Sports
List of Famous Martial Artists
Updated October 14, 2019 57.2k views 488 items
List of famous martial artists, with photos, bios, and other information when available. Who are the top martial artists in the world? This includes the most prominent martial artists, living and dead, both in America and abroad. This list of notable martial artists is ordered by their level of prominence, and can be sorted for various bits of information, such as where these historic martial artists were born and what their nationality is. The people on this list are from different countries, but what they all have in common is that they're all renowned martial artists.
Examples of people on this list include Steven Seagal and Jet Li.
From reputable, prominent, and well known martial artists to the lesser known martial artists of today, these are some of the best professionals in the martial artist field. If you want to answer the questions, "Who are the most famous martial artists ever?" and "What are the names of famous martial artists?" then you're in the right place. (488 items)
Taylor Lautner
Taylor Daniel Lautner (; born February 11, 1992) is an American actor, voice actor, and model. He is known for playing Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga film series based on the novels of the ...more
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal (born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician who holds American, Serbian, and Russian citizenship. Seagal was born in ...more
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist, actor, film producer and screenwriter. After serving in the United States Air Force, he won many martial arts championships ...more
Jason Statham
Jason Statham (; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor and film producer. Typecast as the antihero, he is known for his action-thriller roles and portraying tough, irredeemable, and ...more
Jackie Chan
Chan Kong-sang (born 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan, is a Hong Konger martial artist, actor, film director, producer, stuntman, and singer. He is known for his acrobatic ...more
Brenda Song
Brenda Song (born March 27, 1988) is an American actress. Song started in show business as a child fashion model. Her early television work included roles in the television shows Fudge (1995) ...more
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Camille François van Varenberg (born 18 October 1960), professionally known as Jean-Claude van Damme (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ klod vɑ̃ dam], Dutch: [vɑn ˈdɑmə]) and as ...more
Katheryn Winnick
Katheryn Winnick (born December 17, 1977) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in Amusement (2008), Bones (2010), A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2012), Vikings ...more
Michelle Waterson
Michelle Waterson (born January 6, 1986) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). She is the former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion. Between ...more
Brandon Lee
Brandon Bruce Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) was an American actor and martial artist. He was the first child of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee and teacher Linda Lee Cadwell ...more
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, director, film producer, martial artist, and author. His prominent film roles include New Jack City (1991), White Men Can't Jump ...more
Dolph Lundgren
Hans Lundgren (; Swedish: [ˈdɔlːf ˈlɵnːdgreːn] (listen); born 3 November 1957), better known as Dolph Lundgren, is a Swedish actor, filmmaker, and martial artist. Lundgren's breakthrough came in ...more
David Carradine
David Carradine (born John Arthur Carradine; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor, best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s ...more
Chael Sonnen
Chael Patrick Sonnen (; born April 3, 1977) is an American retired mixed martial artist and current MMA analyst for ESPN. Beginning his MMA career in 1997, Sonnen competed for the UFC, where he ...more
Michael Jai White
Michael Richard Jai White (born November 10, 1967) is an American actor, director, and martial artist. He is the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion ...more
Akshay Kumar
Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar, is an Indian-born Canadian actor, producer, television personality, martial artist, stuntman and ...more
Chuck Zito
Charles Carmine Zito Jr. (born March 1, 1953), is an American actor, amateur boxer, martial artist, celebrity bodyguard, stuntman, former boxing trainer and former president of the New York ...more
Tatchakorn Yeerum
Tatchakorn Yeerum (Thai: ทัชชกร ยีรัมย์; RTGS: Thatchakon Yiram; pronounced [tʰát.t͡ɕʰā.kɔ̄ːn jīː.rām]; formerly Phanom Yeerum (Thai: พนม ยีรัมย์; [pʰā.nōm jīː.rām]); born 5 February ...more
Scott Adkins
Scott Edward Adkins (born 17 June 1976) is an English actor, producer, screenwriter and martial artist who is best known for playing Russian prison fighter Yuri Boyka in the 2006 film Undisputed ...more
Sean Waltman
Sean Michael Waltman (born July 13, 1972) is an American podcaster and retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name X-Pac. He wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, ...more
Bo Svenson
Bo Svenson (born 13 February 1941) is a Swedish-American actor, known for his roles in American genre films of the 1970s and 1980s. He is a naturalized United States citizen.
Donnie Yen
Donnie Yen Ji-dan (Chinese: 甄子丹; born 27 July 1963) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film director, producer, action choreographer, stuntman and multiple-time world wushu tournament ...more