Ho Sung Pak
Encyclopedia
Ho-Sung Pak is an American film actor, martial artist, action choreographer, writer, and producer.

Early life and career

Pak, a Korean American
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...

, was born in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. Not only did he play as the main villain of the first Mortal Kombat game, Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung is a boss and player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. A powerful and deadly sorcerer and a primary antagonist in the Mortal Kombat series, Shang Tsung is a shapeshifter who absorbs the souls of those he slays in order to maintain his youth and power...

, but he also played the Mortal Kombat champion Liu Kang
Liu Kang
Liu Kang is a video game character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. First appearing in the series' first title, Liu Kang is portrayed as a Shaolin monk who enters the Mortal Kombat tournament to save his world, Earthrealm, from being destroyed due to having lost nine consecutive...

 for the first game and Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II is a competitive fighting game originally produced by Midway Games for the arcades in . It is the second game in the Mortal Kombat series. Like its predecessor, various home versions were produced...

. He was a stunt coordinator for the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is a 1991 American live-action film, It is the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, being the direct sequel to the 1990 film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Secret of the Ooze was then followed by a third film in 1993, and a fourth...

as well as a stunt double for Raphael
Raphael (TMNT)
Raphael , a fictional character, is one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles .In the Mirage/Image comics all four turtles wear red bandanas over their eyes, but unlike his brothers in other versions, he is the only one who keeps a red bandana...

; he later reprised his role of stunt double in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is a 1993 American live-action film, the second sequel of the 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. It was produced by Clearwater Holdings Ltd. and Golden Harvest. This was the last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film released by New Line Cinema and...

.

In 1995, he and fellow MK actors Daniel Pesina
Daniel Pesina
Daniel Pesina is a martial arts expert and a former employee of Midway. He is most recognized as the actor who played Johnny Cage and ninjas Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Reptile, Smoke, and Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II.Pesina was fired from Midway in 1994 for wearing Cage's costume in...

, Katalin Zamiar
Katalin Zamiar
Katalin Rodriguez-Ogren is an American martial artist, sportswriter and actress.-Biography:...

, and Dr. Phillip Ahn, M.D. all appeared in a fighting game produced exclusively for the Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...

 titled Thea Realm Fighters
Thea Realm Fighters
Thea Realm Fighters was an Atari Jaguar game scheduled for Q3 1995 release. This fighting game by High Voltage Software was one of the Mortal Kombat rip offs developed in response to Mortal Kombat popularity...

, but it was never released after Atari ceased production on the failed system later that year.

In 2003, he played the leading role in the martial arts movie The Book of Swords. In it he portrayed Lang, an Asian cop who after witnessing the death of his brother during a drugbust gone wrong, leaves town only to come back three years later for revenge. The movie also starred MK actors Daniel Pesina, Katalin Zamiar and Richard Divizio
Richard Divizio
Richard Divizio is an American actor best known for his work in the Mortal Kombat video game series...

. In a nod to his Mortal Kombat alter ego Liu Kang, Pak is shown wearing a red headband during the final part of the movie, while the other three actors are also seen in similar MK clothing/roles throughout the movie.

In 2004 Pak starred in the martial film Lesser of Three Evils, directed by Wayne A. Kennedy, also starring Roger Guenveur Smith
Roger Guenveur Smith
Roger Guenveur Smith is an American actor, director, and writer.-Early life:Smith was born in Berkeley, California, the son of Helen Guenveur, a dentist, and Sherman Smith, a judge...

, Peter Greene
Peter Greene
Peter Greene is an American character actor.A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Greene did not pursue a career in acting until his mid 20s...

, Rosa Blasi
Rosa Blasi
Rosa Blasi is an American actress.-Early life:Blasi was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Rocco and Joyce Blasi. Blasi is classically trained as a mezzo soprano. She also comes from a strong theatre background; ranging from the esteemed Piven Performance Company, as well as The Second City, to...

  and Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn is an American actress and filmmaker. She came to international attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the 1990 cult TV series Twin Peaks...

. The film was produced by Ho-Sung Pak, Wayne A. Kennedy and Matthew Chausse who created together the film company GenOne. It was released in 2009 under the title Fist of the Warrior
Fist of the Warrior
Fist of the Warrior, formerly known as Lesser of Three Evils, is a martial arts/crime film directed by Wayne A. Kennedy in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Ho-Sung Pak, Peter Greene, Roger Guenveur Smith and Sherilyn Fenn, and features fight choreography by Ho-Sung Pak and Wayne A....

.

During the 1995-1997 show WMAC Masters
WMAC Masters
WMAC Masters is an American live-action television show produced by Norman Grossfeld featuring choreographed martial arts fights. It was created and licensed by 4Kids Entertainment....

, his ki-symbol was "Superstar", which is a translation of his given Korean name. His older brother, Ho Young Pak ("Star Warrior"), as well as fellow Mortal Kombat actors Chris Casamassa
Chris Casamassa
Chris Casamassa is an American martial artist of Italian origin , actor and stuntman who is best known for his role as Scorpion in the movie Mortal Kombat, which was based on the popular fighting-game series...

 ("Red Dragon"), Hakim Alston (Machine) and Richard Branden (Yin Yang Man) also appeared on the show.

External links

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