Michel Qissi

Michel Qissi قصي ميشيل
Born	Mohammed Qissi (1962-09-12) 12 September 1962 Oujda, Morocco
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1984–2012

Michel Qissi (Arabic: قصي ميشيل‎; born Mohammed Qissi on 12 September 1962) is a Moroccan-American actor, perhaps best known for his role as Tong Po in the 1989 martial arts film Kickboxer.

Biography

Qissi was born in Oujda, Morocco and moved to Brussels, Belgium as a child. He began training in boxing at seven years old, and became an amateur champion in his weight class at 17. He also went on to study Shotokan Karate, Muay Thai and kickboxing. He befriended Jean-Claude Van Damme at an early age and they grew up together with the same love for action films and training in martial arts.^[1]

In 1982, Qissi and Van Damme moved to the United States in the hope of becoming action stars. They both were cast as extras in the film, Breakin' in 1984, before landing their big break in 1986. After obtaining an interview with Menahem Golan of Cannon Films, they secured a three-picture deal, the first of which was the highly successful Bloodsport, in which Van Damme starred and Qissi had a small role as a tournament fighter named Suan Paredes.^[2] In 1989, Qissi and Van Damme teamed up again for the film Kickboxer, in which Van Damme was the protagonist once more and Qissi the film's main villain, Tong Po. 1990 saw the pair make the film Lionheart, in which Qissi's brother, Abdel, played the villain. This was to be the last film Van Damme and Qissi made together, but Qissi did go on to reprise his role as Tong Po in Kickboxer 2.

Filmography