Ray Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ray Park
Park speaking at Star Wars Weekends 2011 at Walt Disney World
Born	Raymond Park (1974-08-23) 23 August 1974 (age 50) Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation	Actor, martial artist, stuntman
Years active	1997–present
Spouse(s)	Lisa Park
Children	2

Raymond "Ray" Park is a British actor, martial artist, and stuntman. He was born on August 23, 1974. He is famous for playing characters who use amazing physical skills.

Ray Park is best known for his roles as Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Solo: A Star Wars Story. He also used motion capture to play Maul in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Other well-known roles include Toad in X-Men and Snake Eyes in the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra movies. He also appeared as Edgar in the TV show Heroes.

Early life and martial arts

Ray Park was born in Glasgow, Scotland. When he was seven years old, his family moved to London, England.

His father, who was a big fan of Bruce Lee, introduced him to martial arts. Ray started training at age seven. He first learned Hapkido, then traditional Shaolin Kung Fu styles like Nam Pai Chuan. He also studied modern wushu.

When he was 15, Park traveled to Malaysia to improve his martial arts skills. From 1991 to 1996, he was part of the British national wushu team. He competed in martial arts tournaments around the world, including the World Wushu Championships. After this, he decided to focus on acting in the late 1990s.

Career highlights

Ray Park started his film career as a stunt double. This means he performed dangerous scenes for other actors. He worked on the film Mortal Kombat Annihilation, doing stunts for actors like Robin Shou. He also made small appearances, called cameos, as monsters in the movie. These were all roles without speaking lines.

In 1999, Park appeared in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. He played the villainous Sith Lord Darth Maul. Even though his character had only a few lines, another actor, Peter Serafinowicz, provided Maul's voice. Because of his work on Star Wars, Park had a small role in the movie Fanboys. He played a security guard who makes a fun reference to his Darth Maul character.

Ray Park with actor Vincent Pastore at the 2013 Wizard World New York Experience

Ray Park also worked as a fight stunt double for actor Christopher Walken in the movie Sleepy Hollow. He performed in the scene where Walken's character, the Headless Horseman, attacks several people.

His first role with actual speaking lines was as Toad in the 2000 film X-Men.

In December 2007, Ray Park was chosen to play Snake Eyes. This character is a silent ninja commando in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

He also appeared as Edgar in the fourth season of the TV series Heroes. In 2008, he was part of the motion capture team for the James Bond video game.

In 2011, Park was a guest star in the TV series Nikita. He played a character named Brendan. He returned to play Darth Maul in the 2018 movie Solo: A Star Wars Story. Again, Sam Witwer provided the voice for Maul.

In 2019, it was announced that Ray Park used motion capture to play Maul again. This was for the seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Sam Witwer once more provided the voice.

In 2022, there were reports that Ray Park was going to play Maul in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, the character's appearance was later removed from the show.

Filmography

Film

Television

See also

In Spanish: Ray Park para niños