Lauren Kim
Kicking Her Way to the Top
by S.D. Seong

Home Base: Burbank, California
Martial Arts Experience: XMA, wushu, muay Thai, Tae-Bo
Where You’ve Seen Her: Dodgeball, House of the Dead 2, Grey’s Anatomy, The Fast and the Furious 3, Reno 911!, martial arts-related print and Internet advertising for various companies, including Nike.

Thirty years ago, martial artists looking to break into show business had a smoother ride than they do now. Back then, it was mostly a matter of building a name on the circuit or in the kickboxing ring, then waiting for the offers to roll in.

Not any more. Now, possessing martial arts skills is not enough. Prospective action stars need to be able to act, and they need to have a look that appeals to moviemakers. Lauren Kim is fortunate to have all those qualities and then some.

She cut her teeth in XMA under the tutelage of Matt Mullins, the man who co-starred with Mike Chaturantabut in the Discovery Channel documentary XMA: Xtreme Martial Arts. She fine-tuned her abilities under wushu expert and Black Belt Hall of Fame member Ming Liu. Now she’s rounding out her repertoire with help from muay Thai instructor Nick Keeling of Hermosa Beach, California. Those skills, coupled with her early schooling in dance and gymnastics, have set her on the road to Hollywood success.

Kim recently completed work on Asi Del Precipicio (Close to the Edge), which was shot in Mexico City. And she’s currently filming Taken by Force, in which she plays a bodyguard. This summer, she’ll appear as the main bad girl in Backlash, opposite Bas Rutten and Danielle Burgio. And in July 2006 she expects to begin work on Dead Reckoning, an independent action-horror flick that will be filmed in the Caribbean.

All that with only four years of martial arts experience under her belt? That’s right. And she didn’t start kicking and punching until she was 22. “But that’s the great thing about martial arts—there’s no age limit,” she says. “If you set your mind to it, you can do anything as long as you’re dedicated.”

Kim admits, however, that having had an athletic childhood gave her a huge head start. It made her flexible and fearless. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen on my face when learning new jumping kicks,” she says.

Frequent workouts help her maintain a physique that facilitates on-screen acrobatics and stunts. She practices kicks—“They’re still very important in movies,” she says—and lifts weights every other day. Every night while watching television, she does 500 to 1,000 sit-ups.

Unlike many of her peers who plan to dump the martial arts in favor of “pure acting,” Kim says she’ll continue training, doing stunts and taking action roles. Her dream assignment: “Lucy Liu’s role in Kill Bill—or Daryl Hannah’s or Uma Thurman’s,” she says. “I would have been happy with any of them or with Jennifer Lopez’s role in Enough. It inspired me to want to take Krav Maga.”