Tony Jaa: Biography Childhood, Filmography, Personal Life

Actor, director, screenwriter and producer Tony Ja is known as a stuntman for many famous Thai and American actors. The athlete and stuntman from the province of Thailand became famous thanks to the main role in the film “Ong Bak – a fighter of honor”. Today, Tony is considered a certain phenomenon in the world of martial arts, and in Hollywood, the man from Thailand is known as an all-round developed athlete-actor. Joy is admired by Jackie Chan and Dolph Lundgren, wondering how a simple guy managed to turn his own body into a deadly weapon.

Childhood And Youth

Panoram Yiram (real name) was born on February 5, 1976 in the city of Surin in the north-east of Thailand in the family of elephant caretakers – Tongde Yiram and Rin Saip. The boy became the third child. Yirama has two sisters and one brother. Little Panoram was fond of films about oriental martial arts and dreamed of becoming as famous as Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Jet Li in the future. The boy started the path to learning martial arts in his own room at the age of 10. Father Panorama taught Muay Thai and laid the foundations of Thai boxing in his son. Panoram continued his studies at the school near the temple, where he had successful fights with the students and already at the age of 15 he became the owner of the title “Master of Martial Arts”.

Due to his stamina and good athletic training, young Panoram received a scholarship to the Mahamarakam National College of Physical Education in Khon Kaen Province. There, the young man learned the basics of the progenitor of modern Muay Thai – Muay Boran, Wushu, Judo and Taekwondo. Panorama was considered one of the best in the group in disciplines such as long jump, high jump, gymnastics and sword fighting. While studying in college, the young man won several gold medals and became famous as an excellent athlete.

Films:

The talented young fighter was noticed after a small role in the film by Thai stunt coordinator and director Pann Rittikrai. The young man began to be invited to shoot, including advertising clips. One of the commercials was an advertisement for an energy drink, in which Panoram became an understudy for Sammo Hung. In the video, the stuntman had to grab the tusks of an elephant and do a back flip. This trick impressed the creators of the action movie based on the computer fighting game “Mortal Kombat” – “Mortal Kombat 2” (1997). The directors called Panorama to shoot in Hollywood, and the guy had to change his real name to a more sonorous and shorter one – Tony Jah.

Tony Jaa: The Martial Artists Movies Worst To Best

Tony G’s next major role was the title role in Ong Bak – Fighter of Honor (2003). In this movie, the aspiring actor was able to fully reveal his abilities in martial arts, playing a warrior who became his prototype. According to the plot, a young fighter must find a sacred statue stolen by criminals. During the search, the character has to fight with representatives of the underground world, and the actor has to perform deadly tricks. Ownership of his own body and made Tony Jae a name: Hollywood was amazed by this invincible guy with steel heels, whose height and weight are 168 cm and 62 kg, respectively. Tony Jah was so infected with the idea of the film “Ong Bak” that in 2005 he even tried himself as a director and shot a sequel to the picture.

At the same time, the increasingly popular actor played in the films “The Bodyguard” (2004), “Dragon’s Honor” (2005) and “The Bodyguard 2” (2007), after which he decided to take a break from cinema. May 28, 2010 Tony Jah became a Buddhist monk in one of the temples in his native Surin. Four years later, the stuntman decided to return to his acting career and starred in The Slave Trade (2014) with childhood idol Dolph Lundgren. This film was followed by work in a number of action movies: “Fast and the Furious 7” (2015), “Three X’s: World Domination” (2017) and others.

In the movie “Fast and the Furious” Tony Jah worked so well with Jason Statham that the actors starred together in another film – “Priority Target” (2016). The men themselves described the work as “a full-fledged film with fights.” The last movie that was released with the participation of Tony Jah is “Triple Threat” (2017). In this picture, the actor’s partners are the star of the Indonesian silat Iko Uwais and martial artist from the UK Scott Adkins. This trinity, according to the script, guards the daughter of a millionaire and at the same time demonstrates their fighting skills throughout the film.

10 Best Tony Jaa Movies According to IMDb

Personal Life:

Tony Jah is married to Piyarat Chotiwattananont from the Thai province of Rayong. The couple dated for three years until they legalized their relationship in May 2012. Husband and wife are raising two children – the couple has two daughters. The Thai actor cares about protecting the environment and donates money to organizations working in this field. Recently, Jha bought a two-story house for his parents with a dedicated area for breeding elephants.

Tony Jaa Now:

Muay Thai star Tony Jah continues to act and work on films as a director. At the end of 2017, the picture with Tony Jah “The Art of Attack and Defense” was released on the screens of world cinemas. The kung fu movie also featured Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Tony Jah is an active user of Instagram. On the social network, the actor shares with fans photos from training and shots with family members. In 2018, the financial condition of the artist is estimated at $10 million.

Filmography:

1994 – “Spirited Killer”
1997 – “Mortal Kombat 2”
2001 – “Muay Thai Assassin”
2003 – “Ong Bak”
2004 – “Bodyguard”
2005 – “Dragon’s Honor”
2007 – “Bodyguard 2”
2013 – “Dragon’s Honor 2”
2015 – “Fast and Furious 7”
2017 – “Triple Threat”
2017 – “The Art of Attack and Defense”