Ho-Sung Pak
Born
Ho-Sung Pak

(1967-11-06) November 6, 1967
Occupation(s)Actor
Martial Artist
Stuntman
Action choreographer
Writer
Producer
Years active1991–present
Korean name
Hangul
Revised RomanizationBak Hoseong
McCune–ReischauerPak Hosǒng

Ho-Sung Pak (born November 6, 1967) is a Korean-American film actor, stunt performer, martial artist, action choreographer, game character, writer, and producer.

Life and career

Pak, a Korean American, was born in Chicago, Illinois.[1] He played lead character Liu Kang in the first Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II, as well as the original elderly version of Shang Tsung in the first game. He was a stunt coordinator for the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze as well as a stunt double for Raphael; he later reprised his role of stunt double in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

Pak, along with other actors from the first two Mortal Kombat games, refused to appear in Mortal Kombat 3 due to a royalty dispute with developer Midway over the use of their likenesses across various console versions of the first two games, resulting in the casting of new actors for some of the returning characters. In 1995, Pak and fellow Mortal Kombat actors Daniel Pesina, Katalin Zamiar, and Phillip Ahn lent their likenesses to a fighting game produced exclusively for the Atari Jaguar titled Thea Realm Fighters, but it was cancelled after Atari discontinued the failed system later that year.

In 2002, he played the leading role in the martial arts movie Book of Swords. In it he portrayed Lang, an Asian cop who after witnessing the death of his brother during a drug bust gone wrong, leaves town only to come back three years later for revenge. The movie also starred MK actors Daniel Pesina, Katalin Zamiar and Richard Divizio. In a nod to his Mortal Kombat alter ego Liu Kang, Pak is shown wearing a red headband during the final part of the movie, while the other three actors are also seen in similar MK clothing/roles throughout the movie.

In 2004 Pak starred in the martial film Lesser of Three Evils, directed by Wayne A. Kennedy, also starring Roger Guenveur Smith, Peter Greene, Rosa Blasi and Sherilyn Fenn. The film was produced by Ho-Sung Pak, Wayne A. Kennedy and Matthew Chausse who created together the film company GenOne.[2] It was released in 2009 under the title Fist of the Warrior.[3]

In the 1995-1997 TV show WMAC Masters, his ki-symbol was "Superstar", which is a translation of his given Korean name.[4] The show featured his older brother, Ho Young Pak ("Star Warrior"), as well as fellow Mortal Kombat actors Chris Casamassa ("Red Dragon") and Hakim Alston ("The Machine").

Filmography

Year Film/television Role Notes
1991 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze Raphael Stunt double / Stunt coordinator
1992 Mortal Kombat Liu Kang / Shang Tsung Video game
1993 Mortal Kombat II Liu Kang Video game
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III Raphael Stunt double
1994 The Legend of Drunken Master Henry Alt. title: Jui kuen II, Drunken Fist II
Common Enemy Short / unreleased
1995 Thea Realm Fighters Prince Pak / fight consultant (game / unreleased)
1995-96 WMAC Masters Superstar / Himself / Stunts
1999 Angel Stunts
2000 Epoch of Lotus Mortis / Action choreographer Short
2001 Madonna: Drowned World Tour 2001 Choreographer Documentary
Alias Stunts
2003 Batman: Dark Tomorrow Motion capture team Video game
2004 Fight Club - video game Action choreographer
Torque Stunts
2005 Entourage Stunt gangster episode: Chinatown
BloodRayne Kagan Vampire Guard #4
Alone in the Dark Agent Marko
2006 Dead and Deader Superstar Merc / Stunt coordinator
18 Fingers of Death! Young Buford
2007 Fist of the Warrior Lee Choe / Fight choreographer / Writer / Producer / Editor Alt. title: Blood Money / Lesser of Three Evils / Manhattan Samoerai
Book of Swords Lang / Fight choreographer / Writer / Producer
2008 I Am Somebody: No Chance in Hell Pong Alt. title: Chinaman's Chance
2010 The Last Airbender Stunt fighter
Game of Death Agent #2 / Big mental
2011 Chicago Code Stunts
Femme Fatales Superstar Assassin / The Ghost / Fight choreographer 6 episodes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon Stunts
A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas Stunt double: John Cho
2012 Vamps Stunts
Love and Honor Stunts Alt. title: AWOL
Jinn Stunts
Red Dawn Stunt soldier
The Citizen Motel worker
Legend of the Red Reaper Special thanks
You Can't Kill Stephen King Special thanks
2013 BodyWeapon: The Black Ryu (in production)
2022 Bullet Train Stunt
Dawn of the Predator Jason in production

References

  1. "모탈컴뱃: 그리고 류캉, 박호성의 이야기 [Mortal Kombat: And, the story of 'Liu Kang' Pak Sung-ho]", I Love Character, March 2009, archived from the original on March 4, 2016, retrieved September 26, 2011
  2. GenOne Films Archived 2009-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Lionsgate Publicity: February 2009 Archived 2011-07-13 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Mortal Kombat II - Behind the Scenes". Video Games: 46. April 1994.
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