Steven Seagal
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| Steven Seagal | |
|---|---|
 Steven Seagal at the Pollstar Awards in February 2006 |
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| Born | April 10, 1951 Lansing, Michigan, U.S. |
| Other name(s) | Chungdrag Dorje, Takeshigemichi |
| Spouse(s) | Miyako Fujitani (1975–1986) Adrienne La Russa (1984–1984) Kelly LeBrock (1987–1996) |
| Official website | |
Steven Seagal (born April 10, 1951) is an American action movie actor, producer, writer, director, martial artist, singer-songwriter, and activist. He is also a 7th-dan black belt in aikido[1]. Seagal began his adult life as an aikido instructor in Japan, and became the first foreigner to ever own and operate an aikido dojo in Japan in Osaka [2], before moving to the Los Angeles, California area where, after being noticed by entertainment executives, he made his film debut in 1988. Since then, Seagal has become a well recognized action star, with his movies earning more than $600 million worldwide.[3]
He is also a recording artist and the founder of Steven Seagal Enterprises. In addition to his professional achievements, he is also known as an environmentalist, aikido master (Takeshigemichi), an animal rights activist, and he has been recognized by Tibetan lama Penor Rinpoche as a reincarnated Tulku (Chungdrag Dorje).[4]
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[edit] Early years
[edit] Youth
Steven Seagal was born in Lansing, Michigan, where he lived until he was 5 years old. The family then relocated to Fullerton, California, where Seagal attended the Buena Park High School in Buena Park, California. Following his graduation Seagal held one of his first jobs at the local Burger King.
It was at the age of seven that Seagal first began allegedly studying the martial arts under the direction of renowned Shito-ryu karate master Fumio Demura and Aikido under Rod Kobayashi, the President of the Western States Aikido Federation. He earned belts in aikido, karate, judo, and kendo, and in his late teens, Seagal became part of Demura's Karate Demonstration Team and performed daily demonstrations in the former Japanese Village and Deer Park, in Southern California. In 1974, he was promoted by Kobayashi-sensei to shodan in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido (a fact disputed by his now ex-wife, below).
[edit] Japan
After finishing college, Seagal moved to Japan with then-girlfriend Miyako Fujitani, native of Japan whom he later married, and lived with her parents, who owned an aikido school; allegations surfaced that he left in order to avoid the Vietnam draft at the time, and married Ms. Fujitani in order to provide reasonable evidence to his remaining there in spite of a possible draft-call.[5]
During this time in Japan, Seagal changed affiliation from Koichi Tohei's Ki Society and Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido to the Aikikai. Under the title Master Take Shigemichi, Seagal was reputedly the first foreigner ever to own and operate an aikido dojo in Japan (though his in-laws, and not himself, were the actual owners): the Aikido Tenshin Dojo in the city of Osaka. Seagal claims that he battled the yakuza (Japanese mafia) over the rights to the Aikido Tenshin Dojo, which he claims that his wife's father lost in a gambling game; however, his former wife Miyako Fujitani, claims "it's a lie", and that he "yelled at some drunks, but never fought anyone".[5]
Fujitani likewise claims that Seagal never properly earned his aikido titles—a claim supported by the fact that Seagal, despite claiming world-class fighting skills, has never once competed in any match-up of note—while likewise either losing or surrendering to all physical confrontations. Meanwhile in 1988, he was offered the title of Above The Law, because of his Master 6th Degree Black Belt in Aikido. Also impressed many hollywood actors and actresses by his martial skills. The main fact that gives Steven Seagal the advantage is that he claims that he was trained by the founder of Aikido, Ōsensei Morihei Ueshiba.
[edit] Return to the US
Seagal initially returned to Taos, New Mexico with senior student and later stuntman Craig Dunn. There, they opened a dojo, but Seagal spent much of his time pursuing a film career and other ventures. Dunn stayed in New Mexico and is there to this day, still running the dojo. After another period spent in Japan, Seagal returned to the U.S. with senior student Haruo Matsuoka in 1983. The two opened an aikido dojo, initially located in Burbank, California, but later moved to the city of West Hollywood. Seagal left Matsuoka in charge of the dojo, which he ran until the two parted ways in 1997. It was during this period that Seagal first found himself in contact with Hollywood. Initially, he worked as martial arts coordinator on the films The Challenge (1982) starring Toshirô Mifune and Never Say Never Again (1983) starring Sean Connery. Seagal then became a bodyguard to celebrities such as his future wife Kelly Le Brock and Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz. It was Ovitz who, impressed with Seagal's martial arts abilities, personally financed a screen test in front of Warner Bros. executives. They too were impressed, and Seagal was signed for his first film.
[edit] Hollywood career
[edit] 1990s: the action hero years
In 1988 Seagal began work on his first film, Above the Law (also known as Nico in Europe), with director Andrew Davis. They transformed an average police thriller adding both exhilarating action scenes and sharp characterization. Following its success, Seagal made three more pictures (Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, and Out for Justice) that were decent box office hits, marking him as an action hero. Seagal found wider mainstream success in 1992 with the release of Under Siege. The film reunited Seagal with the director Andrew Davis and was a blockbuster in America and abroad, grossing $156.4 million worldwide.[6]
After the success of Under Siege, Seagal made his directorial debut with On Deadly Ground (1994) in which he also starred, alongside Michael Caine. The movie was a failure with both audiences and critics, and made a financial loss, costing an estimated $50 million to make and grossing less than $39 million in the United States.[6]
To try to recoup popularity, Seagal filmed a sequel to his most successful film Under Siege titled Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) and a cop drama (The Glimmer Man) (1996). In 1996, Seagal also had his first supporting role, in the Kurt Russell film Executive Decision, in which Seagal was billed as having a starring role to keep his character's fate secret. He then tried again to make an environmentally-conscious film. In Fire Down Below (1997), Seagal played an EPA agent fighting industrialists dumping toxic waste in the Kentucky hills region, but the movie was not a commercial success. This film marked the end of Seagal's original multi-picture deal with Warner Bros. and due to its failure at the box office, his contract was not renewed.
[edit] Retreat to video
The next year, Seagal made The Patriot, another environmental thriller which was his first direct-to-video release in the United States (though it was released theatrically in most of the world). Seagal produced this film with his own money, and the film was shot on-location on and near his farm in Montana.
After taking a couple years to produce Prince of Central Park, Seagal returned to cinema screens with the release of Exit Wounds in March 2001. The film had fewer martial arts scenes than Seagal's previous films, but it was a commercial success, taking almost $80 million woldwide; however, he was unable to capitalise on this success and his next two projects were both critical and commercial failures. Ticker co-starring Tom Sizemore and Dennis Hopper, and filmed in San Francisco before Exit Wounds, went straight to DVD while Half Past Dead, starring rap star Ja Rule, made less than $20 million worldwide.
As of April 2007, all 13 films Seagal has made since 2003 have been released direct-to-video in North America, with only limited theatrical releases in the rest of the world. These films are characterised by a severe drop in their overall quality compared with Seagal's films from the 1990s. Steven Seagal is currently working on a comeback for 2007 with action films Once Upon A Time In The Hood and Prince of Pistols which he will direct. In May 2007 agreed to work on Indie film Marker for director Roel Reiné, a dutch director.
The new word around Hollywood, is that Academy Award winning director Steven Spielberg is close to casting Seagal as John Wilkes Booth in the upcoming film Lincoln. When asked about this decision, Speilberg was quoted as saying "Seagal has an intensity and a fire in his eyes that says he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. It is exactly who I am looking for to portray Booth. Someone with a hateful passion. Steven nailed it!"