Legends of Action: Mark Dacascos

BirthDate: 26 February 1964

Mark Dacascos became an actor after being discovered walking down the street in San Francisco’s Chinatown by Chris Lee and Rexall Chin for director Wayne Wang. Though his first scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, he went on to establish a film and television career primarily playing martial artists.

Mark has always been one of my favourite action stars; Drive, Only the Strong, Brotherhood of the Wolf and Crying Freeman are personal favourites of mine and I consider them utterly essential for any action fan.

 

He played the villain opposite Jet Li in Cradle 2 the Grave and has an awesome fight scene with Li at the end; the movie itself wasn’t amazing but it was a lot of fun elevated by the presence of Dacascos.

Mark took the role of Eric Draven in the short-lived (but entertaining) The Crow: Stairway to Heaven TV Series; he always reminded me of Brandon Lee so it was a rather nice piece of casting.

He’s recently been playing the Big Bad on Hawaii Five-O as Wo Fat; a seemingly impossible to catch/kill bad guy, but he is what made the show watchable for me. He’s always had great screen presence and his martial arts prowess is outstanding.

Check out his role as Kung Lao in the Web Series Mortal Kombat: Legacy where he sports a shaven head.

Believe it or not though, it’s not all about the action. I remember being rather shocked to see him hosting Iron Chef in 2004 which he his still hosting, to this day I believe.

He has several projects in the pipeline including a spoof of The Expendables called The Extendables. Black Watch (pre-production), Changing Lives (filming), Beyond the Game (post-production), Operation Rogue (completed) and To Have and to Hold (completed).

Mark is trained in Wun Hop Huen Do, Chin Na, Shui Jao, Tai Chi and Capoeira; he is a world renowned Martial Artist, among his achievements:

1982 — European Kung Fu and Karate Championships — First Place — Lightweight — Brown Belt Division
1982 — Italian Kung Fu and Karate Championships — First Place — Lightweight — Brown Belt Division
1982 — Hamburg Karate Championships — First Place — Junior Division
1980 — Hamburg Karate Championships — First Place — Junior
1980 — Long Beach Internationals — First Place — Brown Belt Division — Forms
1973 — Long Beach Internationals — First Place — Pee Wee

Mark Dacascos vs. Jet Li in Cradle 2 the Grave

FILMOGRAPHY

1985 Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart n/a Film (scenes deleted)
1990 Angel Town Stoner Driver Film
1991 Dead On The Money Martial arts master TV movie
1992 American Samurai Kenjiro Sanga Film
1993 Only The Strong Louis Stevens Film
1993 Roosters Filipino’s Son Film (Cameo)
1994 Dragstrip Girl Johnny Ramirez TV movie
1994 Double Dragon Jimmy Lee Film
1995 Deadly Past Leo Film
1995 Kickboxer 5: The Redemption Matt Reeves Film
1995 Crying Freeman Yo Hinomura/Freeman Film
1996 The Island of Dr. Moreau Lo-Mai Film
1996 Sabotage Michael Bishop Film
1997 Sanctuary Luke Kovak Film
1997 DNA Dr. Ash Mattley Film
1997 Deathline (a.k.a. Redline) Merrick Film
1998 Drive Toby Wong Film
1998 Boogie Boy Jesse Page Film
1998 No Code of Conduct Paul DeLucca Film
1999 The Base Maj. John Murphy/Cpl. John Dalton Film
2000 China Strike Force (Lei ting zhan jing) Tony Lau Film
2001 Le Pacte des loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf) Mani Film
2001 Instinct To Kill (AKA The Perfect Husband) J.T. Dillon Film
2002 Scorcher Ryan Beckett Film
2003 Cradle 2 the Grave Ling Film
2005 Solar Strike (AKA Solar Attack) (USA) Lucas Foster TV movie
2005 Junior Pilot (aka Final Approach) Kato Film
2006 Only the Brave Steve “Zaki” Senzaki Film
2006 The Hunt for Eagle One Lt. Matt Daniels Video
2006 The Hunt for Eagle One: Crash Point Lt. Matt Daniels Video
2006 Nomad Sharish Film
2007 Code Name: The Cleaner Eric Hauck Film
2007 Alien Agent Rykker Film
2007 I Am Omega Renchard Film
2008 Gideon Falls Set Film
2009 Serbian Scars Peter Olsen Obilich Film
2010 Shadows in Paradise Lt. Max Forrester Film
2010 Secret of the Sultan Film
2011 The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone Cobra Film
2013 Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kung Lao Second series
2014 The Extendables
Writer Film

Source: Wikipedia & IMDB