Joe Taslim

In this Chinese Indonesian name, the family name is Taslim (林).

Johannes "Joe" Taslim (born 23 June 1981) is an Indonesian actor, martial artist, and model. He was a member of Indonesia’s national judo team from 1997 to 2009, becoming a three-time medalist (one Silver and two Bronze) at the Southeast Asian Games, and a Gold medalist at the 2008 Pekan Olahraga Nasional.

Joe Taslim
Taslim during 2015 Indonesian Film Festival
Born	Johannes Taslim (1981-06-23) 23 June 1981 (age 43) Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia
Occupations	Actor martial artist model
Years active	1997–present

His film acting roles include Sergeant Jaka in The Raid (2011), Jah in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Manas in Star Trek Beyond (2016), and Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat (2021) and Mortal Kombat 2 (2025).^[1] He has a starring role as Li Yong on the television series Warrior.

Early life

Taslim was born in Palembang, Indonesia, to a Christian family of Chinese descent.^[2] He began studying martial arts from a young age, and cites Japanese judoka Kosei Inoue and Tadahiro Nomura as inspirations.^[3] He has also practiced taekwondo, pencak silat and wushu.^[4]

Joe Taslim then married Julia Taslim in 2004, and they have now been married for 21 years.^[5]

Judo

Taslim was a member of Indonesia’s national judo team from 1997 to 2009. In 1999, he won a Gold medal at the Southeast Asia Judo Championships in Singapore, in the Men’s Free Class. He was a Bronze medalist at the 2001 and 2005 Southeast Asian Games, and a Silver medalist at the 2007 Games. He won a Gold medal in the Men –81 kg class at the 2008 Indonesia National Games. He retired from active competition in 2009.^[2]

Film career

Prior to his film debut, Taslim worked as a model in print ads and commercials. He made his acting debut in the 2008 film Karma.

In 2010, he won the role of Jaka, a sergeant in a special police squad, in the award-winning The Raid, after a series of fight auditions and reading.

Following The Raid, Taslim took part in HBO Asia's first action horror film, Dead Mine, which had a theatrical release in selected Asian territories in September 2012, followed by exclusive television premieres across the HBO Asia network.^[6][7][8][9]

Taslim appeared in the feature film Fast & Furious 6 (2013), as the villainous Jah, a mercenary who uses his martial arts to fight two of the film's protagonists, Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang).^[10]

In May 2013, it was reported that Taslim would star in the action thriller The Night Comes for Us.^[11] In September 2014, pre-production on the film was halted^[12] and the script was instead adapted as a graphic novel. The film was eventually released by Netflix on 19 October 2018.^[13]

In 2016, he played an antagonist character, Manas, a former first officer of Captain Balthazar Edison (played by Idris Elba), Anderson Le, turned into an alien in Star Trek Beyond.

In 2017, Taslim was cast in the role of Li Yong in the Cinemax action series, Warrior.^[14] He played Li Yong, a Long Zii enforcer and secretly Mai Ling's lover. His character serves as a rival to the series' protagonist Ah Sahm.^[14] The series premiered on 5 April 2019.^[15]

In July 2019, Taslim was cast as Sub-Zero in the Mortal Kombat reboot.^[16] The film premiered in April 2021 in theaters and on HBO Max.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Karma	Armand Guan
2009	Rasa	Allivan
2011	The Raid	Sergeant Jaka
2012	Dead Mine	Joko
2013	Fast & Furious 6	Jah
	La Tahzan	Yves Yamada
2014	The Raid 2	Sergeant Jaka	uncredited, photograph
2016	Star Trek Beyond	Anderson Le / Manas
2017	Surat Kecil untuk Tuhan	Martin
2018	The Night Comes for Us	Ito
2019	Hit & Run	Tegar Satria / Tegar Saputra	[2]
2020	The Swordsman	Gurutai
2021	Mortal Kombat	Bi-Han / Sub-Zero / Noob Saibot
2025	Mortal Kombat 2		Post-production
TBA	The Blind of the Phantom Cave	Mandala	Cameo
	Mandala: The Devil's Sword
	The Furious	Navin	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
2019–2023	Warrior	Li Yong	Cinemax
2023	Blindspotting	Mustafa	Starz	Guest stars

Sport achievements

Year	Event	Sport	Division	Result	Ref(s).
1999	Southeast Asia Judo Championships Singapore	Judo	Men Free Class		[17][18]
2001	Southeast Asian Games	Judo	Men –81 kg		–
2005	Southeast Asian Games	Judo	Men –73 kg		–
2007	Southeast Asian Games	Judo	Men –81 kg		[17][18]
2008	Indonesia National Games XVII	Judo	Men –81 kg		[17][18]

Awards and nominations

Year	Organization	Award	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2013	Maya Awards	Best Actor in a Leading Role	La Tahzan	Nominated
	Indonesian Film Festival	Citra Award for Best Leading Actor		Nominated
2014	Indonesian Movie Actors Awards	Best Actor		Won
		Favourite Actor		Nominated
2015	Indonesia Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Actor	Himself	Won
2016	APAN Star Awards	Best APAN Star Award		Won
2016	Infotainment Awards	Indonesian Celebrity of World Achievement		Nominated
2017	Style Awards	Actor of the Year		Won