WRITINGS
Cynthia Rothrock: The Queen of Martial Arts Films by Jill Morley
Before Jennifer Garner took home a Golden Globe for kicking ass in the TV show, Alias, or Sarah Michelle Gellar destroyed evil blood suckers in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, or Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu kicked and punched their way through a feature film in Charlies Angels, there was and is: Cynthia Rothrock.
Having starred in over thirty action films from the mid-eighties to the present, Cynthia Rothrock is the American Mother of Women Who Kick Ass on the Silver Screen. And a legitimate one at that. She has six black belts in various Far Eastern martial arts disciplines; Taekwondo, (Korean) -Ying Jow Pai (eagle claw -Chinese), Pai Lum Tao (Chinese), Wu Shu (contemporary Chinese), Tang Soo Do (Korean) , and Northern Shaolin (classical Chinese).
Besides studying in the U.S., she studied seriously in mainland China and in Taiwan. When competing in the late seventies and early eighties, she trained eight hours a day; ate slept and breathed martial arts. This diligence paid off. Cynthia wound up winning several tournaments, and from 1981 to 1985 was the undefeated World Karate forms and weapons champion. (In martial arts, forms are basically a sequence of choreographed fighting moves.)
Since there were not very many women who knew weapons back then, she competed against men. In 1982, Cynthia was number one in the mens weapons division. It was the first time a woman ever took that title. Says Rothrock, That was a huge stepping stone for me. I couldnt be just as good as the guys, I had to be way better in order to win. | |
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