6 Martial Arts Actors That Don’t Even Have A Black Belt

Martial arts movies
are pretty much every action movie fan’s guilty pleasure, aren’t they? It’s so
hard to take them seriously, but they’re so entertaining to watch. There’s a
plethora of martial arts out there and most actors tend to stick to one of them
because it’s pretty much impossible to learn them all and bring them to the
silver screen in a convincing matter.

Some martial arts
actors however, didn’t even manage to get a black belt in either discipline.
That sounds like cheating, but it isn’t really. Let’s take a look.

David Carradine

Despite starring in
quite a few kung fu projects like Kill Bill, David doesn’t know any kung fu at
all. All he knows is dance and gymnastics. Chuck Norris once said that David is
as good a martial artist as Chuck is an actor, which probably says all that
needs to be said.

Paul Walker

Paul Walker was an
avid practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but he never got his belt while he
was alive. Due to his prowess in the sport, he was granted a black belt after
his death. Considering how he’d been training for over a decade with great
success, it was deserved.

Jet Li

We all know Jet Li
can’t act and plays in loads of action movies, so we can assume he knows how to
fight, right? He does – he’s in fact quite talented (a prodigy even) in Wushu,
but this form of martial art doesn’t use a belt system.

Keanu Reeves

Also a practitioner of
BJJ like Paul Walker, Keanu has only recently started working himself up the
belt system. Despite him not being quite at black levels yet, we have no doubt
that he’ll manage to snag a black belt sooner or later. Probably for John Wick
6 or something.

Bruce Lee

Yup, Bruce didn’t get
a single black belt in his life. Of course, he did practice wing chun, which
doesn’t have a belt system. I’m pretty sure he would’ve gotten a black belt
otherwise. I mean, Bruce studied under the legendary Ip Man.

Michelle Yeoh

Despite playing in most martial arts movies in the 90’s, Michelle has zero martial arts training. She was only formally practiced ballet and has zero belts to account for.