Iko Uwais
Early life
Born in Jakarta, Indonesiaon February 12, 1983, Uwais Qorny (nickname: Iko) is of the Betawi (native Jakartan) descent. He has been learning Indonesian traditional martial art,
Pencak Silat, since he was 10 years old at his uncle's
Silat
school, Tiga Berantai, which uses the distinctive Betawi style of
Silat. In 2003, Iko won third place at the Jakarta Provincial
Tournament. In 2005, he won first place at the National Silat
Championship as the best performer in the demonstration category.
Apart from Silat, his main interest was soccer. Once a midfielder in
an Indonesian B-League soccer club, Iko has stopped his dream of
becoming a
soccer
star after his club went bankrupt. Meanwhile his Silat skill has given
him chances to travel abroad in several Silat exhibitions in the
United Kingdom,
Russia,
Laos,
Cambodia and
France.
He is named after Muslim mystic
Uwais Qarni, founder of
Uwaisi tradition.
Career
In 2007, Iko's talent was discovered by
Welsh movie director,
Gareth Evans
who was filming a documentary about Silat in Iko's Silat school. Iko's
natural charisma and great camera presence encouraged Evans to cast him
as the leading role for his first martial art movie,
Merantau.
After signing a five year contract with Gareth Evans and his production
company, Iko resigned from his daytime job as a driver in a telcom
company.
In his first acting experience in
Merantau, Iko played a role
of a young Minang (West-Sumateran) male, led him to learn the Minang
style Silat Harimau (Sumateran-tiger style) from Silat Master, Edwel
Datuk Rajo Gampo Alam.
Merantau was released in Indonesia on August 6, 2009. The film was featured in
Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in
South Korea and
South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in
Austin, Texas with highly positive reviews.
Merantau won the Best Film award at
ActionFest 2010.
Risingsuntokusatsu.com movie reviewer Inui Takumi said of Iko's
performance in Merantau: "... he brings a bit of innocent charm that
adds a lot to his performance. Apparently the director, Gareth Evans,
was drawn to this quality as well as his enthusiasm when he encountered
Iko years before while shooting a documentary on the art of Silat. He
says that he saw a star quality in him and immediately worked to get him
working on his first film. Granted, he may not have done too much as
far as intense acting in this movie, but he shows sparks of something
more in his talent that once honed, I think his talent and personality
could definitely raise him to martial arts legend status."
Iko's second collaboration with Gareth Evans is a film called
Serbuan maut (known as
The Raid: Redemption
internationally), which began filming in mid-March 2011 and set to be
released on March 22, 2012 in Australia and New Zealand, March 23, 2012
in Indonesia and North America and May 18, 2012 in the UK. The movie has been hailed by critics and audiences in various festivals as one of the best martial art movies in years. Iko also served as the co-fight choreographer of the movie along with fellow actor/martial artist Yayan Ruhian.
Iko has a third movie planned with Gareth, tentatively titled as "
Berandal" (Thugs in Indonesian), a sequel to
The Raid, which will begin filming at the end of 2012. And will be released 2014.
