Noah Andrew Ringer (born November 18, 1996)Ringer, Noah
"The Last Airbender".
Interview by Karen Valby. ''EW.com''. Entertainment Weekly, November 3, 2010. Web. February 1, 2010. is an American martial artist and former child actor. He starred as

Aang Avatar Aang ( zh, c=安昂, p=Ān Áng), or simply Aang, is the titular protagonist of Nickelodeon's animated television series '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' (created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko), voiced by Zach Tyler Ei ...

in the 2010 film '' The Last Airbender'' and played Emmett in ''

Cowboys & Aliens ''Cowboys & Aliens'' is a 2011 Space Western, space western Action film, action thriller film directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Paul Dano, and Noah Ringer in his final fil ...

''.DreamWorks Studios
"Cowboys & Aliens".
''DreamWorks Studios''. DreamWorks Animation, 2010. Web. February 14, 2011.Kroll, Justin
"Noah Ringer".
''Variety''. April 16, 2010. Web. February 14, 2011.Marnell, Blair
"'Last Airbender' Star Noah Ringer Joins ''Cowboys and Aliens'' Cast."
''MTV''. April 19, 2010. Web. February 14, 2011.

Life and career

Ringer was born in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

.Paramount Pictures
"Noah Ringer".
''The Last Airbender''. Paramount Pictures, 2010. Web. February 1, 2011. When he was ten, his mother enrolled him at ATA Martial Arts in Carrollton, Texas, part of the American Taekwondo Association (ATA)."First News interviews The Last Airbender star Noah Ringer".
''First News''. December 14, 2010. Web. February 7, 2011. He showed early promise and soon began competing in

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

s. In December 2008, at age twelve, Ringer earned his first degree black belt. Ringer kept his head shaved, and fellow students nicknamed him "Avatar", after the character Aang in the animated television series '' Avatar: The Last Airbender''.Bowles, Scott
"First Look: Actors put up a real fight in 'Airbender.'"
''USA Today''. May 25, 2009. Web. February 14, 2011. Ringer's taekwondo instructor, Master Eric Pechacek, started watching the show and also noticed the resemblance of Ringer to Aang, in both appearance and personality. He introduced the show to Ringer, who became an immediate fan.Formichelli, Linda. "Noah Ringer's Big Break". ''ATA World'' Summer 2010: 18-24. Print. In July 2008, Pechacek received an email from the ATA, inviting any interested students to audition for the role of Aang in ''The Last Airbender''. Pechacek urged Ringer to try out for the part. For the audition video, Ringer dressed in Aang's attire, using his Halloween costume from the previous year.Valby, Karen. "The Kids' Table". ''Entertainment Weekly'' November 5, 2010: 46-49. Print. He performed an XMA Jahng Bong routine and recited a few lines. A month after sending in the video, Ringer was called to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to meet with director

M. Night Shyamalan Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an American filmmaker. His films often employ supernatural plots and twist endings. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.3 billion globally. Shyamalan has received vario ...

. A month after that, he was offered the part. Ringer had one month to prepare for the film. He did an intense study with director Linda Seto at the Dallas Young Actors Studio, where continued classes afterwards. He also began training in different types of martial arts, which continued during the filming process."Hyper Exclusive Interview with Noah Ringer Star of The Last Airbender"
''Hyper''. Scribd, 2010. Web. February 1, 2011. In March 2011, Ringer was nominated for Best Performance In A Feature Film By A Leading Young Actor for the 32nd Annual

Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

s.The Young Artist Foundation
"32nd Annual 2011 Nominations".
''Young Artist Awards''. The Young Artist Foundation, 2011. Web. March 2, 2011. In May 2011, Ringer won the 3rd Annual TheSkyKid.Com "Coming of Age" Best Actor movie award for his performance in ''The Last Airbender''.theSkyKid.Com website
"3rd Annual Coming of Age Movie Awards Recipients Named".
''SkyKids.Com Coming of Age Best Actor award''. theSkyKid.com website, 2011. Web. May 9, 2011. Ringer played the role of Emmett Taggart in ''

'', a

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Jon Favreau Jonathan Kolia Favreau ( ; born October 19, 1966) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as ''Rudy (film), Rudy'' (1993), ''PCU (film), PCU'' (1994), ''Swingers (1996 film), Swingers'' (1996), ''Very ...

Martial arts

Ringer's first ATA tournament was the World Championships in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. He won first place in every category he competed in. After watching the "extreme" routines at that tournament, Ringer decided to start training in Extreme Martial Arts, or XMA, which involved him choreographing his own moves and choosing his own music. He became proficient with a variety of Eastern weapons, including the bō staff, which his character Aang uses.D'Alessandro, Anthony
"Noah Ringer heeds Shyamalan's call".
''Variety''. December 3, 2009. Web. February 9, 2011. During his first two years with the ATA, Ringer competed in 25 tournaments, winning 100 medals, 80 of them gold. He was given "The Competitor of the Year" award for the Texas region in February 2008. Ringer won the 2008-2009 title of Texas State Champion in five categories: Traditional Forms, Traditional Weapons, Sparring, X-Treme Forms, and X-Treme Weapons.American Taekwondo Association
"Texas 2008-2009 Championship Totals".
''ATA''. American Taekwondo Association, 2010. Web. February 9, 2011. For ''The Last Airbender'', Ringer learned ''

baguazhang ''Baguazhang'' () is one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the '' Wudang'' school, the other two being tai chi and '' xingyiquan''. It is more broadly grouped as an internal practice (or ''neijia''). ''Baguazhang'' literally means "eigh ...

'',

tai chi is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners ...

, and

Wushu Wushu may refer to: Martial arts * Chinese martial arts, the various martial arts of China * Wushu (sport) Wushu () (), or kung fu, is a competitive Chinese martial art. It integrates concepts and forms from various traditional and modern ...

.Bennett, Tara. "The Fourth Element". ''Sci Fi'' August 2010: 25-29. Print. These styles are "soft", compared to

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 ...

, which is a "hard" style."American Taekwondo Association and Noah Ringer Kick off The Last Airbender DVD release".
Webcast. ''Ustream.com''. November 16, 2010. February 1, 2011. Ringer continues to train in American taekwondo. In October 2010, he earned his second degree black belt.Ringer, Noah. ''Facebook.com''. December 27, 2010. Web. February 1, 2011. Ringer teaches other students in the ATA, as part of the Leadership Program. He also does

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

and has started to learn

Choy Li Fut Choy Lee Fut is a Chinese martial art and Chinese martial arts, wushu style, founded in 1836 by Chan Heung (陳享). Choy Li Fut was named to honor the Buddhist monk Choy Fook (蔡褔, Cai Fu) who taught him Choi ga, Choy Gar, and Li Yau-san ...

kung fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

Personal life

Ringer was

homeschooled Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

. He has stated that he has some Native American heritage. NOTE: Upon further inquiry, Karen Valby confirmed that Noah Ringer self-identified as "American Indian". For the discussion, see: He's named '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'', '' Transformers: Prime'', ''

The Spectacular Spider-Man ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' is a comic book and magazine series starring Spider-Man and published by Marvel Comics. Following the success of Spider-Man's original series, ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', Marvel felt the character could support ...

'', ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...

'' and ''

Penny Dreadful Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular Serial (literature), serial literature produced during the 19th century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typical ...

'' as among his favorite TV shows while ''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer ...

'', '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'', ''

Die Hard ''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart (writer), Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, based on the 1979 novel ''Nothing Lasts Forever (Thorp novel), Nothing Lasts Forever'' by Roderick ...

'', '' Desperado'' and ''

Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set in 1944 in Normandy, France, during World War II, it follows a group of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller ( Tom Hanks) ...

'' are some of his favorite movies.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ringer, Noah 1996 births 21st-century American male actors American male child actors American male film actors American male taekwondo practitioners Living people Martial artists from Dallas 21st-century American sportsmen