Chris Casamassa

Chris Casamassa (born January 17, 1965) is an American martial artist of Italian descent, 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. He was unavailable for the second movie, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, due to scheduling conflicts with Batman & Robin (where he doubled for George Clooney), but he was able to return as Scorpion in the TV show, Mortal Kombat: Konquest. He is the son of martial arts guru and Red Dragon Karate founder Louis D. Casamassa. They appeared together in the film 'Sword of Heaven' in 1985.

Karate

Casamassa is also the President of the successful Red Dragon Karate Schools, which were founded by his father. As a national competitor on the North American Karate Association circuit (N.A.S.K.A) Casamassa was the #1 forms competitor in the country for four consecutive years.

Biography

Chris started his martial arts training in 1969 at the age of 4 and has been actively seeking knowledge ever since. He made his first degree Black belt at the age of 10, and recently reached a milestone at the end of 2004 when he was awarded his 8th degree Black Belt in Red Dragon Karate, He also has earned his 3rd degree Black belt in Shōrin-ryū under long time mentor and friend Steve Fisher.

Chris’ professional tournament career started in 1982 and when he retired from professional competition in 1992 he had amassed a very impressive string of titles: He was a 4 time national open forms champion, along with 2 national weapons titles, and a top 5 rated middleweight fighter.

Besides his outstanding tournament record Chris went from the pro competition tour directly into films and Television shows. The first of which was directly attributed to his Grand Champion performance at Joe Corley’s “Battle of Atlanta” On Mr. Corley’s recommendation Pat Johnson, the fight choreographer behind smash hits such as The Karate Kid 1-4” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and dozens of other top films, took a chance on Chris, in a small film which starred his longtime pal Mike Bernardo called “Shoot fighter” producers from a new TV show called “W.M.A.C. Masters” liked what they saw and called Chris to star in the series with the top ten sport competition stars of the time, The show had a great run for 3 years on FOX and was rated #1 in its time period. These first two gigs helped him land the role for which most people now recognize him. The role of “Scorpion” in the hit film “Mortal Kombat.” From there Chris also doubled for George Clooney as Batman in the film Batman & Robin”

Later this year Chris will appear in back to back projects. Immediately on the horizon is the new reality TV show called: “Fight Guys” Airing exclusively on BLACK BELT TV. Chris will host the show with friend and long time mentor Steve Fisher. For more information about Chris, or for links to upcoming film and TV shows log onto his site www.chriscasamassa.com

Filmography

References

External links

• http://www.chriscasamassa.com
• Chris Casamassa at Internet Movie Database