Martial arts actresses - Feminist icons

by Magda Knight

Feminist icons: This week we bow to female martial arts actresses across time and space. From Michelle Yeoh to Cynthia Rothrock, these women have scorched cinema screens with 100% real martial arts since the 1940s...

The martial art of Wing Chun was actually partially created by a Buddhist nun in the early 15th century, and women's real-life prowess in the martial arts has not been forgotten by the film industry. We celebrate some of our favourite female martial arts actresses - not the stuntwomen, and not the actresses who were taught how to look like they were fighting for a couple of choreographed scenes, but the actresses who can both convey a line with feeling and perform an axe kick that could sunder a pavement.

Martial arts actresses of the world, we salute you!

Michelle Yeoh

In our hearts, Michelle Yeoh is this generation's undisputed queen of martial arts actresses. Her fighting skills are matched only by her overwhelming talent as an actress and her zen nature as a buddhist. She's worked with Jackie Chan, for a start. Their initial collaboration was for a commercial, but you have to start somewhere, and they did eventually go on to work together on Supercop. She's a driving force as an actress, both beautiful and powerfully convincing - witness her stirling performances in science fiction psychological thriller Sunshine, Tomorrow Never Dies (yes, she was a Bond girl) and the fascinating Memoirs of a Geisha which sadly wasn't as good as the book, but then, what film ever is? She's also eaten up the screen with her blistering, fluid and controlled martial arts in groundbreaking movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee's loving pastiche of wuxia (heroic Chinese martial arts). And she's a buddhist who can speak four languages (English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Malay). Michelle Yeoh is basically the ultimate template for the martial arts woman. Long may she reign.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Strange fact of the day: "Buffy" is actually a former champion figure skater. She has studied taekwondo (she now has a black belt), and has also studied kickboxing, boxing, street fighting, and gymnastics. Let's not forget, she was rubbish at fighting in the first season of Buffy. She was so spectacularly bad that they had to film the punch or kick from at least three different camera angles to make it look like anything interesting was actually happening. But, as the seasons of Buffy progressed, so did the choreography - and her martial arts skills. Buffy has now become a martial arts force to be reckoned with, off-camera as well as on the small screen.

Sascha Raeburn

Mookychick always loves to support a newcomer. Sascha Raeburn is doing really well as a martial arts actress in Australia (she's a First Dan Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and a capoeirista, both of which fighting styles you can spot in the video below) but she's far from being a global name - yet. Sascha is set to play 'Eva' in the feature indie film Night Star which is centred around a secret, lethal underground fight club. Shooting begins November 2009 and the film is scheduled for release in 2010. We can't wait. This is a woman who can break tiles without breaking a sweat.

Now why not enjoy Sascha Raeburn doing her stuff in a kick-ass manga fight scene? She plays Ayumi, a secret fighting assassin who has been drugged and held hostage by Taki (a dangerous hacker who works for japanese underground mafia). The fight is on!

Jessica Alba

We don't know what belt she is, but Alba backs up her tae-bo with a host of different martial arts. The reason we've included her is because she's known for doing her own stunts. We bet that pretty face has had a self-induced black eye or two and not thought anything of it. Good on you, lady!

Polly Shang Kwan

Shang Kwan Ling Fong (her real name) appeared in over 50 films during the '60's and '70's, often playing quirky or unusual roles that suited her charming personality. With black belts in taekwando, karate AND judo, Polly Shang Kwan was a lead in "Green Dragon Inn," a pioneering film about a patriot fighting the cruel rule of the eunuchs that is considered one of the greatest martial arts films of all time.

In many of her films Shang cross-dresses and is taken as a male, a common device for many of the female kung fu heroines, and there is rarely time for Shang's character to engage in romance because she is generally too busy kicking and fighting. In many of her films she is a loner, forced by circumstances to defend herself or protect others, and in every film she is always on the side of good. Shang's off the wall cute personality, diminutive stature and terrific martial arts skills have attracted a legion of fans.

Angela Mao

It can be argued that Angela Mao was the world's first female action star to be officially labelled as such. Nicknamed Lady Whirlwind and Lady Kung Fu by her fans, Angela Mao trained in hapkido, kung fu, tae kwon do, and other forms of martial arts during her film career to prepare for her movie roles, and was paid the princely sum of $100 for her short role in the feature film Enter the Dragon. Not a great moment for womankind. The martial arts were great - a shame one couldn't say the same about the wage.

Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless is the New Zealand actress who played Xena, Warrior Princess. Lucy used a variety of martial arts in her fighting skills using both unarmed and weapons combat. She was truly Amazonian in her range of fighting skills.

Cynthia Rothrock

Dubbed the 'Queen of Martial Arts Films', Cynthia Rothrock is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Taekwondo, Wushu, Eagle Claw and Northern Shaolin. That's a black belt in five martial arts! Incredible! Between 1981 and 1985, Cynthia Rothrock was the undefeated Karate forms and weapons world champion. She is one of the first Caucasians to appear in a Chinese film as a good guy and has a long film career in both Chinese and Western action films. Her martial arts skills are pretty damn fine. She's just not a very good actress.

If you want to research further, you'll find a host of martial arts actresses out there. Joyce Godenzi, Yukari Oshima, Thanh Van Ngo, Jeeja Yanin... Our global heritage of actresses doing their own stunts in martial arts films goes back as far as the late 1940s, and each and every one of these ladies mentioned has been resplendent in her career.

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