Jeffrey Falcon (born 1962[1]) is an American martial artist, actor and filmmaker. A member of the US Wushu team,[2] Falcon began his career in Hong Kong action cinema, before returning to the Untied States to write and star in the cult classic film Six-String Samurai.
Jeffrey Falcon | |||||||||||
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Born | 1962 (age 61–62) | ||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Martial artist, actor | ||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 傑夫 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 杰夫 | ||||||||||
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Biography
editFalcon initially studied taekwondo, and but in the 1980s began practicing wushu. He won several state and national championships in California, between 1982 and 1983.[3] In 1984, he studied with the Beijing Wushu Team under coach Wu Bin.[3] He was a member of the US National Wushu Team from 1985 to 1988.[2] He represented the United States at the 1st International Invitational Wushu Championships in Xi'an in August 1985.[2] He later became a wushu coach, and graduated from Beijing Sport University.
Falcon began his film career in Chinese-language martial arts films.[4] While living in Taiwan, teaching English and martial arts, he was noticed by Jackie Chan after a television performance. Falcon was then invited to appear in a film in Hong Kong, which led to subsequent film work.[5]
In total, he appeared in seventeen action films,[6] including Outlaw Brothers[7] and The Inspector Wears Skirts.[8] He adopted the Chinese stage name Git Foo (Chinese: 傑夫; pinyin: Jié fū; Jyutping: Git6 Fu1; lit. 'Jeff').[9] Although Falcon sought to continue his studies in Buddhism and Chinese, he was dissatisfied with being typecast as a villain and in smaller roles. He returned to the United States to pursue larger acting roles.[5]
In California, Falcon began working with Lance Mungia in 1996 to develop the script for a samurai movie, which eventually became Six-String Samurai. After Mungia observed one night that Falcon looked like Buddy Holly, the two developed the idea of incorporating rock and roll into the film.[5] In addition to starring as Buddy in the film, Falcon did fight choreography, production design, and costume design.[10]
According to a 2003 interview with fellow Hong Kong martial artist and actor, John Ladalski, Falcon retired from films and returned to China, where he married and pursued other work.[11]
Filmography
edit- Operation Pink Squad (1988)
- The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988)[8]
- Prince of the Sun (1989)
- The Inspector Wears Skirts 2 (1989)
- Burning Ambition (1989)
- Blonde Fury (1989)[7]
- The Outlaw Brothers (1990)[7]
- Lethal Contact (1992)
- Caged Beauties (1992)
- The Way of the Lady Boxers (1993)
- Rape in Public Sea (1993)
- Happy Partner (1993)
- Oh! Yes Sir! (1994)
- Six-String Samurai (1998)[4] - Also screenwriter and fight choreographer
References
edit- ^ Hong Kong Cinemagic – Jeff Falcon
- ^ a b c "US Wushu Team". www.uswushuacademy.com. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ a b "FALCON JOURNAL". 1999-11-18. Archived from the original on 1999-11-18. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ a b Langley, Christopher (2014-12-01). "From Jayhawkers To Jawa: A Short History Of Filming In Death Valley, Part II". PBS SoCal. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
- ^ a b c Savlov, Marc (1998-09-18). "Six-String Reverb". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
- ^ Rohr, Jay (2023-09-18). "Six-String Samurai: Rocking the Wasteland for 25 Years". Film Obsessive. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
- ^ a b c Heath, Paul Thomas (2023-04-12). "Cynthia Rothrock-led 'Lady Reporter' set for restored home release". The Hollywood News. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
- ^ a b Johnson, Ben (2012-05-19). "The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988)". Kung Fu Movie Guide. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
- ^ "Jeff Falcon". hkmdb.com. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ Pincus, Adam (1998-06-01). "Lance Mungia's Six-String Samurai". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
- ^ Lanuque, Arnaud (2003-03-01). "Exclusive interview with John Ladalski". HK Cinemagic. Archived from the original on 2005-04-06. Retrieved 2024-05-22.