Jordan Andrew "J. J." Perry is an American action director, martial artist, actor, and stuntman.

Career

Perry began practicing martial arts training in 1975, at the age of eight. Because his mother was not able to afford her son's lessons, he cleaned a martial arts school, and received lessons in trade. He began performing stunt work in the late 1980s after leaving the military. Perry was a fourth-degree black belt in

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

by 1993. He began his acting career when he did stunt work for the character of Johnny Cage in the first ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...

'' film. He then played

Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

Cyrax This is a list of playable and boss characters from the ''Mortal Kombat'' fighting game franchise and the games in which they appear. Created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, the series depicts conflicts between various realms. Most characters fig ...

, and

Noob Saibot This is a list of Player character, playable and boss (video games), boss characters from the ''Mortal Kombat'' fighting game franchise and the games in which they appear. Created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, the series depicts conflicts between ...

in ''

Mortal Kombat Annihilation ''Mortal Kombat Annihilation'' is a 1997 American Martial arts film, martial arts fantasy film directed by John R. Leonetti in his List of directorial debuts, directorial debut. Based on the ''Mortal Kombat'' video game franchise, it is the sec ...

'' (Chris Casamassa was supposed to reprise as Scorpion but was working on the film '' Batman & Robin'', though he would return in ''Conquest''), and appeared in the ''MK: Conquest'' TV series, this time as Scorpion's main rival Sub-Zero, in addition to doing stuntwork for the main character of

Kung Lao Kung Lao (Chinese: 空佬) is a character in the ''Mortal Kombat'' fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. He debuted in ''Mortal Kombat II'' (1993) as a Shaolin Kung Fu, Shaolin monk and close friend of series protagonis ...

. In addition to the ''Mortal Kombat'' series, Perry has done stuntwork for various television shows and movies such as ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

'', ''

The Scorpion King ''The Scorpion King'' is a 2002 action adventure film directed by Chuck Russell. The film stars Dwayne Johnson (credited as The Rock) as the lead, with Steven Brand, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan in supporting roles. It ...

'', '' 24'', ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'' and '' The Town'' as FBI Swat 2. He was a member of the cast of the 2004 movie ''Sunland Heat'', and part of the stunt team for the 2006 fighting movie ''

Ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

''. Perry shared in the Male Stuntman of the Year Award at the 2004 World Stunt Awards for his work in the 2003 action comedy film ''

The Rundown ''The Rundown'' (known internationally as ''Welcome to the Jungle'') is a 2003 American action comedy film directed by Peter Berg and written by James Vanderbilt and R.J. Stewart from a story by Stewart. It follows an aspiring chef working as ...

''. He was also voted 2012 Stunt Coordinator of the Year at the short-lived (2010-2012) ActionFest action movie festival (founded by

Chuck Norris Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. Born in Oklahoma, Norris first gained fame when he won the amateur Middleweight Karate champion title in 1968, which he held for six consecutive years. H ...

's stunt double, director, and younger brother

Aaron Norris Aaron Dee Norris (born November 23, 1951) is an American stunt performer, director, occasional actor, and film and television producer. He is the younger brother of action film star Chuck Norris. Career 1974–1988: Stunt work to directing W ...

). In 2022, Perry directed his first feature-length film, '' Day Shift''. In May 2023, Perry was announced to direct a film adaptation of Jay Bonansinga's novel ''The Killer's Game''.

Filmography

Film

Director * '' Day Shift'' (2022) * '' The Killer's Game'' (2024) * '' Afterburn'' (TBA) Stunt double Acting roles Other credits

Television

TV movies

TV series

Stunts Acting roles Other credits

Web series

Notes

References

External links

*
"J.J. Perry Interview"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, J. J. 1966 births Living people American stunt performers American male film actors American male television actors Place of birth missing (living people) American hapkido practitioners American male taekwondo practitioners Male actors from Santa Monica, California 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American sportsmen