Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris

CountryUnited States United States
GenderMale
BirthdayMar 10, 1940
BiographyCarlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. Born in Oklahoma, Norris first gained fame when he won the Professional Middleweight Karate champion title in 1968, which he held for six consecutive years. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles to teach martial arts, where his students included Steve McQueen, Donny Osmond, and Priscilla Presley. In 1968, Norris made his acting debut in the spy spoof The Wrecking Crew. He had his breakthrough as a leading actor in the action film Good Guys Wear Black (1978).

Norris soon became a popular action movie star, appearing in A Force of One (1979), The Octagon (1980), An Eye for an Eye (1981), Silent Rage (1982), and Lone Wolf McQuade (1983). This led Cannon Films to sign Norris into a multiple film deal, starting with Missing in Action (1984), which launched two sequels in 1985 and 1988. His other films with Cannon included Invasion U.S.A. (1985), The Delta Force (1986), and The Hitman (1995). During the 1980s, Norris was Cannon's leading star. Apart from the Cannon films, Norris made Code of Silence (1985), which received positive reviews and was a commercial success. Top Dog (1995) was Norris's last theatrical release before a shift to television. From 1993 to 2001, Norris played the title role in the CBS television series Walker, Texas Ranger. Until 2006, he continued taking lead roles in action oriented project. His last appearance in a major film release was in The Expendables 2 (2012).

Prior to his acting career, Norris served in the United States Air Force between 1958 and 1962. Many of his films would promote Americanism and Anti-communism. Norris began practising martial arts at the age of 18, which led him to earn a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo, and found his own discipline, the "Chuck Norris System". Friend and fellow martial artist Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in the Hong Kong martial arts film The Way of the Dragon (1972). Norris' film career is credited with popularising the Caucasian action hero with ties to Asian culture, opening the Hollywood doors to names like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal.

Norris is a New York Times bestselling author, having penned books on martial arts, exercise, philosophy, politics, Christianity, Western fiction, and biographies. In 2005, Norris found new fame on the Internet when Chuck Norris facts became an Internet meme documenting humorous, fictional, and often absurd feats of strength and endurance. Although Norris himself did not produce the "facts", he was hired to endorse many products that incorporated Chuck Norris facts in advertising. The phenomenon resulted in six books some of them New York Times bestsellers, two video games, and several appearances on talk shows, such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, in which he read the facts or participated in sketches.

Biography from the Wikipedia article Chuck Norris. Licensed under CC-BY-SA. Full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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