Michael Jai White Could Beat You Silly, Even When He's in a Deep Coma

Perhaps you can't match his name to his face, but you've seen him before.

If you watched the Dark Knight, you saw him as Gambol, the ruthless gang leader whose desire for Batman's head united him with the menacing Joker. If you watched Jerry Springer's Ringmaster, you saw him as Demond, the womanizer who couldn't resist (as if anyone can) Jaime Pressley. If you watched the deleted scene from Kill Bill Vol. 2, you saw him manhandled by Bill in broad daylight. If you admit to watching Spawn, you saw him as a toned-down Al Simmons, who returned to Earth as a servant and the leader in devil Malebolgia's Armageddon army.


However, you have yet to see him as the vastly unsung star of America's modern (but limited) Martial Arts cinema.

In the newly released "Blood & Bone", White gives jaw-dropping ass-whoopings as Bone, an ex-convict who enters the underground street fighting circuit. The street fighting revolves around the promise Bone made to his cell mate, who was framed for murder, and used his final words (before dying from stab wounds) to ask Bone "to look after my wife and son." Bone isn't just your run-of-the-mill street fighter. He exhibits the fast-as-light speed of Bruce Lee, the domineering presence of Dolph Lundgren, a chiseled physique that rivals Superman and a voice that even James Earl Jones shits himself over. Between kicking 4 men at the same time, knocking opponents out with only one carefully calculated punch (or kick) and breaking limbs at will, he makes Steven Seagal, Pat Morita and Jean-Claude Van Damme look like white belts.


Instilling the absolute fear of mortality into fools isn't anything new for White. Three years ago, he starred in "Undisputed II: Last Man Standing" as the wrongly convicted Boxer, George Chambers. To escape abuse from prison guards and the embarrassment of working in the prison's sewage system, Chambers enters the Siberian prison's underground Mixed Martial Arts world. After learning grappling, kicking and submission techniques from crippled inmate Crot, Chambers unleashes the same sort of ass-whooping that Bone does in "Blood & Bone."

So, why exactly does Michael Jai White's star shine so bright, especially under the genre of Martial Arts cinema?

For starters, he started practicing Martial Arts at the age of seven, and now holds seven different Black belts. Count it: seven. The belts are in Shotokan, Tae Kwon Do, Kobudo, Goju Ryu, Tang Soo Do (which Hillary Swank holds a pink belt in), Wushu and Kyokushin. White specifically focuses on Kyokushin, but his style combines aspects of many different art forms.

On top of his martial arts background, he is an all-around very underrated, under promoted and overlooked actor. White has a natural presence on screen, and nearly all of his performances are memorable. The key ingredient is the diversity of his roles. Whether he plays a gangster, street fighter, framed convict, womanizer, husband struggling with his marriage or an ex-CIA agent (in the upcoming Blaxploitation feature, "Black Dynamite"), White embodies the role. Even at the age of 41, Michael Jai White is still a fresh face.

And if you disagree with him, White will probably show you some of his techniques first-hand, sucka.