| Jeff Speakman | |
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 Speakman in Moscow, 2008 |
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| Born | November 8, 1958
Chicago, Illinois |
| Occupation | Actor Martial artist in Kenpo & Goju-ryu |
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Website http://www.jeffspeakman.com |
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Jeff Speakman (born November 8, 1958) is an American actor and an accomplished martial artist in the art of kenpo.
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Speakman was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was a springboard diver in high school and achieved All-American status. He broke several records and never had a coach. His determination, self discipline and focus was established at an early age. His grades while at John Hersey High School did not allow him a scholarship, so he had to work for his tuition to get into college. He graduated from Missouri Southern State College with a degree in psychology and a minor in biology six years after graduating high school.
He has said that the television show Kung Fu got him interested in martial arts, and spent years training in American Kenpo under his principal instructor, Larry Tatum, as well as under Ed Parker, the founder of the system. He received his 1st degree black belt in American Kenpo in 1984. He has subsequently obtained a seventh-degree rank in kenpo with other instructors, and also currently holds a 7th-degree black belt in the Goju-Ryu Karate style which he began to study under Grandmaster Lou Angel starting in 1978.
He started acting in 1988 and became an action movie star in 1991 with the release of The Perfect Weapon, which still features the best-known application of kenpo techniques and principles in popular film. He followed this up with the equally successful feature film Street Knight in 1993. Other successful action films followed, ( see filmography below ).
He holds successful training camps every year(Jeff Speakman International Kenpo Camp) for American kenpo and still acts in movies today. He was inducted into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 1994.[1] He was recognized for excellence in Martial Arts and was inducted into the Masters Hall of Fame in 2009 where he received the Silver Life Achievement Award. He has created American Kenpo 5.0 which is the hybrid of the last generation version of American Kenpo taught directly from Senior Grand Master Ed Parker to Jeff Speakman. Kenpo 5.0 includes ground fighting which creates Kenpo answers to defending against an opponent with these skills in the street.It is modifying the existing 4.0 system while remaining completely within combat models and thinking of American Kenpo to address this increasing and prevalent void in the Kenpo world.
   | Jeff Speakman website - Jeff Speakman's Kenpo Karate |
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