Tekken Movie (2009): The Cast and Characters

Let’s take a quick and interesting look at the awesome cast of the upcoming Tekken: Live Action Movie:

Jon Foo as Jin Kazama

Who’s this guy? Frankly, I’ve never heard of him until I checked the casting call of Tekken. He’s been in a couple of martial arts movies as a stunt actor including Batman Begins (one of the shadow warriors). Congratulations to this guy for getting a break! If you ask me, I think he’s a bit too young to play the Jin Kazama character. Hmm, we’ll see when this movie comes out *fingers crossed*.

Ian Anthony Dale as Kazuya Mishima

Avatar Gamma of Charmed plays the villainous Kazuya, son of Heihachi and heir of Mishima Zaibatsu. Ian got the looks but I hope he got the moves, too!

Tamlyn Tomita as Jun Kazama

Who doesn’t remember that beautiful face from Karate Kid II? Tamlyn Tomita played Mr. Miyagi’s daughter and Daniel’s object of affection in that long ago movie, and will now play Jun Kazama, the undercover psychic with the purest of hearts.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Heihachi Mishima

My favorite faces in Hollywood since his Mortal Kombat days! Those sharp eyes and raised eyebrows are just few of the things that make this actor sell, wait till you see him in action. I’d say the perfect Heihachi is Cary and none other!

Marian Zapico as Anna Williams

Dashing Latina actress Marian Zapico plays the seductive and mischievous Anna Williams. But can she carry the bazooka as smoothly as this Tekken chick?

Candice Hillebrand as Nina Willams

Combine a kick-ass military fighter and a foxy lady and you get Nina Williams, Anna’s sister and arch rival for their father’s affection, and in everything else! Playing her character is an equally sexy singer-slash-model Candice Hillebrand, who has graced the covers of Maxim more than once.

Holly Marie Combs as Michelle Chang

Holly’s aura exude that of a strong woman with a sense of dignity and belief in herself – perfect for a character like Michelle Chang. Frankly, I never expected they’d include Michelle’s character in the upcoming movie, alongside new characters like Miguel and Christie. Julia’s character was more likely to have been included, but nevertheless it’s Michelle that made it to the character list.

Cung Le as Marshall Law

Nothing would be smarter than casting a real-life undefeated champion for the role of Marshall Law, Tekken’s own “Bruce Lee”. Cung Le has an amazing record of 22 wins and 0 losses in his kickboxing career. And his fit physique makes him a perfect “Law” – with or without a mustache (let’s just do something about those eyebrows…).

Gary Ray Stearns as Yoshimitsu

Gary plays the role of the strange and enigmatic Yoshimitsu. I have high expectations from this guy, although he’s known to be a good stuntman and had participated in movies such as Pirates of the Carribbean, Indiana Jones, and Kill Bill. Yoshimitsu I believe is a god of the Manji clan; I’ve always been amazed by his samurai moves (who isn’t?). And I think it’s great that they included his character in the upcoming Tekken movie. I can’t wait to see the special effects!

Gary Daniels as Bryan Fury

Bryan Fury is Tekken’s version of “Robocop”, but if you ask me I think he’s more of a cross between Rambo and Predator. And yes, he’s always furious. Playing his character is a former Light Heavyweight Kickboxing champion from England, Gary “DangerMan” Daniels, who has an impressive record of 22-4, and has starred in movies alongside Jackie Chan and Steven Seagal.

Chiaki Kuriyama as Ling Xiaoyu

We were first awed by Chiaki when she played the “high-school-girl-slash-killing-machine” character Gogo Yubari in Kill Bil. She will be playing a much older Ling in Tekken, and I can’t wait to see her moves once again!

Lateef Crowder as Eddie Gordo

Lateef and Eddie have three things in common: they’re both Brazilians, they know Capoeira, and they both sport cool dreds.

Kelly Overton as Christie Monteiro

Voted the most graceful of all Tekken characters, Christie Monteiro is sure to sweep you off your feet in the upcoming Tekken movie with her Capoeira moves and by the actress behind her character, the beautiful and talented Kelly Overton.

Luke Goss as Steve Fox

We’ve seen Luke’s fighting prowess in several movie appearances like in Hellboy 2. I’ve no doubts about this guy; having a strong facial resemblance to Steve Fox and a talent in fighting, he’d pull off the role with flying colors.

Darrin Dewitt Henson as Raven

If you think it’s Blade, look closer. Raven isn’t a nocturnal creature out to save human kind, but rather an international intelligence agent with ninjutsu as his second nature. And with world-reknowned choreographer and actor Darrin Dewitt Henson playing his character, we may be able to see this Raven character dance in the upcoming Tekken movie!

Anton Kasabov as Sergei Dragunov

Anton plays the role of a fellow Russian, Sergei Dragunov, whose reputation on the battlefield earned him the title “The White Angel of Death”. If you ask me, Sergei looks like a walking corpse: cold, creepy, and sinister.

Roger Huerta as Miguel Caballero Rojo

The Spanish brawler/bullfighter Miguel is played by none other than El Matador himself, UFC fighter Roger Huerta. Miguel is one of the newer characters of Tekken and it’s quite intriguing why he made it to the character list of the movie. I think it’s a great idea to cast a real Mexican fighter for this role.

I’m a bit disappointed of not finding the other superstar Tekken characters in the movie like Paul Phoenix, Lei Wulong, and (Hwoarang – confirmed to appear in the movie! See update below). But maybe the writers have a pretty good reason why, and it makes me anticipate this movie all the more. And I do hope they make a sequel for this one. I know it’s a bit early to request for such, but I think it’s gonna be great to see all of the Tekken characters come to life in the big screen.

UPDATE: More cast confirmed!

A big thanks to our friends who commented on this post about the film’s additional cast! According to Wikipedia.com, Craig Marduk and Hwoarang will also be in the Tekken film, much to the delight of Tekken fans like me!

Nathan Jones as Craig Marduk

Australia’s reigning strongest man Nathan Jones will be portraying Craig Marduk, the character which many believe to have been inspired by Jones himself.  Both are professional Vale Tudo fighters, are Australians, having the same physical characteristics – from height to weight to the hard bald head, and both served time in prison. A lot of people had been wanting to see Jones play Marduk. Well, this is it guys!

Jae Hee as Hwoarang

Gangster leader and Jin’s arch rival, Hwoarang, will be played by none other than South Korean actor Jae Hee! I’ve seen this guy only in the TV series of Sassy Girl Chun Hyang ,  and it would be great to see him in the big screen kick ass, literally! Although he already starred in movies such as Art of Fighting (2006), an action/drama/comedy film, which showcased his talent for martial arts.

So that’s it, so far! It’s possible that more casts will be added to the film as we speak, and I’m still crossing my fingers for Paul Phoenix and Lei Wulong.

UPDATE! (again…)

Imdb.com confirmed that Lei Wulong ang Paul Phoenix will also be in the movie, played by the king himself, Jackie Chan, and Ron Perlman, respectively. If you ask me, it seemed too good to be true, and I have yet to see a really reliable source to confirm this one. I’m sure many of you also saw that Imdb.com posted James Franco as the actor who would play Hwoarang, then changed it back to Jae Hee (or Hyun-kyoon Lee). Half-Filipino Dave Batista is also mentioned in the updated cast list of Tekken Movie in Imdb.com, and he’s playing King.

The showing date of Tekken movie hasn’t been confirmed yet, we only know it finished shooting last May.  Though some sources say the premier will coincide with the release of Tekken 6 (yeah, the game) probably some time in October this year.  I’ll keep you posted on this one.

Cheers!