Steven Seagal
American actor and aikido teacher, 7th dan and shihan title holder in Aikikai, who ran a dojo in Japan; his Above the Law is regarded as the first American film with aikido.
Quick Facts
United StatesBiography
Steven Seagal is an American actor and aikido teacher. He was born on 10 April 1952 in Lansing, Michigan. He holds seventh dan and the title of shihan in Aikikai aikido.
Before aikido he practised Shotokan karate with a teacher named Sakamoto. He studied aikido with Rod Kobayashi and in Japan with Kisaburo Osawa, Hiroshi Isoyama and Kisshomaru Ueshiba; he also studied kenjutsu there. Sources differ on the dates: according to some he trained in Japan from the late 1960s and earned his black belt in 1978, according to others he received shodan from Kobayashi in 1974. He moved to Japan in October 1974 after marrying Miyako Fujitani, the daughter of an aikido master from Osaka, and stayed there until 1983. He ran the Fujitani family dojo and is said to have been the first Westerner with his own aikido dojo in Japan. Fujitani later questioned whether he had earned his black belt deservedly. The claim that he studied with Morihei Ueshiba is impossible, because Ueshiba died in 1969.
After returning he ran a dojo in Burbank, later moved to West Hollywood. In the film Never Say Never Again (1983) he worked as a martial arts instructor, and he coordinated fight scenes, among others, for the films The Challenge (1982) and Marked for Death (1990). His acting debut was the film Above the Law (1988), regarded as the first American film with aikido in its fight scenes. He choreographed the scenes in Hard to Kill (1990) and Force of Execution (2013) himself. He played his breakthrough role in Under Siege (1992) as Casey Ryback, and he made his directorial debut with On Deadly Ground (1994).
Associated Martial Arts
Ranks and titles
- 7th danShihan · Aikido · 1978
Filmography
A screen role does not mean the person actually practises the art — that is listed above.