Jeffrey Falcon (born 1962[1]) is an American martial artist, actor and filmmaker. A member of the US Wushu team,[2] Falcon began his career in Hong Kong action cinema, before returning to the Untied States to write and star in the cult classic film Six-String Samurai.

Jeffrey Falcon
Born1962 (age 61–62)
Occupation(s)Martial artist, actor
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese傑夫
Simplified Chinese杰夫

Biography

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Falcon initially studied taekwondo, and but in the 1980s began practicing wushu. He won several state and national championships in California, between 1982 and 1983.[3] In 1984, he studied with the Beijing Wushu Team under coach Wu Bin.[3] He was a member of the US National Wushu Team from 1985 to 1988.[2] He represented the United States at the 1st International Invitational Wushu Championships in Xi'an in August 1985.[2] He later became a wushu coach, and graduated from Beijing Sport University.

Falcon began his film career in Chinese-language martial arts films.[4] While living in Taiwan, teaching English and martial arts, he was noticed by Jackie Chan after a television performance. Falcon was then invited to appear in a film in Hong Kong, which led to subsequent film work.[5]

In total, he appeared in seventeen action films,[6] including Outlaw Brothers[7] and The Inspector Wears Skirts.[8] He adopted the Chinese stage name Git Foo (Chinese: 傑夫; pinyin: Jié fū; Jyutping: Git6 Fu1; lit. 'Jeff').[9] Although Falcon sought to continue his studies in Buddhism and Chinese, he was dissatisfied with being typecast as a villain and in smaller roles. He returned to the United States to pursue larger acting roles.[5]

In California, Falcon began working with Lance Mungia in 1996 to develop the script for a samurai movie, which eventually became Six-String Samurai. After Mungia observed one night that Falcon looked like Buddy Holly, the two developed the idea of incorporating rock and roll into the film.[5] In addition to starring as Buddy in the film, Falcon did fight choreography, production design, and costume design.[10]

According to a 2003 interview with fellow Hong Kong martial artist and actor, John Ladalski, Falcon retired from films and returned to China, where he married and pursued other work.[11]

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ Hong Kong Cinemagic – Jeff Falcon
  2. ^ a b c "US Wushu Team". www.uswushuacademy.com. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  3. ^ a b "FALCON JOURNAL". web.archive.org. 1999-11-18. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  4. ^ a b Langley, Christopher (2014-12-01). "From Jayhawkers To Jawa: A Short History Of Filming In Death Valley, Part II". PBS SoCal. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  5. ^ a b c Savlov, Marc (1998-09-18). "Six-String Reverb". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  6. ^ Rohr, Jay (2023-09-18). "Six-String Samurai: Rocking the Wasteland for 25 Years". Film Obsessive. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  7. ^ a b c Heath, Paul Thomas (2023-04-12). "Cynthia Rothrock-led 'Lady Reporter' set for restored home release". The Hollywood News. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  8. ^ a b Johnson, Ben (2012-05-19). "The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988)". Kung Fu Movie Guide. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  9. ^ "Jeff Falcon". hkmdb.com. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  10. ^ Pincus, Adam (1998-06-01). "Lance Mungia's Six-String Samurai". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  11. ^ Lanuque, Arnaud (2003-03-01). "Exclusive interview with John Ladalski". HK Cinemagic. Archived from the original on 2005-04-06. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
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