Growing up as a kid, I wanted to be a ninja. In martial arts, even though I did Chinese kung fu, I always wanted to be this secret samurai or a ninja. There's something about ninjas that was very appealing to me as a kid. So of course, I was climbing a lot of trees and other things and getting up to mischief - good mischief.
We wanted the elemental 'bending' to be based on authentic Chinese traditional martial arts, believing this would lend a beauty and resonance to the animation and the fictitious disciplines. Once we had that idea, I started looking for a Kung Fu teacher/Martial Arts consultant. My search led me to Sifu Kisu and I began training with him right away.
It was a lame excuse, and I knew that wasn't the reason he was canceling. If he wanted to avoid me, I would have preferred he made up something about how he and the other guardians had to up Moroi security or practice top-secret ninja moves.
When I was growing up, I used to watch 'Power Rangers' and 'Ninja Turtles.' It seemed like every movie had someone doing martial arts in it, so I would go around punching and kicking trees.
I was a pretty fit and physical kid, and my first interest was in martial arts and kung fu with all the Bruce Lee movies.
I really connected with martial arts. I'd always had a fantasy as a kid of being a ninja warrior, so it definitely answered that sort of need in my psyche, too - a need to be superpowerful.
Yeah, so if that guy can make it in drunk, surely we can make it in sober. I mean, we’re ninjas.' 'Well, maybe you’re a ninja,' I said. 'You’re just a really loud, awkward ninja,' Margo said, 'but we are both ninjas.
I don't mind doing action or kung fu, but I'm also really happy to do something dramatic. I'd like to show that a Chinese girl doesn't have to do crazy martial arts to get the part.
Okay," Claire finally said. "I admit, he has significant ninja qualities." "Booyah. I will summon the ninja. Oh, and take a lunch break while we burgle." "You’re going too?" "Am I not ninja enough? Are you saying that I lack ninja?
Did you see my ninja move?That was fast, right?" "You are not a ninja, Shane." "I've watched all the movies. I just haven't gotten the certificate from the correspondence course yet.
The Ninja Turtles made me who I am today in a big way. It was my favorite show as a kid. It got me into meditation, martial arts, speed boarding, and generally like the positive person that I am today is because of the Turtles.
When I was a kid, I loved watching kung fu movies - in San Francisco, we had 'Kung Fu Theater' on TV on Saturdays, and they'd air old Shaw Brothers movies with English dubbing, things like that.
I love martial-arts movies. I grew up with my dad watching kung-fu theater every Sunday. So it was kind of my thing.
We did two films [Kung Fu Panda], because the first two films were so embraced by the Chinese audiences we wanted to make something we could push further and since this is a co-production, it seemed like the perfect time to create something that felt native to Chinese audiences.
My dad is the person who taught me how important the mental side of the game is. He studied kung fu growing up and he taught me how to meditate when I was a kid.
Once I dedicated my time to mixed martial arts, I became careful about what I let into my mind. I made a goal of being the best on Earth in mixed martial arts and fighting. I wanted to build my mind into something good, not just of the world. I wanted to be different.
I was not one of those people who wanted to be a comedian when I was growing up. I liked comedy, but didn't know it was something you could do for a living. I actually wanted to be an attorney. I did do things on the side like improv and sketch comedy, but law was my focus. I was a very bookish, academic kid. When I got out of college, I was really unhappy. I had a great job that I should have loved, yet I was miserable. I slowly realized that was because I wasn't performing. So I just tried stand-up and fell in love with it after one performance.