Scott Adkins is an English actor who has won the hearts of many action film fans over the years because of his excellent technique and diverse fighting background. Here are some things you may not know about this beloved martial artist and actor:
- Adkins, 41, has been training in martial arts since age 14, when he first started studying taekwondo. At age 16, he started taking up kickboxing, which he’s now an instructor in. Throughout his life he also trained in karate, judo, jujutsu, krav maga, and ninjutsu.
- He goes to the gym five to six days a week and trains simply but hard, keeping weight and volume training in his repertoire. He does weight training three days a week, and two days of martial arts-centric cardio. He can bench over 100kg against his own weight of about 80kg, and does sprint training for heavy muscle growth.
- He started out as a British daytime soap opera actor. He taught kickboxing to UK television writer Tony Jordan’s children, who later wrote small roles for him in his soaps. He would go on to alternating his time between daytime TV and stunt/action work.
- His first movie role was in a Hong Kong martial arts film. He landed a role in the 2001 film Dei Seung Chui Keung, also known as Extreme Challenge in the United States. Adkins got to work with some of the best action directors, choreographers, and stars in the East, from Woo-ping Yuen to Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
- Adkins auditioned for DCEU’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as Batman/Bruce Wayne. The martial arts actor was hoping to portray the Dark Knight, a role which eventually went to Hollywood star Ben Affleck. Adkins, however, landed major roles in the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe. He shares credit with Ryan Reynolds for Wade Wilson/Weapon XI in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, and portrayed Lucian in Doctor Strange in 2016.
- He is an international, award-winning action star. Adkins was featured in Undisputed II: Last Man Standing as the underground Russian MMA fighter Uri Boyka, considered one of the greatest American-made MMA films in recent years. He went on to win Breakout Action Star at the 2010 Action on Film Awards for reprising his role as Boyka in Undisputed III: Redemption. He also bagged the Most Accomplished Actor Award at the China International Film Festival in 2015 for his role in the 3D action film Wolf Warriors.
