Iko Uwais was born Uwais Qorny on February 12, 1983 in Jakarta, Indonesia. He is an Indonesian actor, stuntman, fight choreographer, and martial artist who had a successful acting career and considered to be Hollywood’s next big martial arts star. Uwais is best known for starring in the action films The Raid 1 and 2, Netflix series Wu Assassins and international martial arts film Triple Threat alongside big names like Tony Jaa and Scott Adkins.
In 2007, Uwais was discovered by director Gareth Evans, who was filming a documentary about silat a form of martial arts in Uwais’s training hall. Uwais’s natural charisma and great camera presence encouraged Evans to cast him as the leading role for his first martial art movie, Merantau. After signing a five-year contract with Gareth Evans and his production company, Uwais resigned from his daytime job as an operational driver at Esia, an Indonesian telecom company.
