Ray Park

Raymond "Ray" Park (born 23 August 1974) is a British actor, author and martial artist. He is best known for playing Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Toad in X-Men, Snake-Eyes in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Edgar on Heroes.

Early life

Ray Park was born in Glasgow, Scotland. At the age of seven, he moved with his family to London, England.

Park was introduced to martial arts by his father, who was a fan of Bruce Lee, and began training in the traditional Chinese Northern Shaolin Kung Fu when he was seven years old. He added kickboxing and wushu to his hobbies by age 14. When he was 16, Park won Great Britain's Martial Arts National Championship for his class and then went to Malaysia to try to improve his skills. He went on to compete in martial arts tournaments around the world and won awards before turning his attention to acting in the late 1990s.

Career

Park began working in films as a stunt double for the film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, doing the stunts for both Robin Shou and James Remar. Park also did some cameos as monsters, including Baraka. All of these were non-speaking roles.