justice808
Banned
My friend just e-mailed this to me.courtesy of the Sunday News
In it for the kicks.
Movie role set to turn Samoan kickboxing star Ray Sefo into a Hollywood action heavyweight.
Multi world kickboxing champion Ray Sefo made his acting debut as an angelic seven-year-old in a play at his west Auckland church. This week he picks up a script to star with Steven Seagal to star in Hollywood blockbuster, 'The Yakuza'. And producers say the role could launch him into a $20 million-a-year movie career.
"Steven is the lead, and I'm supposed to be playing his right-hand man," Ray told Sunday News from his Tokyo apartment.
"We're looking at September for shooting. It will be shot in Japan and Mongolia."
'The Yakuza' is a remake of the 1975 classic in which screen legend Robert Mitchum rescues his best friend's kidnapped daughter from the Japanese mafia.
The handsome Sefo was an ideal choice as action-movie star Seagal's sidekick. A holder of five world kickboxing titles, he is a cult hero in Japan for his appearances on the popular K-1 martial arts circuit. Often mobbed by fans, the man they call 'Sugarfoot' is a star of three Playstation and Playstation 2 games and has a kickboxing action doll made of him.
The former 'Shortland Street' soap bit-actor expects to kick on from 'The Yakuza' and star in several more big-budget films with Seagal.
"The Yakuza's a one-off but then there's two or three other movies they're already looking at," Ray said.
Hollywood producers have told him he could make $20 million a year in appearance fees and merchandising contracts - making him New Zealand's richest sports star. It's a far cry from being on the stage of Avondale's Assembly of God church.
"I did alot of church plays when I was a kid. I enjoyed doing that, then suddenly I was in the modelling scene and I never thought I'd ever do that. Then I was in front of the camera doing a cameo on Shortland Street as a swimming teacher."
While Ray was starting to get exposure on the Kiwi TV soap, he was also making waves in the kickboxing world - claiming world titlesin divisions from light-heavyweight to super-heavyweight. But butt kicking wasn't paying the bills. In 1996 he made just $20,000 and wanted to call it quits.
"I had four world titles and basically wasn't making any money, so I was going to retire. The hard training and what it took to be in the ring wasn't worth it financially. I looked at myself and thought, where am I going to be in five years' time? Then I got offered a job to teach kickboxing in the United States and decided to take it. Three weeks before I left, K-1 called. That's how it started."
Ray, 32, who made $10 million from Japanese television commericals and K-1 earnings in the past year, has homes in Tokyo, Los Angeles and the exclusive Auckland suburb of Te Atatu Peninsula. A possible $20 million-a-year career as a Hollywood action-movie star would propel him to the top of New Zealand's top sporting rich list.
"When I first started martial arts, money wasn't the issue, but it became my job" Ray said.
"I understand the amount of money we're talking about. But I still lead a normal life. To me it's just a figure."
When he was growing up as a kid in the inner-Auckland suburb of Kingsland, Ray wanted to be a cop. He came from a family of boxers and fell into martial arts. Since moving to America, his profile had risen so high he has dined with the Hollywood legend Dustin Hoffman, modelled for a Versace Hollywood show, attended Playboy boss Hugh Hefner's birthday bash and partied with movie tough guy Vin Diesel.
"I have another producer who I met in Los Angeles. He has quite a few scripts in mind with actor Michael J White, who was one of the main bad guys in Universal Soldier with Jean Claude van Damme," Ray said.
"I've already been offered two films in Japan from another company.
"And I was introduced to a couple of Japanese guys who starred in The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise. I have a meeting with them.
"So there are alot of things getting thrown at me at the moment.
"It's a dream coming true and it's exciting."
In it for the kicks.
Movie role set to turn Samoan kickboxing star Ray Sefo into a Hollywood action heavyweight.
Multi world kickboxing champion Ray Sefo made his acting debut as an angelic seven-year-old in a play at his west Auckland church. This week he picks up a script to star with Steven Seagal to star in Hollywood blockbuster, 'The Yakuza'. And producers say the role could launch him into a $20 million-a-year movie career.
"Steven is the lead, and I'm supposed to be playing his right-hand man," Ray told Sunday News from his Tokyo apartment.
"We're looking at September for shooting. It will be shot in Japan and Mongolia."
'The Yakuza' is a remake of the 1975 classic in which screen legend Robert Mitchum rescues his best friend's kidnapped daughter from the Japanese mafia.
The handsome Sefo was an ideal choice as action-movie star Seagal's sidekick. A holder of five world kickboxing titles, he is a cult hero in Japan for his appearances on the popular K-1 martial arts circuit. Often mobbed by fans, the man they call 'Sugarfoot' is a star of three Playstation and Playstation 2 games and has a kickboxing action doll made of him.
The former 'Shortland Street' soap bit-actor expects to kick on from 'The Yakuza' and star in several more big-budget films with Seagal.
"The Yakuza's a one-off but then there's two or three other movies they're already looking at," Ray said.
Hollywood producers have told him he could make $20 million a year in appearance fees and merchandising contracts - making him New Zealand's richest sports star. It's a far cry from being on the stage of Avondale's Assembly of God church.
"I did alot of church plays when I was a kid. I enjoyed doing that, then suddenly I was in the modelling scene and I never thought I'd ever do that. Then I was in front of the camera doing a cameo on Shortland Street as a swimming teacher."
While Ray was starting to get exposure on the Kiwi TV soap, he was also making waves in the kickboxing world - claiming world titlesin divisions from light-heavyweight to super-heavyweight. But butt kicking wasn't paying the bills. In 1996 he made just $20,000 and wanted to call it quits.
"I had four world titles and basically wasn't making any money, so I was going to retire. The hard training and what it took to be in the ring wasn't worth it financially. I looked at myself and thought, where am I going to be in five years' time? Then I got offered a job to teach kickboxing in the United States and decided to take it. Three weeks before I left, K-1 called. That's how it started."
Ray, 32, who made $10 million from Japanese television commericals and K-1 earnings in the past year, has homes in Tokyo, Los Angeles and the exclusive Auckland suburb of Te Atatu Peninsula. A possible $20 million-a-year career as a Hollywood action-movie star would propel him to the top of New Zealand's top sporting rich list.
"When I first started martial arts, money wasn't the issue, but it became my job" Ray said.
"I understand the amount of money we're talking about. But I still lead a normal life. To me it's just a figure."
When he was growing up as a kid in the inner-Auckland suburb of Kingsland, Ray wanted to be a cop. He came from a family of boxers and fell into martial arts. Since moving to America, his profile had risen so high he has dined with the Hollywood legend Dustin Hoffman, modelled for a Versace Hollywood show, attended Playboy boss Hugh Hefner's birthday bash and partied with movie tough guy Vin Diesel.
"I have another producer who I met in Los Angeles. He has quite a few scripts in mind with actor Michael J White, who was one of the main bad guys in Universal Soldier with Jean Claude van Damme," Ray said.
"I've already been offered two films in Japan from another company.
"And I was introduced to a couple of Japanese guys who starred in The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise. I have a meeting with them.
"So there are alot of things getting thrown at me at the moment.
"It's a dream coming true and it's exciting."
