The 20 greatest martial arts stars of all time, ranked

With Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings set to bring kung-fu back to the big screen and Cobra Kai doing a fantastic job of showcasing karate on the small screen, and all ready to go into its third season, we thought it was high time we rated the greatest martial arts stars of all time.

UPDATE: The 2019 documentary Iron Fists And Kung Fu Kicks has landed on Netflix and we haven't seen a better documentary about the rise of the Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest and the proliferation of Hong Kong cinema in grindhouse theaters and beyond. The doc highlights many of the actors in this best martial arts stars list and is well worth a watch.

These are the ones that have brought something new to the genre or are just simply fantastic at the job of beating people up.

We have rounded up 20 of the best but there are hundreds, heck, thousands that could be mentioned - all of which are far harder than we could ever be.

If we have failed to mention your favourite, then name drop them below and we will see if they are deserving of the list. And, no, your mate Paul who once managed to chop a bit of balsa wood in half with his bare hands does not count.

(Additional reporting Marc Chacksfield)

Greatest martial arts stars

at AmazonThe kung-fu king combined the cardiovascular capacity of an athlete with a bodybuilder’s musculature. He performed finger-and-thumbs press-ups, inflated his lats like a cobra, leapt 8ft in the air to kick out a lightbulb and unleashed the legendary 1in punch. Trained in wing chun, Wu-style Tai chi ch’uan, dancing and boxing, Lee developed a hybrid called Jeet Kune Do or ‘Way Of The Intercepting Fist’. He hit hard and fast, then danced out of the strike zone – efficient but lethal. Ahead of his time, he remains the benchmark against whom all others are measured.

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at AmazonHe helped bring Asian martial arts to the Hollywood mainstream with his acrobatics and slapstick humour, but is also an exponent of breakneck-paced kung fu. Chan fuses hapkido, judo, wing chun, taekwondo and hei long in his own tight, choppy style.If we had to pick one movie, then Drunken Master is essential Chan and one of the greatest kung fu movies ever made.

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at AmazonHong Kong heart-throb and multi-talented mixed martial artist, Yen’s most influential and well-known work is 2008’s instant classic Ip Man, the biopic of Bruce Lee’s master. It popularised wing chun, the snake-meets-crane close-up combat style that’s all deflections, blocks and short-arm blows. All the more impressive when you consider that Yen learned the technique in a mere nine months.

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at AmazonAcrobatic action stalwart Li Lianjie is a former wushu champion who became a national coach while still a schoolboy. The fighting prodigy was even asked by President Nixon to be his personal bodyguard. After conquering the Chinese market, Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) was Li’s stepping stone to Hollywood success. His flowing, kickboxing-influenced style is all about speed, power and control, hence the stage name.

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at AmazonThe heir to Bruce Lee’s throne forgoes wires and stunt doubles, giving his fight scenes a bruising ultra-realism. Raised in rural Thailand, Jaa watched martial arts movies, practised in his father’s rice paddy and eventually mastered taekwondo, muay thai, aikido, krabi krabong, judo and jiu-jitsu. The star of Ong-bak is also a gymnast, swordsman and high-jumper who still clears two metres. Jaa’s style is acrobatic, lightning fast, fluid and awe-inspiring. At 5ft 6in, he’s shorter than Lee but punches just as hard.

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at AmazonPart-Cherokee, part-Irish tough nut Carlos Ray Norris wasn’t always so: he wasn’t an athletic child and only took up tang soo do while in the US Air Force. He went on to earn black belts in three disciplines, invented his own hybrid style called chun kuk do (‘The Universal Way’) and became a world karate champion in 1968. Encouraged by Steve McQueen, Norris moved into film the following year, although the hairy-chested hero’s screen career didn’t truly take off until the Eighties, with a run of cult action flicks plus cheesy TV vehicle Walker, Texas Ranger that ran between 1993 and 2001.

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at AmazonLike Seagal, The Muscles From Brussels is now a kitsch figure, but his late Eighties/early Nineties films are indisputable classics. He studied kickboxing, muay thai, shotokan karate, taekwondo, and classical ballet from the age of 10, earning a black belt and Mr Belgium crown for body building. After a shaky start in film (bad breakdancing, being replaced as the alien in Predator), JCVD had a run of hits. Trademarks? The splits, babymaker punches and his helicopter kick.

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at AmazonOne of the Hong Kong new wave who reinvigorated the genre in the Seventies and Eighties, cigar-puffing Hung is nick-named ‘dai goh dai’, or ‘biggest big brother’. He’s now a director, producer and widely respected fight choreographer for the likes of Jackie Chan and John Woo, but started his career as a child actor. Hung’s a hefty figure (starring in Enter The Fat Dragon, 1978), but is surprisingly agile. His circular facial scar was the result of being attacked with a broken bottle outside a Kowloon nightclub.

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at AmazonThe Cantonese bodybuilder’s fearsomely muscular physique and downturned mouth invariably led to him being cast in villainous film roles, the most notable being opposite training partner Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon and later, Jean-Claude Van Damme. A man proficient in tai chi, wing chun and generally crushing bones, he always made for a particularly charismatic badass.

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at AmazonMerantau, which saw him master the ‘Sumatran tiger style’ of fighting. The Raid and The Raid 2 showcased more of his work and even landed him a small role in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens

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at NetflixHui Liu, nicknamed Gordon, shot to stardom in The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin – the 1978 classic that provides a backdrop for Wu-Tang Clan’s debut album. It’s the first Shaolin film to show the monastery’s training methods, as San Te goes from unskilled fighter to folk hero. Tarantino’s favourite, the ‘Master Killer’ played two roles in the Kill Bill films.

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at AmazonWith his genuinely imposing demeanour and gruff voice, war veteran Mifune was director Akira Kurosawa’s muse. The pair made 16 films together, most famously 1954’s Seven Samurai. Mifune’s fighting style was fittingly macho and ferocious; he was considered by George Lucas to play the part of Obi Wan Kenobi and almost got the part of Mr Miyagi in Karate Kid (1984), but was deemed too frightening.

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at AmazonPerhaps more of an action man than a pure martial artist, the Hong Kong hero is one of the best at training for specific roles and pulling off fight choreography with aplomb. This is particularly evident in 2000’s soulful, Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – as Wudang warrior Li Mu Bai, his wire work and weapon control were breathtaking.

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. Her jump from bike to train in that movie will go down as one of the greatest stunts ever put to film. While she retired in the 80s, thankfully she came back to film in the 90s, starring in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and the fantastic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Proving she has no plans to slow down, the recent Everything Everywhere All At Once is one of her best movies and features some of her best-ever fight scenes

at AmazonThe former ballet dancer became kung-fu’s first screen queen in 1966 classic Come Drink With Me. She played warrior swordswoman Golden Swallow who tries to free her kidnapped brother. The film was a major inspiration for 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, so director Ang Lee cast Cheng, by then aged 54, as the treacherous Jade Fox.

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at AmazonStephen Chow's acrobatic work in the likes of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle may be enhanced with CGI but there's no denying the martial arts talents of Chow. As a boy he was inspired Bruce Lee and began training in the style of Wing Chun as result. And we're very thankful that he did

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at AmazonRaised the bar violence-wise during the post-Bruce Lee Seventies. He looked intimidatingly wolf-like and had a flashy, gruesome fight style to match, ferociously destroying opponents while keeping a thunderous grimace on his bushy-browed face. Quentin Tarantino’s a devotee, making Clarence a Chiba nerd in 1993’s True Romance and casting him as the sword-maker-turned-sushi restaurateur in 2003’s Kill Bill Vol 1.

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at AmazonFrequently be-mulleted Rhee took up martial arts when he was four years old and mastered taekwondo, hapkido and kendo. Frustrated by a lack of openings in the US film business, he decided to make his own. The brutal Best Of The Best (1989-1998) series went on to become cult classics. His big brother Simon is no slouch either, and has choreographed fights and overseen stunts for films including The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

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at AmazonThe pioneering kickboxer, who went undefeated in his pro career from 1974 to 1980, can only strike with one leg after an injury to his right. His left leg, though, became one of the most feared weapons in fighting, with a deadly accurate hook-kick clocked at 60mph, as seen in The Protector (1985), which also stars Jackie Chan.

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at AmazonThe South Korean taekwondo and hapkido expert was often credited as Bruce Lei due to his resemblance to Bruce Lee. Starred in, yes, The Clones Of Bruce Lee (1981) and a documentary about the great man, called The Real Bruce Lee.If you are to watch one of his movies, though, then make it The Dragon's Snake Fist.

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