Scott Adkins

Scott Edward Adkins was born in Sutton Coldfield,^[1] a town within Birmingham, into a family of butchers. He first became interested in martial arts at the age of ten, when he visited a local Judo club with his father and older brother.^[3] After being robbed at age 13, his interest in martial arts grew even more. That same year, he began to practice Taekwondo. Since the age of 16, Scott also started to practice Kickboxing with Anthony Jones, eventually becoming a kickboxing instructor for the Professional Karate Association. He ran classes at the Fitness First at Bearwood, Smethwick once a week. He has also gained experience in Ninjutsu, Krav Maga, Karate, Wushu, Aikido, Jujutsu, MMA, Capoeira and Gymnastics.

As a youth, Adkins was inspired by Jackie Chan,^[1] Bruce Lee, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, stating, "I wanted to be an actor first because I grew up idolizing action stars. The first one for me was Bruce Lee, and then there was Stallone and Arnold, and then Van Damme came along in '88 and really inspired me".^[4]

He secured a role in a Hong Kong martial arts film called Dei Seung Chui Keung (2001) (aka Extreme Challenge). He was spotted by Head of the Hong Kong Stuntmen Association and director Stephen Tung and British-born Hong Kong movie expert Bey Logan, and found himself in the East for the first time.^[5][6] He had the opportunity to work with some of Hong Kong cinema's leading action directors including Yuen Woo-ping, Corey Yuen, Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan. Acting roles soon started to come in and he was offered a guest role in the BBC's Doctors (2000) filmed at Birmingham's Pebble Mill. He appeared in a few episodes in BBC's EastEnders (2003) and City Central (1999), and a lead role in Sky One comedy drama Mile High (2003) followed by a regular role in BBC's Holby City (2006) as Bradley Hume, the assistant general manager of Holby General.

Starring roles in feature films soon followed with his portrayal of Talbot in Special Forces (2003) and Yuri Boyka in Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006). It was this film that broke him into the mainstream with his villainous portrayal of the Russian MMA underground fighter Yuri Boyka. After this Scott had guest starring roles in bigger budget films like The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and The Tournament (2009), and played Jean-Claude Van Damme's main adversary in Sony Pictures The Shepherd: Border Patrol (2008). He shared the role of Weapon XI with Ryan ReynoldsinX-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). His first lead role was as Casey Bowman in the American martial arts film Ninja (2009),^[1] a role he reprised in the sequel Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013).

In 2014, Adkins appeared in the role of King Amphitryon in The Legend of Hercules.^[7][8]

In 2012, he was cast to star in Métal Hurlant Chronicles, a television adaptation of the popular French comic book Metal Hurlant.

He has worked in four films with his idol Jean-Claude Van Damme: The Shepherd: Border Patrol (2008), Assassination Games (2011), Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and The Expendables 2 (both in 2012).

Adkins was reunited with action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping in 2019 when he starred alongside Donnie YeninIp Man 4: The Finale as the main antagonist Barton Geddes, a Marine gunnery sergeant.^[9] According to Adkins, Yen personally requested him to star in the film.^[10]

In 2022, he starred in Day Shift with Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco, and appeared in John Wick: Chapter 4 alongside Keanu Reeves in 2023.^[11]

• Official website
• Scott AdkinsatIMDb