3) Michael Jai White
When anyone mentions Michael Jai White to me, I always think to myself, “how is it that it took so long for this guy to be discovered?” Now, some may argue with me that MJW is certainly popular enough and is already widely recognized, I still think he deserves far greater praise and many more higher profile projects.
On this list, he holds up well in terms of experience as he is trained in various martial arts styles such as Shotokan Karate, Wu Shu, Tae Kwon Do, and Tang Soo Do, as well as a few others. He has performed stunt work for many films and finally made it on the map in 1997’s misdirected Spawn. He had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the original Universal Soldier and would then go on to play the main antagonist in its sequel, Universal Soldier: The Return. Another appearance in the Joel Silver-produced ‘comeback’ film for Steven Seagal, Exit Wounds further elevated his action status, but he still just wasn’t where he deserved to be.
Only lately has he started to rise up as a bonafide action star, with impressive work against Scott Adkins in Isaac Florentine’s Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing and the surprisingly enjoyable good Blood And Bone, where he had the opportunity to flex his acting muscles as well as some crushing MMA moves.
With his directorial debut Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown, landing the role of Major Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs on the highly successful mini web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, and a great performance in the hilarious blaxploitation spoof Black Dynamite, time will only tell where this amazingly charismatic and highly skilled actor/martial artist will go.