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Steven Seagal One of the more famous action stars of the late 80s and early 90s alongside the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Jean Claude Van Damme, Seagal is best known for such films as: "Under Siege", "Above the Law", "On Deadly Ground" (which he also directed), "Marked for Death" and "Hard to Kill".Seagal had first started out as a an aikido instructor in Japan, and became the first foreigner to ever own and operate an aikido dojo in Japan in Osaka. He later moved to the Los Angeles, California area where he made his film debut in 1988 in "Above the Law". The aforementioned action films followed making Seagal a globally recognized action star. In total his movies have earned about $730 million worldwide. Unfortunately, mid-90s and on-wards his star-status dwindled considerably, and with few exceptions (Exit Wounds), a majority of his films went straight to video/DVD. Seagal, however, has used his fame as an action star to cross over into other industries. Unknown to many, he is also a recording artist and guitarist and the founder of Steven Seagal Enterprises. In addition to his professional achievements, he is also known as an environmentalist, an animal rights activist and, like other actors such as Richard Gere, is a supporter of Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama and the cause of Tibetan independence. Spiritualism and Buddhism in fact, and as witnessed by many of his films, plays an important role in Seagal's life, and he has strangely enough been recognized by Tibetan lama Penor Rinpoche as a reincarnated Tulku (Chungdrag Dorje). Back to Steven Seagals Index |