Ernie Reyes Jr.

[AlbertV]

We've seen Ernie Reyes Jr. go from child martial arts wunderkind to adult martial arts actor and stuntman. Over the years, the taekwondo stylist has been in many projects. They include Red Sonja (1984) as the mischievous Prince Tarn; The Last Dragon as Tai Yu, Johnny's younger and more agile brother; and putting on the Donatello suit for the fight scenes in the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action franchise before taking one of the lead human roles in pizza delivery boy Keno in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze with Donatello's fight double now being Steven Ho. 

Born on January 15, 1972 in San Jose, California, Reyes Jr. is the son of American taekwondo champion and later fellow actor and stuntman Ernie Reyes. Starting early in Taekwondo, Reyes Jr. was competing in adult divisions by the time he was only 8 and at the age of 6, had joined his dad's West Coast Demo Team. In 1986, Disney/ABC gave Reyes Jr. his first lead role in a made-for-TV movie, The Last Electric Knight. The TV-movie had some pretty good ratings and it was decided that the film would be spun-off as a TV series, entitled Sidekicks, which sees Reyes' Ernie, the last of a mythical group of martial arts warriors, helping his now adoptive father, a detective, on many cases. The series ran only one season with 23 episodes. He even appears in an ABC network promo video (see video below at the 2:02 mark).

Reyes also would take the lead in another made-for-TV project, Secret Bodyguard, in 1993. That same year, he took the lead in New Line Cinema's martial arts action-comedy Surf Ninjas, which we see Reyes Jr. fight alongside his dad against the evil Colonel Chi, played hilariously by Leslie Nielsen. In 1998, Reyes Jr. made his directorial debut with The Process, which was later re-titled The Ultimate Fight. In 2001, Reyes Jr. had a cameo appearance in Rush Hour 2 and two years later, he can be seen kicking Dwayne Johnson's tail in the jungle in the most memorable fight scene from The Rundown, which was choreographed by former Jackie Chan Stunt Team member Andy Cheng.

Aside from martial arts tournaments and the film industry, Reyes Jr. was a Muay Thai fighter for Strikeforce pre-full MMA. Reyes went 3-0. However, in 2015, tragedy almost struck the martial arts prodigy.

Diagnosed with kidney failure, Reyes Jr. was in need of a transplant. The family set up a GoFundMe and raised over $75,000. Still in high spirits as he waits for a donor, Reyes undergoes dialysis a few days a week and still continues his martial arts training to this day. He was recently seen in Sean Stone and Alex Wraith's action-comedy Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece. 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2021 by AlbertV