Whatever happened to James Ryan? Apparently, the mini biography has James Ryan confused with another James Ryan. I saw a dust jacket of the book, Screenwriting From the Heart, and the picture of the author isn't James Ryan the martial artist.
I know most of Ryan's career was in South African action films, Redemption: Kickboxer 5 for example.
Wonder what happend to him? Does he know of his fan base?, etc
[deleted]
As far as I am aware he still is active in the film/t.v / video world, albeit on a smaller scale.
Yes they certainly do seem to have cofused two entirely different James Ryans here on the imdb. Hope someone rectifies this error soon.
He's working as a screenwriter and teaching playwriting at the New School and Rutgers University (I know this because he's my teacher right now)
shareThe James Ryan at Rutgers isn't the same guy from Kill and Kill Again. The internet is wrong on that one.
Here is the site for the South African James Ryan's managers.
You can tell from the picture that it is the same guy:
http://www.ltdedition.co.za/actor-56
If you go to this site: http://tinyurl.com/ykjl9u8
You will find a photo of the James Ryan who is teaching at Rutgers. Not the same guy at all!
To the best of my knowledge, James Ryan ISN'T a martial artist. When "Kill or Be Killed" was released and Ryan was riding high, a mini profile of the man appeared in Parade magazine. According to this piece, Ryan was an actor who was "taught a few martial arts moves" in preparation for his appearance in action films. In other words, he wasn't an authentic master of the martial arts........
Jonathan Becker
That really doesn't seem to be the case. While he isn't the most accomplished martial artist on the planet, his movements seem to indicate far more background than David Carradine in "Kung Fu" or Ralph Machio in "Karate Kid." Additionally the involvement of people like Stan Schmidt would almost require genuine martial artists in the film, especially in the lead role.
If Ryan did in fact learn on the job, he would be one of the most impressive quick studies I've ever seen.
No, it's true. He had no formal martial arts training before this movie.
sharethanks for backing me up. if ryan was as good as some people said he was, then he may very well have been one of the greatest "naturals" in the history of the martial arts. it's a shame that he didn't go on to have a more successful movie career. it's as if he was set up to be the next bruce lee (or at least the next chuck norris), but he never lived up to his initial promise as an action film hero.
Jonathan Becker