7) Gary Daniels
This action export from the UK started out on the scene in the late 80s, so he could really be classed as a veteran, but he has yet to have his ‘big break.’ Gary had a professional fighting career both locally and internationally before he made the jump into acting and over the years, he’s had a long string of appearances in low budget DTV films and made enough of an impact to become a fan favourite.
With decent acting chops, an arsenal of awesome techniques, and facing off against other martial arts favourites such as Jackie Chan, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Darren Shahlavi, he was set to become martial arts cinema’s next big thing. Somehow, he never really catapulted far past the DTV market until most recently, when he landed a supporting role in Sylvester Stallone’s action ensemble The Expendables, where he had the opportunity to be double-teamed by Jet Li and Jason Statham.
He also starred opposite Wesley Snipes that same year in Game Of Death (no relation to Bruce Lee’s unfinished classic), and although that was also a DTV film, he proved to be a very effective villain and had a surprisingly decent showdown with Snipes.
I’ve been watching Gary for years now, and while he has just turned 50, he evidently still has what it takes to bring it and doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. All he needs is a decent-budgeted film to be able to show everyone what he’s really made of.
