Richard Norton (actor)

Richard Norton
Born	(1950-01-06) 6 January 1950 Australia
Years active	(Since 1980)
Spouse(s)	Judy Green (since 1993)
Website
http://www.richardnorton.net/

Richard Norton (born 6 January 1950, in Australia) is an Australian martial artist, action film star, and stuntman. Norton worked as a bodyguard in the entertainment business before pursuing an acting career. He has attained an eighth-dan in Zen Do Kai, Australia.

His first screen appearance was in the 1980 Chuck Norris film The Octagon, and to date he has worked on over 70 feature films and television programs.

Career

Norton worked as a personal bodyguard for the likes of The Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Bowie, ABBA, John Belushi, Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks.

Film

Norton is known for his appearances in Hong Kong action films, being one of few Western stars that can handle the fast pace of HK-style action^{[citation needed]}. Norton's Hong Kong credits include The Magic Crystal, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars, City Hunter, (a live action remake of the comic book), Millionaire's Express, and Mr. Nice Guy. A signature catchphrase of Norton's characters is "Painful?", usually asked after striking a decisive blow. The most comical example is in Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars, where he faces Sammo Hung and in the movie Millionaire's Express against Yasuaki Kurata.

Over his career, Norton has faced off with many top martial arts action stars, including Jackie Chan (in three films), Sammo Hung, Yasuaki Kurata, Benny "the Jet" Urquidez (in Kick Fighter), Don "The Dragon" Wilson (in CyberTracker), and Cynthia Rothrock (in Lady Dragon and others).

More recently, Norton served as fight coordinator on the 2007 film The Condemned (starring "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones), doubling for Jones. His latest starring role is in the soon to be released contemporary drama, 'Under the Red Moon', which is now in post production.

And more so recently Richard Norton appeared at a convention of martial arts in Berlin where in August 2010 he was joined by 10 other stars of Martial arts cinema in a show that spanned two days.The show was called the Berlin Movie Con and staged in the Universal hall in Berlin Germany. Among his fellow stars were the likes of Cynthia Rothrock, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson and Conan Lee.

Filmography

• The Octagon (1980) – Kyo
• Force: Five (1981) – Ezekiel
• Forced Vengeance (1982) – Herb
• Gymkata (1985) – Zamir
• Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985) – Caucasian Assassin
• American Ninja (1985) – MP (uncredited)
• Equalizer 2000 (1986) – Slade
• Future Hunters (1986) – Matthew
• Millionaire's Express – (1986) – Bandit
• Magic Crystal (1987) – Karov
• Return of the Kickfighter (1987) – Brad Cooper
• The Fighter (1987) – Ryan Travers
• Fight to Win (1987) – Armstrong
• Not Another Mistake (1987) – Richard Straker
• Jungle Assassin (1988)
• Hawkeye (1988)
• Licence to Kill (1989)
• The Sword of Bushido (1989) – Zac Connors
• Hyper Space (1989) – Thomas Stanton
• The Blood of Heroes (1989) – Bone
• Blood Street (1990)
• China O'Brien (1990) – Matt Conroy
• China O'Brien II (1991) – Matt Conroy
• Raiders of the Sun (1992) – Brodie
• Rage and Honor (1992) – Preston Michaels
• Lady Dragon (1992) – Ludwig Hauptman
• Ironheart (1992) – Milverstead
• City Hunter (1993) – MacDonald
• Rage and Honor II (1993) – Preston Michaels
• Deathfight (1994) – Jack Dameron
• Direct Hit (1994) – Rogers
• CyberTracker (1994) – Ross
• The Ultimate Warrior (1995) – Earth Warlord
• Tough and Deadly (1995) – Agent Norton
• Under the Gun (1995) – Frank Torrence
• For Life or Death (1996)
• Soul of the Avenger (1997) – Sir Xavier
• Strategic Command (1997) – Carlos Gruber
• Mr. Nice Guy (1997) – Giancarlo
• Tex Murphy: Overseer (1998) – Big Jim Slade
• Black Thunder (1998) – Rather
• Nautilus (2000) – John Harris
• The Rage Within (2001) – Keller
• Amazons and Gladiators (2001) – Lucius
• Redemption (2002) – Tom 'Snake' Sasso
• Dream Warrior (2003) – Archer
• Mind Games (2003) – Carter Tallerin
• Road House 2: Last Call (2006) – Victor Cross
• Under a Red Moon (2008) – Jonathan Dunn
• Man of Blood (2008) – Lee Francis
• Dead in Love (2009) – Danny's Dad
• Mad Max: Fury Road (2014)

Television

• Spartacus: War of the Damned (2013) – Hilarus (Episode: Enemies of Rome)

Martial arts experience

Richard Norton has trained in many aspects of the martial arts in his 45 years of training, including Judo, Karate, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Aikido, Thai boxing and several Japanese weapons systems. He used this experience to co-create the hybrid martial art Zen Do Kai with fellow security guard Bob Jones. He has a 5th-degree Shihan rank Black Belt in Goju Ryu, 5th-degree Masters rank in Chun Kuk Do (Chuck Norris system), 4th-degree Black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and an 8th-degree Black Belt in Zen Do Kai Karate. He has trained extensively with such Martial Arts legends as Tino Ceberano, Tadashi Yamashita, Fumio Demura, Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace, Pete "Sugar Foot" Cunningham, the Machado brothers and Chuck Norris.

Norton is in constant demand for seminars all over the world, covering such topics as street defense, martial arts weapons drills, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and mixed martial arts. His 15 years experience as a Personal Body Guard for some of Rock and Roll's greats finds Richard in particular demand for teaching the realities of real life street defense, focusing on aspects such as adrenal dump, stress control and pre-emptive strikes.

In Sept 2007, Norton released a two-disc DVD set on Black Belt Digital Video called 'Black Belt training Complexes'. The DVDs show Norton executing some very fast and accurate examples of his skill, and some additional seminar footage is also included. The 3 plus hours of training drills and information focus on the development of explosive speed, power and continuity of movement, with in depth explanation of the various principles one needs to understand to develop incredible speed, regardless of their particular style or discipline.

External links

• Official website
• Richard Norton at the Internet Movie Database
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