Lateef Crowder dos Santos (born November 23, 1977) is a Brazilian American actor,

martial artist Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the pres ...

, and

stuntman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

. As a member of the ZeroGravity stunt team since 2000, he has been featured in multiple internet short videos and demo reels, such as ''Inmate 451''. An experienced

capoeira Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art and game that includes elements of dance, acrobatics, capoeira music, music, and spirituality. It likely originated from enslaved Mbundu people, of the Kingdom of Ndongo, in present-day Angola. The ...

practitioner, he started training in

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

when he was 6 years old.

Early and personal life

He was born in

Salvador, Bahia Salvador () is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality and capital city of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognize ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, but moved to

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, at the age of four. With great experience and training in

Capoeira Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art and game that includes elements of dance, acrobatics, capoeira music, music, and spirituality. It likely originated from enslaved Mbundu people, of the Kingdom of Ndongo, in present-day Angola. The ...

, taught by his father and gymnasts, he became an international competitor and became a member of the Zero Gravity Stunt Team. Today he is an inactive member. Lateef has since been working on his own acting career, appearing in movies such as The Protector 2005 starring Tony Jaa. He also worked with Scott Adkins in Undisputed 3 where he played the character Rodrigo Silva.

Career

dos Santos is best known for his appearance in ''

Tom-Yum-Goong ''Tom-Yum-Goong'' ( Thai: ต้มยำกุ้ง, ) is a 2005 Thai martial arts film directed by Prachya Pinkaew and stars Tony Jaa in the lead role. Pinkaew also directed Jaa's prior breakout film '' Ong-Bak''. As with ''Ong-Bak'', the fig ...

'' (known in North America as ''The Protector''), using Capoeira in a fight scene with

Tony Jaa Tatchakorn Yeerum (born 1976) (, , ; formerly Phanom Yeerum (, )), better known internationally as Tony Jaa and in Thailand as Jaa Phanom (, , ), is a Thai martial artist, actor, action choreographer, stuntman, and director. Known for his expl ...

. Due to an injury to his

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

, the scene was cut short, but he has since recovered, and was featured in the martial arts feature, ''Duel of Legends'', released in 2007. Due to his Capoeira skills and gymnast with resemblance to the character, Lateef Crowder played the role of Eddy Gordo in the ''

Tekken is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The main games in the series follow the events ...

'' feature film. He has also featured in Undisputed 3 which stars

Scott Adkins Scott Edward Adkins (born 17 June 1976) is an English actor and martial artist. He gained prominence with his portrayal of the Russian prison fighter Yuri Boyka in the American martial arts film '' Undisputed II: Last Man Standing'' (2006), a ro ...

and Mykel Jenkins. Directed by

Isaac Florentine Isaac Florentine (; born 28 July 1958) is an Israeli film director. He is best known for his martial arts and action genre films, namely '' Undisputed II: Last Man Standing'' (2006), '' Undisputed III: Redemption'' (2010), ''Ninja'' (2009), '' ...

and also stars in the

Kevin Tancharoen Kevin Tancharoen (born April 23, 1984) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, dancer, and choreographer. On September 29, 2011, New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. announced that Tancharoen would be helming a big-screen adaptation of ''Mortal ...

directed short film '' Mortal Kombat: Rebirth''. Another memorable work of Lateef was in

Fight Science ''Fight Science'' is a television program shown on the National Geographic Channel in which scientists and martial arts masters work together to analyze the world's fighting techniques, to compare the disciplines and to find out which one has the ...

when he represented his style in tests to show the effectiveness of his kicks. Since 2019, he appeared in the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

original series ''

The Mandalorian ''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the ''Star Wars'' franchise and begins five years after the events of the fil ...

'' as the stunt double for

Din Djarin / The Mandalorian DIN or Din or din may refer to: People and language * Din (name), people with the name * Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates * Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken by ...

, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Creative Arts Award for Outstanding Stunt Performance in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Early and personal life

Career

Filmography

References

External links