Ernie Reyes Jr. (born January 15, 1972) is an American actor and

martial artist Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

, known for his acting work in films such as ''

The Last Dragon ''The Last Dragon'' (sometimes listed as Berry Gordy's ''The Last Dragon'') is a 1985 American martial arts comedy film produced by Rupert Hitzig for Berry Gordy and directed by Michael Schultz. The film stars Taimak, Vanity, Julius Carry, ...

'', ''

Red Sonja Red Sonja is a fictional sword and sorcery comic-book superheroine created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics in 1973, partially inspired by Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino. Marvel Comics pub ...

'' (1985), as Donatello's stuntman in ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'', '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze'' (1991), ''

Surf Ninjas ''Surf Ninjas'' is a 1993 American family comedy film involving martial arts, directed by Neal Israel and written by Dan Gordon. The film stars Ernie Reyes Jr., Rob Schneider, Nicolas Cowan and Leslie Nielsen. ''Surf Ninjas'' follows two teenage ...

'' (1993) and ''

The Rundown ''The Rundown'' (known internationally as ''Welcome to the Jungle'') is a 2003 American buddy action comedy film directed by Peter Berg and written by James Vanderbilt and R.J. Stewart. It stars Dwayne Johnson (credited as The Rock), Seann Wil ...

'' (2003). He has also done stunt work in films such as '' Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'', as well as

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

stunts in films such as ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...

'' and ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...

''. His TV work includes season 3 episode 4 ''

Highway to Heaven ''Highway to Heaven'' is an American fantasy drama television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 1984, to August 4, 1989. The series starred Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth in order to help people in need. Victor ...

'' dramas such as the short-lived '' Sidekicks'' (in which he co-starred with Gil Gerard) and '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' and reality TV series such as '' Final Fu''.

Early life

Reyes was born in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, to actor/stuntman Ernie Reyes Sr. and is the grandson of

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

immigrants. He has three brothers and two sisters, one of whom, Lee Reyes, is a boxer and another,

Santino Ramos Santino Ramos is an American artist and martial artist born in California. Martial artist Ramos trained and competed in martial arts in San Jose, California. He began his martial arts training at Ernie Reyes West Coast Tae Kwon Do, which today ...

, is a filmmaker/artist. By the age of six, Reyes had joined his father's group, the "West Coast Demo Team".

Career

Reyes made his film debut at age 13 in the 1985 film ''

''. The same year he shared the screen with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Brigitte Nielsen in ''

''. During this time, he also had his own television series, '' Sidekicks'', a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

of the original Walt Disney one-time special ''The Last Electric Knight'', alongside Gil Gerard presented by

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...

. He also appeared in an episode of the hit television series ''

MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both po ...

'' in 1988. Reyes had starring roles in ''

'', the second

film, ''

The Secret of the Ooze ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze'' is a 1991 American superhero film directed by Michael Pressman and written by Todd W. Langen. The sequel to ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (1990), it is the second installment in the ...

'', as Keno, the pizza delivery boy. He also served as the martial arts stunt double for Donatello in the first ''Ninja Turtles'' film. He later appeared in films such as ''

Rush Hour 2 ''Rush Hour 2'' is a 2001 American buddy action comedy film directed by Brett Ratner and written by Jeff Nathanson, based on the characters created by Ross LaManna. A sequel to ''Rush Hour'', it is the second installment in the ''Rush Hour'' ...

'' playing Zing and in ''

'' alongside WWE wrestler

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the develop ...

. Reyes guest starred in three episodes of the TV series '' Kung Fu: The Legend Continues'' alongside

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; 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 television series ''Kung Fu'', playi ...

. In 2006, Reyes hosted the MTV martial arts reality show '' Final Fu''. Reyes has a professional fight record of 3–0 in Strikeforce which was a large

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

organization but started out as a

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterise ...

and

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, gen ...

organization. Ernie fought Anthony Elkaim the WKA ISKA Champion. Reyes knocked out the champion in the 3rd round. His next two fights would be won by decision, including a unanimous decision over Veasna Thach, which aired on ESPN. Ernie Reyes Jr.'s fight against the champion Anthony Elkaim also aired on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. Reyes has done motion capture stunts for blockbuster films such as ''

'' and ''

''. He also played a cemetery warrior in '' Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' who gets killed by his own poison dart. Reyes guest starred on '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' "The Frozen Lake" playing "Jay Thapa", a Nepalese soldier who is an expert in knife-fighting.

Personal life

In October 31 2007, he and his wife Lisa had a daughter, Lotus Blossom, who appeared in the 2020 film '' We Can Be Heroes''. On January 7, 2013, he and his wife had a second child named Phoenix Reyes. In June 2015, it was reported that Reyes was suffering from

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

and was in need of a transplant. According to his sister, Reyes undergoes dialysis three times per week for four hours each day. His family set up a

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

campaign to help raise $75,000 for his medical expenses. In August 2022, Reyes revealed that the transplant had been successful and that he was healthy.

Filmography

As actor

As stunt performer

Kickboxing record

, - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 2005-10-00 , , Win , , align=left, Ryan Fotheringham , , Strikeforce , , San Jose, California, USA , , Decision , , 5 , , 3:00 , , 3-0 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1999-00-00 , , Win , , align=left, Veasna Thach , , Strikeforce , , San Jose, California, USA , , Decision (unanimous) , , 5 , , 3:00 , , 2-0 , - bgcolor="#CCFFCC" , 1998-00-00 , , Win , , align=left, Anthony Elkaim , , Strikeforce , ,

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, , KO , , 3 , , , , 1-0 , - , colspan=9 , ''Legend'':

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes, Ernie Jr. 1972 births American sportspeople of Filipino descent American male film actors American stunt performers American male television actors Male actors from San Jose, California American male kickboxers Kickboxers from California Welterweight kickboxers American Muay Thai practitioners Living people American male actors of Filipino descent Sportspeople from San Jose, California Action choreographers 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors