Iko Uwais

Uwais Qorny (, born 12 February 1983 ), known professionally as Iko Uwais, is an Indonesian actor, stuntman, fight choreographer, and martial artist. He is best known for acting in the action films Merantau, The Raid (2011), The Raid 2 (2014), Headshot (2016), Mile 22 (2018), The Night Comes for Us (2018), Stuber (2019), and the Netflix series Wu Assassins (2019–22).

Early life Qorny was born in Jakarta, to Musthafa and Maisyaroh Kamaluddin. His grandfather, H. Achmad Bunawar, was a silat master and founded a silat school. He is named after the 7th-century Islamic figure Owais al-Qarani.

Career In 2007, Uwais met director Gareth Evans, who was filming a documentary about silat, a form of martial arts, in Uwais's training hall. Uwais's natural charisma and great camera presence encouraged Evans to cast him as the leading role for his first martial art movie, Merantau. After signing a five-year contract with Gareth Evans and his production company, Uwais resigned from his daytime job as an operational driver at Esia, an Indonesian telecom company.

In his first acting experience in Merantau, Uwais played the role of a young Minang (West-Sumatran), which led him to learn the Minang style of silat harimau (tiger style) from Master Edwel Datuk Rajo Gampo Alam. Merantau was released in Indonesia on 6 August 2009. The film was featured in Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea and Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas with highly positive reviews. Merantau won the Best Film award at ActionFest 2010.

Uwais's second collaboration with Gareth Evans was The Raid (known as The Raid: Redemption in the United States), which began filming in mid-March 2011 and was released in mid-2012. The movie has been hailed by critics and audiences in various festivals as one of the best martial art movies in years. The following year, Uwais appeared in a small role in Keanu Reeves's directorial debut Man of Tai Chi. He was also asked to choreograph a lightsaber fight in the film by director J. J. Abrams, but the sequence was rejected for being too violent.

In 2016, he appeared in the martial arts film Headshot, which received generally positive reviews.

In 2017, he filmed the international martial arts film Triple Threat, together with Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Tiger Chen, and Scott Adkins—the film was released in early 2019. In 2018, Uwais starred in the films, Mile 22 and The Night Comes for Us.

In the same year, it was announced that Uwais was cast in the lead role of Kai Jin on the Netflix series, Wu Assassins. The series premiered on 8 August 2019. Uwais reprised his role in the sequel film, Fistful of Vengeance. It was released on 17 February 2022 to mixed reviews.

In 2019, Uwais starred in the action comedy film Stuber alongside Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista. In the same year, it was announced that Uwais would appear in a film called Chinatown Express playing a man who must fight through the gangland of New York to save his family after the disappearance of his son during a gang's killing spree. Uwais was also announced to star in The Bellhop, one of the first five films in development by Balboa Productions, the new production company co-founded by Sylvester Stallone in 2018.

Uwais played Hard Master in Snake Eyes, a spin-off from the G.I. Joe movie franchise. The film was released on 23 July 2021.

In October 2021, Uwais joined the cast of Expend4bles, which was released in 2023 to poor reviews. In May 2023, Iko Uwais was announced to star in a sci-fi thriller Ash directed by Flying Lotus alongside Aaron Paul, Eiza González, Beulah Koale, and Kate Elliott.

In January 2025, Uwais revealed that he had started a film production company, Uwais Pictures. The company's initial slate of films includes Uwais's directorial debut Timur, a dramatization of the Mapenduma hostage crisis that Uwais also stars in.

Personal life On 25 June 2012, Uwais married singer Audy Item at the Hotel Gran Mahakam in Jakarta. The couple have two daughters, Atreya Syahla Putri Uwais and Aneska Layla Putri Uwais.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Director(s) Notes 2009 Merantau Yuda Gareth Evans 2011 The Raid Rama Also as action choreographer 2013 Man of Tai Chi Gilang Sanjaya Keanu Reeves US debut 2014 The Raid 2 Rama/Yuda Gareth Evans Also as fight choreographer 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Razoo Qin-Fee J. J. Abrams Cameo 2016 Headshot Ishmael/Abdi The Mo Brothers 2018 The Night Comes for Us Arian Timo Tjahjanto Also as action coordinator Mile 22 Li Noor Peter Berg Also as co-fight choreographer 2019 Triple Threat Jaka Jesse V. Johnson Stuber Oka Tedjo Michael Dowse Also as action choreographer 2021 Snake Eyes Hard Master Robert Schwentke 2022 Fistful of Vengeance Kai Jin Roel Reiné The Bellhop Chinatown Express Road House 2 Ilya Naishuller Post-production Pendekar: Warrior Abah Jaya John Radel

Television Year Title Role Network Notes 2019 Wu Assassins Kai Jin Netflix Main role; also as executive producer and lead fight choreographer

Awards and nominations Year Organisation Award Work Result 2010 Indonesian Movie Awards Best Newcomer Actor Merantau Favorite Newcomer Actor 2014 Indonesian Choice Awards Actor of the Year Himself Indonesian Yahoo! Celebrity Awards Most Wanted Male Republika Awards The Best Republika's Change Figure 2016 Infotainment Awards Indonesian Celebrity of World Achievement JawaPos Group Awards Actor of the Year