8) Lateef Crowder Dos Santos
One of the pleasures of watching a martial arts movie is gawking in an awe-inspired manner at the intricate choreography and acrobatics that are transpiring before your very eyes. One martial arts style that is particularly beautiful to look at is the Brazilian style of Capoeira, a half dance/half self defense system that is incredibly graceful and complex, and no one has delivered this style on the screen so convincingly and effectively as Lateef Crowder Dos Santos, one of the few human beings out there who could actually win a fight while standing on one hand.
Lateef started out as a member of the ZeroGravity Stunt Team before breaking out with his first feature appearance opposite Tony Jaa in 2005’s Tom Yum Goong (aka The Protector). His fight scene against Jaa is considered to be one of the highlights of the film, and he has since appeared in many low budget martial arts centered flicks such as the MMA ensemble Never Surrender (2009), the film adaptation of Tekken (2010), and opposite Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror in Undisputed 3: Redemption.
When you watch him in action, it is very hard to believe he performs his moves without any wires or stunt doubles. Santos truly looks like he is obliterating the laws of physics and defying gravity.
He doesn’t appear all that much in front of the camera but he has performed stunts for major films like The Book Of Eli, The Expendables, Sucker Punch and the upcoming sequel 300: Rise Of An Empire. He seriously needs his own movie though, and a big one too, because a man of his talent is just too unique to allow to go to waste. Not that it is going to waste doing what he’s doing, I just think he deserves something far bigger that thrusts him onto center stage.