Mark Dacascos

Mark Alan Dacascos (born February 26, 1964) is an American actor, martial artist, and television personality.^[1] A 4th-degree black belt in Wun Hop Kuen Do, he is known for his roles in action films, including as Louis Stevens in Only the Strong (1993), the title role in Crying Freeman (1995), Mani in Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), for which he was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor, the antagonist Ling in Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), Sharish in Nomad (2005), and as the assassin Zero in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019).

Mark Dacascos
Dacascos in 2011
Born	Mark Alan Dacascos (1964-02-26) February 26, 1964 (age 60) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Other names	Marc Dacascos The Chairman
Alma mater	Portland State University
Occupations	Actor martial artist television personality
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Julie Condra ​ (m. 1998)​
Children	3
Website	dacascos.com

On television, Dacascos is known for his portrayal of Wo Fat on Hawaii Five-0 (2010–2020), and for serving as "The Chairman" of Food Network's Iron Chef America series since January 2005, a role he reprised in 2022 on Netflix's Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. Dacascos' other roles include Kung Lao in the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, Eric Draven on The Crow: Stairway to Heaven and Eubulon on Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. He also competed in the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars.^[2][3]

In 2023, he was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame.^[4]

Early life

Dacascos was born February 26, 1964, in Oahu, Hawaii. His father, Al Dacascos, was born in Hawaii to Filipino parents; he is a martial arts instructor and the founder of Wun Hop Kuen Do. He was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in 1999.^[5][6] His mother, Moriko McVey-Murray, is of Irish and Japanese ancestry.^[7] In the History Channel presentation Samurai, Dacascos revealed that many members of his mother's family were killed in the bombing of Hiroshima. His stepmother is award-winning martial artist Malia Bernal. He attended Los Angeles Valley College, where he was on the gymnastics team. He also attended Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. He is proficient in his father's style of martial arts, Wun Hop Kuen Do, and holds a 4th degree black belt. He has also extensively studied Muay Thai, capoeira with Amen Santo, and Wushu.^[1] Growing up, Dacascos was inspired by Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.^[8]

During his upbringing he lived a time in Hamburg, Germany, where he learned to speak German.^[9]

Career

Dacascos in a production still taken during filming of a deleted scene in Wayne Wang's film Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart in 1983

Dacascos became an actor after being discovered walking down the street in San Francisco's Chinatown by Chris Lee (assistant director) and Rexall Chinn (hairstylist), who at the time were working for director Wayne Wang. He was cast in Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, and though his scenes were cut from the final film, he went on to establish a film and television career primarily playing martial artists. He was originally set to play as the Red Ranger, Victor Lee, in Bio-Man, an adaptation of Choudenshi Bioman produced by Haim Saban. The show was not picked up at the time, but the concept evolved into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.^[10]

His breakout role was in the 1993 film Only the Strong, in which he played Louis, a capoeira master who takes a high school's struggling students and turns their lives around by teaching them the Brazilian martial art based on the ritual combat technique of Angola. In the following year, Dacascos co-starred with Party of Five's Scott Wolf as Jimmy and Billy Lee, respectively, in the film Double Dragon, based on the video game with the same name.

He plays the role of the Chairman on Iron Chef America, Iron Chef Australia and Iron Chef Mexico. In the series' backstory, Dacascos's character is the nephew of the original Iron Chef Chairman, Takeshi Kaga.

He has been featured in many action films such as Drive, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Crying Freeman and Cradle 2 the Grave, in which he squared off against Jet Li. He also performed in three video games: voice acting in Stranglehold, live acting in Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom and digitally recreating The Chairman in the Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine video game for Wii.

Dacascos was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2002 for his role in Brotherhood of the Wolf.^[11] He also appeared in the television series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, which was a follow-up to the 1994 film The Crow. He also appears in the children's television show Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, where he portrays Eubulon, also known as the Advent Master, mentor of the Kamen Riders and creator of the Advent Decks.

Dacascos played the recurring role of Wo Fat on the CBS series Hawaii Five-0. He portrayed Kung Lao in the second season of the YouTube series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.^[12] He had a recurring role in the third season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Mr. Giyera, an Inhuman servant of Hydra who can manipulate inanimate objects.

In May 2019, Dacascos played Zero, a lead antagonist in the action thriller film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.^[13] He starred in a recurring role on the Netflix series Wu Assassins.^[14] He has reprised his role as The Chairman of the Iron Chef series in Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, which was released on Netflix in June 2022.^[15]

Personal life

Dacascos is married to actress Julie Condra, who starred with him in the 1995 action film Crying Freeman, and also the 2020 film One Night in Bangkok.^[16] They have three children: two sons Makoa and Kapona, and a daughter Noelani.^[17]

Filmography

Dacascos (center) in a deleted scene from Dim Sum

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart	Fighter	Deleted scene
1990	Angel Town	Stoner's Driver
1992	American Samurai	Kenjiro Sanga
1993	Only the Strong	Louis Stevens
	Roosters	Filipino's Son	Cameo
1994	Double Dragon	Jimmy Lee
1995	Deadly Past	Leo
	Redemption: Kickboxer 5	Matt Reeves	Direct-to-video
	Crying Freeman	Yo Hinomura / Crying Freeman
1996	The Island of Dr. Moreau	Lo-Mai
	Sabotage	Michael Bishop
	Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom	Troy 'Catscratch' Carter	Interactive film
1997	Drive	Toby Wong	Direct-to-video
	Sanctuary	Luke Kovak
	DNA	Dr. Ash Mattley
	Deathline	Merrick
1998	Boogie Boy	Jesse Page
	No Code of Conduct	Paul DeLucca
1999	The Base	Major John Murphy / Corporal John Dalton
2000	China Strike Force	Tony Lau
2001	Brotherhood of the Wolf	Mani
	Instinct To Kill	J.T. Dillon
2002	Scorcher	Colonel Ryan Beckett
2003	Cradle 2 the Grave	Ling
2005	Final Approach	Kato
	Nomad	Sharish
2006	Only the Brave	Steve "Zaki" Senzaki
	The Hunt for Eagle One	Lieutenant Matt Daniels	Direct-to-video
	The Hunt for Eagle One: Crash Point		Direct-to-video
2007	Code Name: The Cleaner	Eric Hauck
	Alien Agent	Rykker
	I Am Omega	Renchard
2008	Gideon Falls	Set
2009	Serbian Scars	Peter Olsen Obilich
2010	Shadows in Paradise	Lieutenant Max Forrester
	Secret of the Sultan
2013	The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone	"King Cobra"
2014	Roger Corman's Operation Rogue	Captain Max Randall	Direct-to-video
	The Extendables[18]	Mark
2016	Showdown in Manila	Matthew Wells	Also director and producer
2017	Maximum Impact	Tony Lin
2017	Ultimate Justice	Gus
2018	The Legend of Hallowaiian	Pono	Voice
2019	John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum	"Zero"
	The Driver	The Driver
	Lucky Day	Louis
2020	One Night in Bangkok	Kai Kahale
2021	Batman: Soul of the Dragon	Richard Dragon	Voice, Direct-to-video
2022	The Ray	Brando
	Blade of the 47 Ronin	Lord Shinshiro
2023	Knights of the Zodiac	Mylock

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Bio-Man	Victor Lee / Biorhythm Red	Pilot
1986–1997	General Hospital	Police Cadet	4 episodes
1990	Doogie Howser, MD	Julian	Episode: "The Grass Ain't Always Greener"
	The Flash	Osaku	Episode: "Child's Play"
	New Dragnet	Kevin Chow	Episode: "Queen of Hearts"
1991	Dead on the Money	Martial Arts Teacher	Television film
1994	Dragstrip Girl	Johnny Ramirez	Television film
	Tales from the Crypt	Felix Johnson	Episode: "The Pit"
1995	One West Waikiki	Moku	Episode: "Rest in Peace"
1998–1999	The Crow: Stairway to Heaven	Eric Draven / The Crow	22 episodes
1999	Martial Law	Steven Garth	Episode: "Ninety Million Reasons to Die"
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Ananda	Episode: "Felonious Monk"
2004–2018	Iron Chef America	The Chairman	236 episodes
2006	Solar Attack	Lucas Foster	Television film
2007–2008	Stargate Atlantis	Tyre	2 episodes
2007–2012	The Next Iron Chef	The Chairman	16 episodes
2008	The Legend of Bruce Lee	Thai Boxer King Charles[19]	3 episodes
	The Middleman	Sensei Ping	Episode: "The Sino-Mexican Revelation"
2009	Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight	Eubulon / Advent Master	9 episodes
	Dancing with the Stars	Himself	7 episodes
	Wolvesbayne	Von Griem	Television film
2010–2020	Hawaii Five-0	Wo Fat	17 episodes
2014	Chicago P.D.	Jimmy Shi	Episode: "Different Mistakes"
2015–2016	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Giyera[20]	11 episodes
2016	Lucifer	Kimo Vanzandt	Episode: "Weaponizer"
2017	The Perfect Bride	Daniel Counter	Television film
2019	Wu Assassins	Monk/ Kun Zi	Recurring role[14]
2022	Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend	The Chairman
2023	Warrior	Kong Pak[21]	Main Role (Season 3)
2023	SpongeBob SquarePants	Guru Greasetrap	Episode: "Spatula of the Heavens"

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Mortal Kombat: Legacy	Kung Lao	4 episodes
2023	Blue Eye Samurai	Bloodsoaked Chiaki (voice)	Recurring cast

Awards

Year	Work	Award	Result
2002	Brotherhood of the Wolf	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor	Nominated

References

1. "Discovering the Samurai Within". Inside Kung Fu. Archived from the original on May 9, 2010. Retrieved June 18, 2010.
2. "Dancing With The Stars Season 9 Cast". Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
3. Eng, Joyce (August 17, 2009). "Dancing with the Stars 2009 Season 9 Cast Revealed!". TV Guide. Archived from the original on August 18, 2009. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
4. "Hall of Fame".
5. King, Fred; Olrech, Dan (May 1984). "Al Dacascos' Wun Hop Kuen Do: The Truly Complete Martial Art". Black Belt. Retrieved February 19, 2017 – via Google Books.
6. "Hall of Fame".
7. Kim, Serena (May 7, 2019). "Meet Actor Mark Dacascos—The Martial Artist Behind Zero in 'John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum'". CharacterMedia. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
8. https://kungfukingdom.com/profile-of-mark-dacascos/
9. Mark Dacascos full Interview GCC 2019 Dortmund - speaks german / spricht deutsch - John Wick 3 movie
10. Dacascos, Mark (March 2001). "IMPACT 90 Mark Dacascos: Kung Fou Style (fou for crazy)" (Interview). Interviewed by Damien Granger. Translated by The Wolfsisters. www.markdacascos.de. Archived from the original on May 24, 2008. Retrieved May 4, 2018.{{cite interview}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
11. Munoz, Lorenza (January 3, 2003). "Little pictures have a big year". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
12. "Web Series 'Mortal Kombat: Legacy 2′ Hitting February 17th". Latino Review. Archived from the original on December 6, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
13. Busch, Anita (May 21, 2018). "Halle Berry, Anjelica Huston Join Returning Cast For 'John Wick". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
14. Petski, Denise (August 15, 2018). "'Wu Assassins': JuJu Chan & Mark Dacascos To Recur In Netflix Martial Arts Drama". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
15. Rice, Lynette (May 2, 2022). "All New 'Iron Chef' Coming To Netflix In June; Alton Brown Returns As Host With Kristen Kish". Deadline. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
16. Palan, Michael (June 4, 2021). "What Happened To The Original Cast Of The Wonder Years?". Looper.
17. Mossman, Bill (September 16, 2020). "The Chairman Never Rests". Midweek.
18. Thompson, Brian (October 22, 2013). "THE EXTENDABLES Trailer". Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2018 – via YouTube.
19. "Mark Dacascos Interview". Martial Arts Unlimited. Archived from the original on April 17, 2010. Retrieved June 18, 2010.
20. Petski, Denise (November 6, 2015). "Marvel's 'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Casts Mark Dacascos In Recurring Role". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
21. Petski, Denise (July 27, 2022). "'Warrior': Mark Dacascos & Chelsea Muirhead Joins Season 3 Cast Of HBO Max Series". deadline.com. Deadline. Retrieved July 27, 2022.

External links

• Mark Dacascos at IMDb
• Official website
• HILuxury article on Mark Dacascos