Ho-Sung Pak

Ho-Sung Pak (; born November 6, 1967) is a South Korean-born American martial artist, actor, stuntman, and filmmaker. He is known for portraying Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat video game series, and for his role as "Superstar" on the 1990s television series WMAC Masters. He has also been a stunt performer, coordinator, and fight choreographer on numerous film and television productions.

Early life and martial arts Pak was born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a Master's of Business Administration in Engineering and Business.

Pak began studying Taekwondo at the age of 8, and later studied kung fu (Northern Praying Mantis, Shaolin, Tibetan White Crane), and wushu under Wu Bin. He was a Professional Karate Association (PKA) and North American Sports Karate Association (NASKA) forms champion, and won the 1991 Diamond Nationals Grand Championship in Men's Forms. That same year, he became the youngest entrant to date into the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame.

Life and career Pak was a stunt coordinator for the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze as well as a stunt double for Raphael; he later reprised his role of stunt double in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

In 1994, he was cast by director Lau Kar-leung as a villain in the Jackie Chan film The Legend of Drunken Master.

In 2002, he played the leading role in the martial arts movie Book of Swords. In it he portrayed Lang, an Asian cop who after witnessing the death of his brother during a drug bust gone wrong, leaves town only to come back three years later for revenge. The movie also starred MK actors Daniel Pesina, Katalin Zamiar and Richard Divizio. In a nod to his Mortal Kombat alter ego Liu Kang, Pak is shown wearing a red headband during the final part of the movie, while the other three actors are also seen in similar MK clothing/roles throughout the movie.

In 2009, Pak produced and starred in the martial film Fist of the Warrior, directed by Wayne A. Kennedy, also starring Roger Guenveur Smith, Peter Greene, Rosa Blasi and Sherilyn Fenn. The film was produced together with the film company GenOne.

In the 1995-1997 TV show WMAC Masters, his ki-symbol was "Superstar", which is a translation of his given Korean name. The show featured his older brother, Ho Young Pak ("Star Warrior"), as well as fellow Mortal Kombat actors Chris Casamassa ("Red Dragon") and Hakim Alston ("The Machine").

Mortal Kombat Pak played lead character Liu Kang in the first Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II, as well as the original elderly version of Shang Tsung in the first game. Pak, along with other actors from the first two Mortal Kombat games, refused to appear in Mortal Kombat 3 due to a royalty dispute with developer Midway over the use of their likenesses across various console versions of the first two games, resulting in the casting of new actors for some of the returning characters. This also led Pak to lose the opportunity to audition for the game's 1995 film adaptation.

In 1995, Pak and fellow Mortal Kombat actors Daniel Pesina, Katalin Zamiar, and Phillip Ahn lent their likenesses to a fighting game produced exclusively for the Atari Jaguar titled Thea Realm Fighters, but it was cancelled after Atari discontinued the failed system later that year.

Filmography