Scott Adkins has had a long and impressive career, but has gone under the radar when it comes to breaking into Hollywood. While he has had small roles in movies like Zero Dark Thirty and The Expendables 2, he has amassed a cult following from lower-budget action movies and is particularly famous in the world of martial arts movies. His ability to bring his incredible fighting skills to the screen whilst also showing off some strong dramatic abilities has made him one to watch.
Adkins got his big Hollywood break starring opposite Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4 as Killa, the gold-toothed criminal boss who comes up against Wick in an epic battle. The role finally garnered Adkins some mainstream recognition and shot him to new realms of fame. Here are five things you didn’t know about John Wick: Chapter 4’s Scott Adkins.
Scott Adkins Started Out as a British Soap Star
Like many stars in Hollywood, Adkins started his career with TV work to get his face and name out there. Adkins always had his heart set on becoming a huge action star, but took small roles on British soap shows to pay the bills and gain some recognition. Adkins starred in the long-running popular British soap, Eastenders, and teen-focused drama, Hollyoaks.
He Has Practiced Martial Arts Since a Tender Age
Adkins fell in love with martial arts at an early age, gaining experience in Ninjutsu, Krav Maga, Karate, Wushu, Aikido, Jujutsu, MMA, Capoeira, and Gymnastics. He has also always been passionate about health and fitness and used to teach classes as a personal trainer and kickboxing instructor. Adkins kicked his training up a notch after being the victim of a traumatic robbery. He vowed to never be put in that situation again and started to train harder than ever. By the age of 19, he was a black belt in Taekwondo, and this marked the beginning of his road to becoming a world-class fighter.
Scott Adkins Has Starred in Four Movies With His Childhood Hero
In the early 1980s, Jean-Claude Van Damme was becoming a household name in Hollywood and was quickly becoming one of the biggest action stars on the planet. Around the time of Van Damme’s meteoric rise to fame, Adkins was making quite a stir in the martial arts world, and Van Damme was one of his idols. Adkins has showered Van Damme with praise over the years in interviews and has no shame in admitting he was starstruck when he got a chance to work with him.
As Adkins’ career started to take off, he got to star opposite his hero on more than one occasion. The two fight legends have starred in a total of four movies together – Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, The Expendables 2, The Shepherd: Border Patrol, and perhaps their most renowned collaboration, Assassination Games. The two actors have a raw chemistry on screen together and have delivered some dazzling fight sequences that go down as some of the best in their careers.
He Prefers to Perform His Own Stunts
Like many action stars in Hollywood, Adkins is famous for doing his own stunts. And while heaps of actors go down this route, Adkins’ performances really shine thanks to his natural athleticism and impressive skill set. Across his portfolio of action movies, Adkins has delivered some exhilarating stunts that would give Tom Cruise a run for his money. Perhaps the best movie to showcase his stunt work is Jesse V. Johnson’s Accident Man.
Adkins and Johnson also re-teamed for the Netflix smash hit, Avengement. Adkins’ arguably delivered some of his best fighting work in this movie and performed all of his own stunts. The film is largely set in one location and sees Adkins’ character fighting dozens of men single-handedly, showcasing some of the most brutal fights ever filmed in British cinema.
Scott Adkins’ Bruce Wayne Audition Went Viral
Diehard lovers of underground action movies have been singing Adkins’ praises for decades, regularly taking to social media to plea for big studios to recognise his talent. After a brief appearance in Doctor Strange, Adkins got a taste for larger scale movies and set his sights on Batman. He auditioned for the part but was unsuccessful, however, the tape gathered huge attention online and put Adkins in the eyes of big-time filmmakers.
Adkins’ impressive Batman audition served as solid evidence that he has the capability for much bigger roles. It is also arguably one of the factors that landed Adkins his role in John Wick: Chapter 4. Now that Scott Adkins has gathered some Hollywood-level recognition, it’s fair to speculate that he is on his way to becoming one of cinema’s next big action stars.AvengementAvengement
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