Scott Adkins

Scott Edward Adkins was born into a family of butchers in Sutton Coldfield on 17 June 1976. He first became interested in martial arts at the age of ten, when he visited a local Judo club with his father and older brother. After being robbed at age 13, his interest in martial arts grew even more. That same year, he began to practice taekwondo. At age 16, he started to practice kickboxing and eventually became a kickboxing instructor for the Professional Karate Association. He also ran weekly classes at the Fitness First in Bearwood. He has since gained experience in aikido, capoeira, gymnastics, jujutsu, karate, Krav Maga, MMA, ninjutsu, and wushu.

Adkins was inspired by Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jean-Claude Van Damme. He said in 2012, "I wanted to be an actor first because I grew up idolising action stars. The first one for me was Bruce Lee, and then there was Stallone and Arnold, and then Van Damme came along in '88 and really inspired me." Adkins secured a role in a Hong Kong martial arts film called Dei Seung Chui Keung (2001), known in English as Extreme Challenge. He was spotted by Head of the Hong Kong Stuntmen Association and director Stephen Tung and British-born Hong Kong movie expert Bey Logan. He had the opportunity to work with some of Hong Kong cinema's leading action directors including Yuen Woo-ping, Corey Yuen, Sammo Hung, and Jackie Chan. He was soon offered a guest role in the BBC series Doctors (2000) and appeared in a few episodes of the BBC series City Central (1999) and EastEnders (2003), and a lead role in the Sky One comedy-drama Mile High (2003), followed by a regular role in BBC's Holby City (2006).

Starring roles in feature films soon followed with Adkins' portrayal of Talbot in Special Forces (2003) and Yuri Boyka in Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006). It was this film that broke him into the mainstream with his villainous portrayal of the Russian MMA underground fighter Yuri Boyka. After this, he had guest starring roles in bigger budget films like The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and The Tournament (2009), and played Jean-Claude Van Damme's main adversary in The Shepherd: Border Patrol (2008). He shared the role of Weapon XI with Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). His first lead role was as Casey Bowman in the American martial arts film Ninja (2009), a role he reprised in the sequel Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013).

In 2012, Adkins was cast to star in Métal Hurlant Chronicles, a television adaptation of the popular French comic book Metal Hurlant. He has worked in four films with his idol Jean-Claude Van Damme: The Shepherd: Border Patrol (2008), Assassination Games (2011), Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, and The Expendables 2 (both in 2012). In 2014, he played King Amphitryon in The Legend of Hercules. He was reunited with action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping in 2019 when he starred alongside Donnie Yen in Ip Man 4: The Finale as the main antagonist Barton Geddes. According to Adkins, Yen personally requested him to star in the film. He also starred in Day Shift (2022) and John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023).