (1972) television series. He went on to star in the now collectible Hong Kong film, Young Dragon (1976). He made the move to big budget studio films in 1984. John Carpenter handpicked him as the Martial Arts Choreographer for 20th Century Fox's now cult film, Big Trouble in Little China (1986). Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mel Gibson, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Dwayne Johnson, David Carradine, Chuck Norris, Dennis Quaid, Kurt Russell, Madonna, Charlie Sheen, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kathleen Turner, Sylvester Stallone, Brandon Lee, Snoop Dogg and the list goes on and on. James was voted "Favorite Action Star" by fans of Inside Martial Arts magazine. Internet fans voted him into the Hall of Fame in the Martial Arts History Museum. Inside Kung Fu Magazine inducted him as one of the "Martial Arts Greats" alongside legends as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and his longtime friend Jackie Chan. Hit Parader Magazine dubbed him "the king of big-screen martial arts villains." From the deadly killer in Red Sun Rising (1994) to the deadly fighter in the comedy spoof Hot Shots 2 (1993), Lew has proven his chops in both drama and comedy. As a stunt/fight coordinator his creative talents shone in the television series The Crow to recent work on the hit video game, The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005). He handpicked elite members for his company, "Hong Kong Wire Action Team," to bring state of the art action to movies. His formula for longevity in the film industry is diversity, hard work and having a whole lot of fun. Most recently, James Lew wrote, directed and starred in a movie inspired by his personal experiences in the business titled 18 Fingers of Death! (2006). The story follows Buford Lee (James Lew), the most famous unknown "B"-minus, low-budget, martial-arts movie star and Ronald Mack (Maurice Patton), a young black kid from the hood. Together they laugh and bond together on their quest to finally make Buford's break out movie, 18 Fingers of Death! (2006).
Filmography
2024
- Dominique ... (Fight Choreographer)
2021
- Made in Chinatown as Lew
2020
- Mulan ... (Stunts)
2019
- Avengers: Endgame ... (Stunts)
- American Bistro ... (Stunt Coordinator)
2018
- Escape Plan 2: Hades ... (Stunt Coordinator)
- Cucuy: The Boogeyman as Beat Cop
- Henchman: The Al Leong Story as Self
2017
- Mad Families ... (Stunt Coordinator)
- I'm Dying Up Here as Sensei Phil
- Maximum Impact ... (Fight Choreographer)
- Star Raiders: The Adventures of Saber Raine as Sinjin
2015
- Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser ... (Stunt Coordinator)
- Frankenstein as Hotel Manager
- Underdog Kids ... (Second Unit Director)
- The Martial Arts Kid ... (Fight Choreographer)
- Black Salt as Abbot Xiao
2014
- Elwood as Big O
2013
- Olympus Has Fallen ... (Stunts)
- G.I. Joe: Retaliation as Chinese Leader
- Extraction ... (Stunt Coordinator)
2012
- Battleship ... (Stunt Double)
- Safe as Underground Casino Guard (uncredited)
- Hijacked ... (Stunt Coordinator)
- The Girl from the Naked Eye as Eddie
2011
- Death Valley as Man on street (uncredited)
- Let Lorenzo as Interior Design Older Partner
2010
- Inception ... (Stunts)
- Killers ... (Fight Choreographer)
- Mortal Kombat: Rebirth as Shang Tsung (uncredited)
2009
- Star Trek as Romulan (uncredited)
- Black Dynamite ... (Stunts)
- Streets of Blood ... (Stunts)
- Angel of Death as Tommy
- Ballistica as Chinese Guard #1
2008
- Childrens Hospital as Mosura
- Tropic Thunder as Flaming Dragon Compound Person (uncredited)
- Superhero Movie as Shaolin Monk (uncredited)
- Get Smart ... (Fight Choreographer)
- Dark World ... (Stunt Coordinator)
2007
- Chuck as Anad Chenerad
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ... (Stunts)
- Rush Hour 3 as Triad Assassin (uncredited)
- Flight of the Living Dead ... (Stunts)
2006
- 18 Fingers of Death! as Buford Lee
- The Circuit III: Street Monk as Spider Webb
2005
- No Rules ... (Stunts)
- Shira: The Vampire Samurai as Xu
2004
- Entourage
- Collateral ... (Stunts)
- Forbidden Warrior ... (Stunts)
- LArceny ... (Stunts)
2003
- The Last Samurai ... (Stunts)
- Eve
- Sin as Leo Thamaree
2002
- CSI: Miami as ND Man #1
- Kung Pow: Enter the Fist ... (Stunts)
- Ultimate Fights from the Movies as Knife #1 (Timecop) (archive footage)
- The Real Deal as Black Belt
- Outside the Law as Cho Sung
- Sting of the Black Scorpion as Tong Leader
2001
- Rush Hour 2 as Triad Gangster (uncredited)
- Planet of the Apes ... (Stunts)
- Alias as Quan Li
- Impostor ... (Stunts)
- Instinct to Kill ... (Stunt Coordinator)
2000
- Strong Medicine as Cop
- Traffic as DEA Agent - CalTrans
- Deep Core as Lou Chang
- Fatal Blade as James
1998
- Rush Hour as Juntao's Man in Los Angeles (uncredited)
- Lethal Weapon 4 as Freighter's Captain
- The Replacement Killers as Bodyguard
- Boogie Boy as Jason
- Safe House as Asian (uncredited)
1997
- High Voltage as Harry
- Double Tap ... (Stunts)
- The Girl Gets Moe ... (Stunts)
1996
- Escape from L.A. as Hershe Gang Member
- Robo Warriors as Darius
- Kazaam ... (Stunts)
- Night Hunter as Tom Cutter
- For Life or Death as Kaan Woo
- Assault on Dome 4 as Quaid, Windham Henchman
- Balance of Power as Shinji Takamura
1995
- Star Trek: Voyager ... (Stunt Coordinator)
- Nowhere Man as Thug with Knife
- Under Siege 2: Dark Territory as Mercenary (uncredited)
- Marker
- Midnight Man as Prince Samarki
- Tough and Deadly as Thug
- Ballistic as Woo
- Excessive Force II: Force on Force as Lee
1994
- Babylon 5 as Bloodhound Teep
- Weird Science
- Timecop as Knife #1
- The Shadow as Mongol
- On Deadly Ground as Mercenary at Aegis-1 (uncredited)
- Red Sun Rising as Jaho
- Deadly Target as Guard #2 (uncredited)
- Blue Tiger ... (Stunts)
- Ring of Steel as Asian Fighter
- Cage II: The Arena of Death as Chin
1993
- Frasier as Security Guard
- Walker, Texas Ranger as Tiger
- Power Rangers as Warrior
- Hot Shots! Part Deux as Kick Boxer Opponent
- Undercover Blues as Novacek's Man
- American Ninja 5 as Viper
- Showdown as Hit Man
- Private Wars as Obata
- Dark Vengeance ... (Stunt Coordinator)
- Ulterior Motives as Yakuza #5
1992
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer ... (Fight Choreographer)
- Rapid Fire as Tau's Men at Laundry (uncredited)
- Mission of Justice as Akiro
- Raven: Return of the Black Dragons as Black Dragon Henchman
1991
- Double Impact ... (Stunt Coordinator)
- Do or Die as Lew
- Showdown in Little Tokyo as Yoshida's Man (uncredited)
- The Perfect Weapon as Crewcut
- Martial Law II: Undercover as Spencer Hamilton Man (uncredited)
- Ring of Fire ... (Stunts)
- Night of the Warrior as Hector Sabatei
1990
- Nasty Boys as Fighter / Karate class fighter (uncredited)
- Guns as Ninja #1
- Martial Law as Tong Member
- Why Me? ... (Stunts)
- Aftershock as Mr. James
1989
- Family Matters as Man in Bar
- Best of the Best as Sae Jin Kwon
- Savage Beach as Agent #1
- Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects ... (Stunts)
- Ninja Academy as Ninja Trainer
1988
- They Live ... (Stunts)
- Roseanne
- Action Jackson as Martial Arts Instructor
- Zodiac Power 2: Evil Destroyer
- Evil Destroyer
1986
- Big Trouble in Little China as Chang Sing #1
1985
- MacGyver as Asian Thug
- Growing Pains as Movie Villain #2
- Los Angeles Streetfighter as Chan
1984
- Murder, She Wrote as Cambodian
- Killpoint as Nighthawk's Gunman #1
1983
- Going Berserk as Kung Fu Fighter
- Girls of the White Orchid ... (Stunts)
1982
- T. J. Hooker as Asian Thug
- They Call Me Bruce? ... (Stunt Double)
1979
- The Fantastic Seven ... (Stunts)
- Young Dragon as Shao Lung
1977
- Big Time as Karate Instructor
1976
- The Killing of a Chinese Bookie as Guard (uncredited)
- Enforcer from Death Row as Karate Fighter