Tony Jaa
Panom Yeerum (read: Pa-nom Yee-rum, Thai: พนม ยีรัมย์) (born on February 5, 1976), better known in the West as Tony Jaa and in Thailand as Jaa Panom, is a Thai martial arts actor and choreographer. His films include Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior and Tom-Yum-Goong.
VDO Clip of Tony Jaa moves in his Tom Yum Goong movie
He initially worked as a stuntman, appearing in many of Panna's films. He doubled for Sammo Hung when the martial-arts actor made a commercial for an energy drink that required him to grasp an elephant's tusks and somersault onto the pachyderm's back. He also was in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, as a stunt double for Robin Shou.
Together, Panna and Jaa developed an interest in muay Boran, an ancient style of muay Thai and worked and trained for six years at the art with the intention of developing a film around it. Eventually they were able to put together a short film showing what Jaa could do. One of the people they showed it to was producer-director Prachya Pinkaew, who was duly impressed.
This led to Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (องค์บาก) in 2003, Jaa's break-out role as a leading man. Jaa did all the stunts without mechanical assistance or computer-generated effects and it showcased his style of extreme acrobatics and speedy, dance-like, moves. With the film, he was hailed as Asia's next martial-arts film superstar.
His second major movie was Tom-Yum-Goong (ต้มยำกุ้ง; also the name of a spicy sweet-and-sour soup, Tom yum kung (ต้มยำกุ้ง)). This movie enjoyed even greater success in Thailand and Hong Kong than Ong-Bak when released.
Since the release of Ong-Bak, Jaa has been busy touring the world to promote his films.
Selected filmography
-Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior aka "Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior" (2003)
-The Bodyguard (2004) (as Panom Yeerum)
-Tom-Yum-Goong (2005)
-Ong-Bak 2 (2007) (in development)
-Sword (2007) (in development)
-Hanuman (in development)
Links:
Tony Jaa gallery
(source: Tony Jaa. (2006, June 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:57, June 28, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tony_Jaa&oldid=60779414.)
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Comments
he is not a muay thai fighter....
Posted by: Anonymous | August 7, 2006 05:31 AM
I agree that he is not a Muay Thai fighter on a ring but his works are very related and inspired muay thai community. So, I think it is worth writing about him.
Posted by: Muay Thai Stuff | August 7, 2006 07:53 AM
what he is not a muaythaifighter ofcourse he is.that style i wanna learn muayboran the oldstyle is very cool.
greetings from holland.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 27, 2006 08:21 AM
ofcourse he is a muaythai fighter.muayboran that style i wanna learn the old style.greetings from holland
Posted by: spirit | August 27, 2006 08:22 AM
he definitely a muay thai, i confirm. he live next to my house
Posted by: bekinsonline | September 6, 2006 02:06 PM
he is truley muay thai
Posted by: Anonymous | September 9, 2006 09:40 PM
-Tom-Yum-Goong (2005)
-Ong-Bak 2 (2007) (in development)
i'm confused that ong-bak2 is 'the protector' just being released (although the movie is shorter)??
isn't that the same as tom yum goong, the movie released here in thailand?
Posted by: chang | September 29, 2006 05:12 AM
anyone who doesn't think tony jaa rocks needs to tell it to his face.
btw,
-Tom-Yum-Goong (2005)
-Ong-Bak 2 (2007) (in development)
i'm confused that ong-bak2 is 'the protector' just being released (although the movie is shorter)??
isn't that the same as tom yum goong, the movie released here in thailand?
Posted by: chang | September 29, 2006 05:13 AM
I think 'the protector' is another name of Tom-Yum-Goong. Just like "Warrior King" is the name of Tom-Yum-Goong movie in UK.
Posted by: MTS | September 29, 2006 06:51 AM
I was also heard that Tony Jaa might be in the list of actors in Rush Hours 3
Posted by: MTS | September 29, 2006 07:02 AM
Tony Jaa is a martial arts genius, he inspired me to take up muay thai and i never looked back, cant thank him enough.
Posted by: Sean | January 28, 2007 08:34 PM
You dont have to to fight around the world to be muay thai. He probably learned muay thai but instead of fighting he decided to make movies.
I bet in the ring he would wipe the floor with you guys.
Posted by: Joe | February 14, 2007 09:13 PM
Um yea Tony Jaa is a Muay Thai fighter i like the old style alot better also i wish i could learn it but im in Tae Kwon Do so yea....
Posted by: Greg | April 15, 2007 05:45 PM
vacan la pelicula ong bak por que el actor trabaja bien se ve que sus peliculas los ace con sentimiento
Posted by: jhimy suyon | May 23, 2007 10:49 PM