Ultimate Steven Segal Fights

About Steven Seagal

Steven Frederic Seagal is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and martial artist. A 7th-dan black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan and eventually ended up running his father-in-law’s dojo. He later moved to Los Angeles where he had the same profession. In 1988, Seagal made his acting debut in Above the Law. By 1991, he had starred in four films.

In 1992, he played Navy SEAL counter-terrorist expert Casey Ryback in Under Siege. During the latter half of the 1990s, Seagal starred in three more feature films and the direct-to-video film The Patriot. Subsequently, his career shifted to mostly direct-to-video productions. He has since appeared in films and reality shows, including Steven Seagal: Lawman, which depicted Seagal performing duties as a reserve deputy sheriff.

In 1987, Seagal began work on his first film, Above the Law (titled Nico in Europe), with director Andrew Davis. Seagal was asked to make the film by his former aikido pupil, agent Michael Ovitz, who believed that he could make anyone a movie star. The film grossed $18,869,631 in the U.S. and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times stated “It contains 50 percent more plot than it needs, but that allows

it room to grow in areas not ordinarily covered in action thrillers.” Following its success, Seagal’s subsequent movies were Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, and Out for Justice; all were box office hits and made Seagal an action hero. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, “Mr. Seagal is effective for both his novelty value and his ability to be both literally and figuratively disarming.”