Saturday, April 11, 2015
John Carrigan IBF Movie Star
JOHN CARRIGAN
Many of you may not have heard of John the IBFGB Chinese Martial Arts expert but you will have seen him. Yes John is an Actor who has appeared in many films but his first love was the Martial Arts, he has been associated with the IBF for over 15 years. Read his story below not the normal story of a Martial Arts Expert
I began my Martial Arts
training in 1972, following the Martial Arts craze which hit the World at the
appearance of “Bruce Lee” I first trained in London under a Chinese Instructor
named “Lee Goh (Pronounced Lee Wu) Master Wu was well versed in many classical
forms of Martial Arts, including “Wing Chun”,but he had also been lucky enough
to meet and train with the legendary “Bruce Lee”on twelve separate occasions
and this had greatly changed his perspective on the combative arts. I trained under Master Wu for just over four
years and was introduced to many of the concepts of what Master Wu called “Jun
Fan Gung Fu”, along with other classical arts. The classes eventually closed
due to him returning to “Hong Kong”. I continued training in other forms of
combat but always Persisted in seeking out information on Jun Fan JKD to
continue the journey Master Wu had begun with me.
Information on real JKD
was almost unknown back in those early days and cross training in the arts was
almost unheard of and frowned upon, unlike today. It was not till the late 70s
early 80s that any original students of “Bruce Lee”came out and started sharing
the knowledge and holding seminars, so I really did feel very fortunate to have
even the limited knowledge I had gained training with “Master Wu”up to that
point.
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| JKD Instructors Ted Wong, Richard Bustillo and Chris Kent. |
In 1979 I met a martial
artist from “Nottingham” named “Martin Hill”(Later Martin Sterling)Martin was
well versed in the Philipino Martial Arts of “Kali/Eskrima”and we began to
share our knowledge with one another,we eventually began to teach our own
fusion of JKD concepts and Philipino arts, which we named “Hsiu Lung Tao”,
Martin opened a school in “Nottingham” and I opened schools in “London” and
“Kent”,some of which still exist today.
Over the years, my
continuing JKD research led me to train with “Danny Inosanto” Dan Lee” “Ted
Wong” “Larry Hartsell” “Jerry Poteet” “Andy Kimura”and “Chris Kent when they
were visiting the UK also “Taky Kimura” and “Richard Bustillo” during my many
trips to the USA. In October 2012 after 40 years of training, I was awarded my
Master Instructors certificate with the “IMB Academy” of “Los Angeles”under
Sigung “Richard Bustillo”
In my club,I try to get
across that making sure your body and mind are strong enough to carry out what
you need to do in a real situation is part of the battle, that being aware of
your surroundings gives you the chance to be one step ahead of any situation or
attacker, giving you the oppertunity to Intercept a situation (or person) before
it gets too overwhelming to handle and lastly keep your response real, direct
and simple, but whatever you do, do it with everything you have (emotional
content).
It may seem strange
coming from a Martial arts instructor, but the other passion in my life is
acting and the road I took to become an actor was almost as long as my Martial
arts journey.
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| Star Treck Admiral |
When I was young I always
had two posters on my wall, one was “Bruce Lee” and the other was “Captain
Kirk”from “Star Trek” sitting in his chair I always said to my friends and
family that one day I am going to be an Instructor in Bruce Lee’s school and
push that button on Kirk’s chair (yes they all thought I was crazy) to cut a
very long story short, I got to meet the creator of “Star Trek” “Gene Roddenberry”
when I was young and he gave me a fantastic talk which inspired me to follow
one of my dreams to become and “Actor” so I trained and became a “Stunt Man” first
and then an “Actor”.I eventually got to push that button on Kirks chair as well
as becoming a JKD instructor (follow your dreams).
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| Klingon Captain. |
As I have said, I was
always a huge “Star Trek” fan and got to meet “Gene Roddenberry”, which led me
to meet many of the cast and crew behind Star Trek and over the years I became
friends with some of them.Later when I became an actor a friend of mine in LA,
who was also an Academy Award winner working behind the scenes on “Star Trek”
remembered me when they were going to put together a new series,I got a call
from him to go out and try for a part. “Gene Roddenberry” had passed away by
then but his son (Rod) was going to be involved in the show. Partly because of
the way I held myself as a Martial Artist (and also hopefully because I could
act)I got cast as the leading Klingon bad guy named “Captain Kargh”, It was amazing
to work alongside my childhood heroes on those incredible sets. Unfortunately
that series never got further than an internet showing, but I went back to LA
again last year for the pilot episode of yet another Trek series called “Star
Trek Renegades”,with an amazing cast, this time I had two great roles, another
Klingon bad ass and a Starfleet Admiral, it was incredible and the trailer has
just been aired (which has me in)You can find the trailer on facebook and
youtube.
Recently I also got to
film my first “Hollywood” Western which had a “Bruce Lee” connection,It was
called “Cowboy Creed” and I co starred alongside “Anthony Delongis” who was the
first seeker (Morthon) who gets killed by the Mokeys in “The Silent Flute”.
Anthony is one of the top stunt arrangers in Hollywood, but he was happy to let
me choreograph all the fight scenes in “Cowboy Creed”.
It has been an amazing 43
years in the Martial arts and I have 16 fractured bones and a metal Hip
replacement to show for it, but the rewards far outweigh my injury list. This
April I am going to be inducted into the Black Belt Hall Of Fame and given an
award of some kind, which I never dreamed I would even be nominated for, so I
do not plan to retire anytime soon. To quote “Star Trek” I used to Boldly Go,
but maybe now I can still Oldly Go.
Thank you.
John Carrigan
# posted by IBFBCSA @ 1:23 AM 
