Steven Seagal

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Steven Seagal, 2016

Steven Frederic Seagal ( Russian Стивен Фредерик Сигал , scientific transliteration Stiven Frederik Sigal ; born April 10, 1952 in Lansing , Michigan ) is a film actor , producer , director , musician , police officer and martial artist . He has US , Russian, and Serbian citizenship. Seagal is best known for his roles in martial arts films . He is 7th Dan in Aikidō ( Aikikai Honbu Dōjō ) and Aikidō- Shihan .

Life

Career

Steven Seagal lived in Japan between 1973 and 1988 . There he taught English and practiced Zen , Aikidō , Kendō , Judo and Karate . As the first non-Asian in Japan, he ran a martial arts school in Osaka and taught there. Originally it was his father-in-law's martial arts school.

The 1.95 m tall Seagal reached the sixth dan during his time in Japan . After fifteen years he returned to the United States and opened his own aikidō dojo in the San Fernando Valley , a northern suburb of Los Angeles . In the meantime Seagal already has the seventh dan and the title of Shihan (teacher or master), which is only awarded on an honorary basis in Aikikai .

For around 20 years he has been a volunteer Deputy Sheriff or Reserve Deputy Chief Sheriff in Jefferson Parish ( Louisiana ). As a member of the sheriff's office, he participates in patrols and gives his colleagues shooting lessons. This activity is documented in the reality TV series Steven Seagal: Lawman .

Actor, producer and director

One of his students was Michael Ovitz , a film agent who paved Seagal's path into the film industry by giving him the lead role in Nico . In this film, Seagal plays a police officer who messes with the CIA and uses his own investigative methods. Seagal's subsequent films were Hard to Kill , Approved for Kill and Deadly Revenge - The Brooklyn Massacre , all of which had similar storylines. As early as 1990 Seagal had the idea of ​​producing films himself or participating in productions. For this purpose he founded the production company Steamroller Productions , with which he still produces films to this day. Steven Seagal's fifth film Alert: Red was a commercial hit and is still one of his best-known films today. Alert level followed three years later : Red 2 .

In 1994 Seagal teamed up with Julius R. Nasso to set up another production company through which his directorial debut On Burning Ice and other films were to be produced. But the relationship did not last long, so that Seagal and Nasso separated again after a while. In 1995 he was awarded the Golden Raspberry as worst director for his directorial debut .

In the late 1990s, Seagal was quiet, as his last films Fire Down Below and The Patriot did not have much success at the box office. In 2001 he made a comeback with Exit Wounds - Die Copjäger . Since then he has been making more and more B-movies again , most of which appear directly on DVD ( direct-to-video ). For these he is often active as a screenwriter as well as a producer or executive producer . In 2010, Seagal starred in Robert Rodriguez ' Machete , which was also his first role in a motion picture in nearly ten years.

Kurt Goldstein dubbed Steven Seagal in many films (until 1994) . After Goldstein's death, the voice actors changed frequently. Most striking here is the voice of Ekkehardt Belle .

Music career

Steven Seagal performing as a musician (2007)

In addition to his acting career, Steven Seagal is also trying to gain a foothold in the music business. After releasing a few individual songs, mostly country songs, he presented his first full album, Songs from the Crystal Cave , in 2004 . This album was not released in Germany , but was a success in France . The predominant style of music on this album is kind of a mixture of country and reggae . On October 26, 2005 he presented his new album, which consists mainly of blues. Together with the group Thunderbox , his second album Mojo Priest was released in France . The license for distribution and production is owned by EMI Music France , which released the album in 2006. In the meantime (January 2007) the CD Mojo Priest with a different cover / artwork and an additional title has also been released in Germany . In addition to three blues classics ( Hoochie Coochie Man , Dust my Broom , Red Rooster ) it only contains original compositions by Steven Seagal (guitar and vocals). The backing band consists mainly of musicians from the former Muddy Waters Band .

Commitment to environmental protection

Seagal is committed to environmental protection projects and Native American rights.

He successfully campaigned for the welfare of young elephants in Thailand and for a ban on the export of these animals from Africa to Japan. In 1999 he received an award from the environmental organization PETA for his commitment .

Political commitment

Seagal with Vladimir Putin and Fyodor Jemeljanenko (2012)

In March 2013, the Russian government turned to Seagal, represented by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin , to win him over as a lobbyist for the Russian arms industry. Seagal was supposed to help lift US restrictions banning Russian small arms manufacturers from exporting modern rifles to the US.

Beginning in June 2013 led Seagal delegation of the US Republicans, led by Dana Rohrabacher during a visit to the scene of the hostage-taking in Beslan in 2004. Seagal had offered The terraces deputies also a visit to President Ramzan Kadyrov in the province of Chechnya to accompany, which they rejected because of various human rights violations that Kadyrov is accused of.

Despite the sanctions imposed on Russia by the USA and other western countries in the wake of the Crimean crisis and the conflict in eastern Ukraine , Seagal gave a concert in Sevastopol on August 9, 2014 together with a blues band . In 2018 he was guest of honor when Putin took office for his fourth presidency.

Previously, Seagal - whose grandparents, according to him, come from Vladivostok and St. Petersburg - had agreed to lobby for Russian arms dealers.

Private life

Steven Seagal was born to an Irish mother and an Ashkenazi father. In 1975 he married Miyako Fujitani, with whom he has two children, including the writer Ayako Fujitani (born 1979). From 1984 to 1987 he was married to the American actress Adrienne La Russa (partly overlapping with his first marriage, since the divorce was not finalized until 1986), from 1987 to 1996 with the actress Kelly LeBrock , with whom he was three Has children. He also lived with his and LeBrock's former nanny Arissa Wolf, with whom he has a daughter. Since 2009 he has been married to the Mongolian Erdenetuya Batsukh (mong. Эрдэнэтуяа Батсүх), called Elle. The two have a son.

Seagal is a vegetarian , adherent of Tibetan Buddhism and a practicing Buddhist . He is also an ordained priest of Oomoto and speaks fluent Japanese .

At the beginning of January 2016 Seagal received the Serbian citizenship. This was followed by the citizenship of Russia from President Vladimir Putin in early November 2016 .

Trivia

Steven Seagal was blackmailed by the Italian American mafia in New York in 2002 after filming Exit Wounds . They requested a $ 150,000 share of each of his future film projects. There was ultimately a court hearing in which the mafiosi were sentenced to long prison terms.

In most of his films he uses a Colt M1911 . He has several privately owned copies of this in his weapons collection. In collaboration with the Hawaiian knife maker Ken Onion and Steven Seagal, the knife Kershaw was created in 1680 by Steven Seagal ; he also uses this in some of his films.

In 1997 he was declared the rebirth of Tertön Chungdrag Dorje by the Tibetan Lama Penor Rinpoche and thus bears the title of Tulku . There was also a CBS documentary called The Buddha from another planet: action star Steven Seagal has now been officially anointed an action lama .

criticism

Seagal was criticized in some circles of American and European Aikidōka because of his films because they were in contrast to the pacifist attitude of the martial art Aikidō; in some cases he was accused of having sold the aikidō ethics . This criticism was countered by pointing out that it is typical entertainment films that the usual accordingly Hollywood -Dramaturgie are subject, as known from many karate - and kung fu - action movies knows.

Alleged reports by previous stuntmen who allegedly doubted his abilities as a martial artist after filming with Seagal were denied by the latter. In the meantime, Seagal has also organized courses in Aikido in France, where he demonstrated that his technical ability corresponds to his graduation. The critics of his films also confirm that he not only masters the tough action film techniques, but also the soft technique of recording and walking along with the attacker in Aikidō.

A book called Seagalogy , published in 2008 under a pseudonym, deals with the motifs used in Seagal films. In his productions, the main character he embodies is usually a (former) CIA agent or elite fighter who has to deal with corruption within the authorities or politics. Furthermore, topics are taken up that have a personal meaning for Seagal. This includes environmental protection as well as dealing with foreign cultures such as Buddhism and the American indigenous peoples.

Works

Filmography

as an actor

as a producer

as a director

as a screenwriter

Books

  • 2017: The Way Of The Shadow Wolves: The Deep State And The Hijacking Of America (together with Tom Morrissey), 5th Palace Publishing, ISBN 978-0999497500

Discography

  • Songs From The Crystal Cave - NonSolo Blue's (8345100712) 2004
  • Mojo priest. Hypertension Music, Hamburg 2007

Awards

In 1999 Seagal received the PETA Humanitarian Award.

Golden raspberries

  • Won:
  • Nominated:
    • 1995: Golden Raspberry: Worst leading actor for On Burning Ice
    • 1995: Golden Raspberry: Worst film for On Burning Ice
    • 1997: Golden Raspberry: Worst supporting actor for Lonely Decision
    • 1998: Golden Raspberry: Worst leading actor for Fire Down Below
    • 1998: Golden Raspberry: Worst song for Fire Down Below with Mark Collie
    • 1998: Golden Raspberry: Worst film for Fire Down Below
    • 1998: Golden Raspberry: Worst team for Fire Down Below (Steven Seagal and his guitar)
    • 2003: Golden Raspberry: Worst leading actor for Half Past Dead

Web links

Commons : Steven Seagal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography . Steven Seagal website, accessed November 11, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b Media: Steven Seagal now Serbian citizen . orf.at , January 11, 2016, accessed on November 11, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b Actor Steven Seagal is now Russian . derStandard.at , November 3, 2016, accessed on November 11, 2017.
  4. ↑ Steven Seagal: Letter to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand by Steven Seagal (PDF). February 7, 2003. Archived from the original on December 3, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2019. 
  5. ↑ Emily Lodish: Steven Seagal: International man of mystery . GlobalPost . June 7, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  6. ↑ Russia Asks Hollywood's Seagal for Help With Rifle Exports . RIA Novosti , March 20, 2013, accessed November 11, 2017.
  7. ↑ Will Englund: Russia's foe is America's, say GOP visitors . Washington Post , June 2, 2013, accessed November 11, 2017.
  8. ↑ Steven Seagal gave a concert in the Crimea . T-online.de , August 11, 2014, accessed on November 11, 2017.
  9. ↑ Who came to Putin's inauguration? , Vedomosti, May 7, 2018
  10. ↑ US actor: Action star Steven Seagal fights for Putin . Handelsblatt , August 10, 2014, accessed on November 11, 2017.
  11. ↑ Penor Rinpoche: Statement Regarding the Recognition of Steven Seagal as a Reincarnation of the Treasure Revealer Chungdrag Dorje of Palyul Monastery . palyul.org , 1999, accessed on November 11, 2017.
    Stanley Way: Steven Seagal Speaks. Shambhala Sun (now Lion's Roar) November 1997, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; accessed on November 11, 2017 (English).
  12. ↑ Vern, 2008: Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal. Titan Books , ISBN 1-84576-927-9 )
  13. ^ Keoni Waxman: Contract to Kill. December 9, 2016, accessed January 24, 2017 .
  14. ^ Julian C. Dunn: Paul McCartney's World Exclusive Performance at PETA's Party Of The Century and Humanitarian Awards. In: The Sea of ​​Waking Dreams. September 18, 1999, accessed November 11, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Seagal, Steven
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seagal, Steven Frederic (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-Russian-Serbian actor
DATE OF BIRTH April 10, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Lansing , Michigan , United States