I first heard of Tony Jaa when my friend highly recommended a new Martial Arts film called Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. He brought it over for me to watch and I was completely amazed. The movie was awesome and the action didn't stop for a second. Jaa did all of his own stunts and they were right up there with the likes of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. 

Tony Jaa was born on February 5, 1976 in Issan, Thailand. His real name is Tatchakorn Yeerum. But, in the U.S. he is known as Tony Jaa. As a kid he watched films by Martial Arts stars like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Jaa would often practice the stunts he saw in movies until he had perfected them. Tony's family farmed and raised elephants. Supposedly he jumps so high because he always practiced jumping onto the elephants. When he was 15 he went to Maha Sarakham College of Physical Education. Jaa got work as a stunt man for Panna Rittikrai who was a well know action film director in the area. Jaa was a stunt double for Robin Shou who played Liu Khang in the Mortal Kombat Annihilation movie.

Jaa began practicing Muay Boran which was a ancient style of Muay Thai. Together with Panna they put together a short video demonstrating what Jaa had learned. The video impressed Prachya Pinkaew (a local director and famous stuntman) who eventually created a movie starring Jaa called Ong-Bak. The film was based on his ancient form of Muay Thai that he learned. Ong Bak is about a simple village who's sacred statue is stolen. Jaa is the one sent to find it and bring it back. 

Ong-Bak is about a remote village in Thailand who's Buddha statue is stolen and the village begins to have bad luck. A drought comes and their crops begin to die. The villagers gather up the little money they have and gives it to their best fighter and athlete Ting, played by Tony Jaa. Ting travels to the city to find and return statue. Jaa's incredible chase and fight scene's showed off his incredible athletic talent. Everything was done without any special effects or wires. I was very impressed with Tony's ability to jump on to people's heads and then run across them in a crowd. Oh and his fight scenes were pretty good too. The film made Jaa into an international star.

The Protector is Tony Jaa's second film as the lead character. In this film Jaa plays Kham. Kham raises elephants and lives in the jungle with his father. His father teaches Kham an ancient style of Muay Thai called Muay Boran that was used by the king's protectors. in ancient times the king would sit on the top of the greatest elephant in the land when he went into battle. Kham is in the modern world but, the king still wants an elephant since they are regarded so highly in their culture. Kham's father believed their elephant could have the honor of being chosen by the king. But, the elephant is stolen and Kham uses his amazing fighting skills to find him. The film isn't going to win an academy award but, for an action flick it is amazing.

Ong-Bak 2 was already released on DVD in Asia, South America and Europe in December of 2008. Yet here in the U.S. I am still waiting for a theatrical release. Currently the expected date is October 23rd. It is a prequel set in ancient times in Thailand. This one is even directed by Tony Jaa. From what I can tell it seems like his village is wiped out and he trains to fight better to get revenge. The fight scenes look awesome and I'm excited to see what he can do with a much larger budget.