Olivier Gruner

Olivier Gruner (born 2 August 1960) is a French actor, filmmaker, martial artist and former kickboxer. Born in Paris, he moved back to France in 1988 after serving in the French Armed Forces and competing as a professional kickboxer, during which time he won a silver medal at the W.A.K.O. World Championships. He has appeared in over 40 films and 4 television series and is best known for martial arts and action films.

Early life and education Gruner was born into a French family with parents in the surgery and engineering industry.

Gruner began martial arts at the age of 11 after watching a Bruce Lee movie, which inspired him to pursue both martial arts and a potential career in the film industry. He began studying Shotokan karate, then boxing, kickboxing, and full contact kickboxing.

Kickboxing In 1981, Gruner left the military with the aim of training full-time to compete professionally as a kickboxer.

Gruner retired from professional kickboxing in 1987 and pursued an acting career, following the lead of bodybuilders Reg Park and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1989, he starred in his first movie: the urban action movie Angel Town.

In 1992, Gruner starred as "Alex Raine" in Albert Pyun's cyberpunk 1992 science fiction thriller Nemesis. Both Nemesis and Angel Town were popular in video distribution, and Nemesis is one of the movies Gruner is most proud of.

In 2014, he featured as a director in Sector 4: Extraction, a direct-to-video release.

In 2015, Gruner released one more film as a director, a producer, a screenwriter, and an actor: EP/Executive Protection.

Film producing

Early in his career, Gruner got involved in the production of some of the films in which he was appearing as an actor. This is the case for Savage (1996), Mercenary (1996), Mercenary 2: Thick & Thin (1998), Interceptor Force (1999), The Circuit (2001), and Crooked (2005).

But it was only starting in the 2010s, except Interceptor Force 2 in 2002, that he accumulated his involvement both as a producer, as an actor, and as a director in One Night (2010), Re-Generator (2011), Sector 4: Extraction (2014), and EP/Executive Protection (2015).

He has also been involved, as a producer-only, in Front Line (2015). He was both an actor and a producer in Iron Cross: The Road to Normandy (2018).

Screenwriting Gruner co-wrote the stories of some of the movies in which he appeared as an actor.

He wrote the stories of T.N.T. (1997), Interceptor Force 2 (2002), Crooked (2005), One Night (2010), Re-Generator (2011), and EP/Executive Protection (2015).

He also co-wrote the story and the screenplay of Lost Warrior: Left Behind (2008), and co-wrote the story of Sector 4: Extraction (2014).

Business activities

Gruner has always been involved in several other business activities.

However, Gruner also provides body-guarding training at his academy "Gruner Tactical" Or "Gruner Tactical Training Academy."

Training videos

Gruner has been producing training videos for martial arts, combat skills, bodyguarding, and survival techniques since 2012. He commercializes those under the various brands of "Gruner Tactical Training Academy" and "O.G Training". More recently, he has been producing a survival reality show video series under the name "Survival X" in 2018.

Personal training

Gruner has always kept a side activity as a personal trainer in various martial arts such as kickboxing and mixed martial arts. He usually dedicates this personal training time to competing martial artists, as well as retired champions.

Helicopter piloting

Gruner is a licensed helicopter pilot, which allows him to mix this activity with film-producing requirements at times. For example, he worked for ABC News in Los Angeles where he did many chase videos and saw a lot of damage and lethal encounters.

He regularly flies helicopters and considers it a big part of his life. For Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, he regularly flew tours on Hawaii's Big Island. For Maverick Helicopters, he also flew tours over the Grand Canyon.

Personal life

Gruner lives part-time in both Santa Monica, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. He has one son.

He has been regularly maintaining his karate, boxing and kickboxing training, which he has been completing with Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling and mixed martial arts.

Kickboxing titles

1985 W.A.K.O. World Championships - Men's Full-Contact Middleweight Silver -75 kg

Filmography

Films Year Title Involved asRole Notes Director Producer Writer Actor 1990 Angel Town Jacques Montaigne First lead and movie 1990 Lionheart Received thanks for facilitating access to Somalia photos used in the film via Gruner French military connections 1992 Nemesis Alex Raine 1994 Automatic J269 Fight Choreographer 1995 Savate (aka The Fighter) Joseph Charlegrand Video, Fight choreographer 1996 Savage Alex Verne / Savage Associate producer 1996 Mercenary Captain Karl 'Hawk' May Video, Associate producer, Fight choreographer 1997 Mars Caution Templar 1997 T.N.T. Alex Girard 1998 Mercenary 2: Thick & Thin Captain Karl 'Hawk' May TV movie, Co-executive producer 1999 Velocity Trap ED Officer Raymond Stokes 1999 The White Pony Jacques 1999 Storm Video, Helicopter co-pilot 1999 Interceptor Force Lieutenant Sean Lambert Producer 2000 Crackerjack 3 Marcus Clay 2000 Kumite Michael Rogers 2001 G.O.D. Adrian Kaminski 2001 Extreme Honor Cody 2001 The Circuit Dirk Longstreet Executive producer 2002 Power Elite Captain 2002 Interceptor Force 2 Lieutenant Sean Lambert TV movie 2003 The Circuit 2: The Final Punch Dirk Longstreet Video, Executive producer, Helicopter pilot 2003 Deadly Engagement Paul Gerard 2004 SWAT: Warhead One Luc Rémy Video. Fight choreographer. 2005 Crooked Phil Yordan Also named Soft Target 2006 The Circuit 3: The Street Monk Dirk Longstreet Video, also named The Circuit 3: Final Flight 2007 Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter FBI Agent #1 2008 Lost Warrior: Left Behind Nash Daniels Video, Co-writer story and screenplay 2008 Skorumpowani Montenegro 2009 Brother's War Anton 2010 One Night The Beast Director 2010 Tales of an Ancient Empire Corsair Duguay Also named Abelar: Tales of an ancient Empire 2011 Re-Generator The Beast Director 2013 Cyborg: Rise of the Slingers Duguay 2014 Sector 4: Extraction Nash Executive producer, Co-writer 2015 EP/Executive Protection Max Webber 2015 The whole World at our Feet Tony 2015 Frontline Co-producer 2016 Assassin X Ronus Steele Also named The Chemist 2016 Beyond the Game Nash Daniels 2016 Showdown in Manila Ford 2016 Darkweb Stanislas 2017 Iron Cross Brothers Road Home 2021 Amour Robert Short film 2021 Iron Cross: The road to Normandy Anton 2022 Gunfight at Rio Bravo Marshall Austin Carter 2022 Escape from Paradise Jagger Pre-production 2022 Cyborg Nemesis: The Dark Rift Duguay Film announced. Duguay role is rumored only. 2022 The Target Film announced.

+Key Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Year Title Role Notes 1999 Martial Law Dieter Vanderval Wild Life (1999) 2000 Code Name: Eternity Tawrens - The Shift (2000) - All Fall Down (2000) - Chameleon (2000) - Underground (2000) - The Box (2000) - Not a Bite to Eat (2000) - Dark of Night (2000) - Project Midas (2000) - Laura's Story (2000) - All the News (2000) - Sold Out for a Song (2000) - Fatal Error (2000) - Deep Down (2000) - 24 Hours (2000) - Lose Your Dreams (2000) - Thief (2000) - Bounty Hunter (2000) - Death Trap (2000) - Making Love (2000) - Tawrens (2000) - Never Go Home (2000) - The Watery Grave (2000) - The Long Drop (2000) - The Hunter (2000) - The Mission (2000) - Ethaniel's Story (2000) 2005 The Pros, a way of life Himself Documentary TV Series partially produced and published by NBC before being shelved, video 2019 Seven Days Ivan - Episode #1.1 (2019) 2020 CF3: Cult Fans, Films & Finds Himself - Nemesis (1992) feat. Olivier Gruner & Thom Mathews (2020) 2021 The Circuit 2020 Dirk - Ranch Terror (2021) - The Bank Heist (2021) - Pawn Shop (2021) - Wilderness (2021)

Documentaries Year Title Role Notes 2012 Tales of an Ancient Empire: Behind the Scenes Himself Video documentary

Stunts Year Title Involved as Role Notes 1994 Automatic Fight choreographer J269 1995 Savate (aka The Fighter) Fight choreographer Joseph Charlegrand Video 1996 Mercenary Fight choreographer Captain Karl 'Hawk' May Video, Associate producer 1996 Savage Fight choreographer Alex Verne / Savage Associate producer 2003 The Circuit 2: The Final Punch Action coordinator Dirk Longstreet Video, Executive producer, Helicopter pilot