Fighting spirit - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser Aloha, MICHAEL! Logout | My Account Like | 24/7 Customer Service | Place Ad 97k Sunday, September 16, 2012 76.0°F Home News Sports Business Editorial Features Pulse Travel Print Replica Homes Jobs Cars Classifieds Dining Out Back Issues Corrections Obituaries Traffic Special Projects Movies TV Week Customer Service Archive Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun www.staradvertiser.com > FeaturesPremium > HAWAII FIVE-0 Print Email Comment | View Comments Most Popular Save Post Retweet Fighting spirit Mark Dacascos brings a lifetime of martial arts training to his "Hawaii Five-0" fight sequences By Mike Gordon POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, May 07, 2012 Like You and 97,953 others like this.97,953 people LAST UPDATED: 02:14 p.m. HST, May 07, 2012 Like like this. Sign Up to see what your friends like. retweet Share 0 When it comes to expressing himself, actor Mark Dacascos can get the point across with his feet. The martial arts expert has used them with dramatic effect since he was a boy, but never with as large a following as he has now, playing the ruthless terrorist Wo Fat in "Hawaii Five-0." Latest News/Updates Wo Fat at his worst is Dacascos at his best. In this season's most intense fight scene so far, Dacascos Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban named new 'Idol' delivered some serious hurt on the character played by judges - 05:57 a.m. Terry O'Quinn. The action in the October episode — "Ka Ford recalls some 2012 Ford Edge SUVs - Hakaka Maika‘i" ("The Good Fight") — lasted more than a 05:41 a.m. minute as Wo Fat kicked O'Quinn's Lt. Cmdr. Joe White http://www.staradvertiser.com/featurespremium/20120507_Dacascos_brings_a_lifetime_of_martial_arts_to_Five-0_role.html[9/16/2012 7:15:42 AM] Fighting spirit - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser CRAIG T. KOJIMA / [email protected] five times, including a roundhouse smack that sent the Police arrest man who stole shoes, knocked Actor Mark Dacascos began martial arts when he was 4. Navy SEAL crashing through a table. over woman - 09:52 p.m. Dacascos is seen here working out at Kapiolani Park with his father, Al Dacascos. Toddler in critical condition after near- Then it was almost lights out for White as Wo Fat strangled View All | Breaking News » him with a phone cord. At the last moment, White escaped by hitting the terrorist in the face with a wooden knife block. Crafting believable violence like that takes hard work and planning. But Dacascos, who was born in Hawaii and raised in a martial arts family, is a master of the fight scene. When his Wo Fat gets down and dirty — as he does in tonight's new episode of "Five-0" — rest assured it's Dacascos raining the blows and taking them as well. "For the most part, when it comes to fighting, I like doing it myself," said Dacascos, sitting at a picnic table in Kapiolani Park. "Kicking, punching and all that stuff, I don't have any problem doing. I don't mind taking punches." ADS BY GOOGLE The fight between Dacascos and O'Quinn, which took I Mua Rail Sign the Petition to Keep Honolulu about four hours to shoot, was not without risk. Typically, the more complicated the fight, the more risk involved, Rail On Track! IMuaRail.com Dacascos said. Columns AMA Live Online Seminars Interactive, "To make a fight look real, you want to come as close as Instructor-Led Courses No Travel. Join from you safely can to each other with your strikes," he said. Wealth of Health Your PC. AMAnet.org/LiveOnlineSeminars "So any time you do a fight, every single take, there is more of a chance of getting hit. Terry definitely risked Consider more than cost when getting hurt himself and definitely risked getting me hurt." buying organic food Rent to Own Homes Search Rent to Own Ferd's Words Listings For $1. Cheap Homes, Bad Credit To prepare, every move was choreographed during a two- FCS opponents vanishing from hour rehearsal as the actors tried to imagine the action Accepted. www.GetRentToOwn.com/Rent-to-Own UH football schedules from each character's point of view. Further Review "You start playing with moves until things have a certain UH puts on special teams rhythm and a feel that you are happy with," Dacascos View All | Columns » said. "Kicks, punches, knees, elbows. You try » "Hawaii Five-0" airs at 9 p.m. Mondays on KGMB everything. What works, what is safe, what looks good. Then when you have everything blocked out, A to Z, Blogs you try to figure out if we are going to remember it and will we have enough time to shoot it." Hawaiian Isles Tennis Line IMPORTANT! Public Hearing The finished fight was punishing and perfect, said "Five-0" executive producer Peter Lenkov, who was there during on Commercial Activity at filming. Public Parks "It was an all-out brawl," he said. "The end result, despite our actors and stunt folks walking away bruised, was an epic, In Politics raw and very real fight, one we use as the bar now when planning any upcoming fight sequences." Two in the chamber DESPITE his murderous alter ego, the 48-year-old Dacascos is an easygoing family man. He wears a necklace with photos of his three children, all of whom were born at Wahiawa General Hospital. Volleyshots View All | Blogs » He started martial arts when he was 4, taught and inspired by his parents. Dacascos lived in Hawaii until he was 6, attending Ala Wai Elementary School before moving to the mainland. His first tournament was at age 7. When he was 9, he won the peewee division at an international tournament in Long Beach by using a roundhouse kick to his opponent's ribs. It was a seminal moment for Dacascos. Like "He cried because he was hurt," he said. "I cried because I hurt him." 12k Like Growing up, Dacascos focused on wun hop kuen do, a style of martial arts developed by his father, Al Dacascos, that incorporates kung fu, aikido, judo, jujitsu and forms of karate. The younger Dacascos would train six days a week, sometimes for as much eight hours at a time. "For me it wasn't about winning trophies," he said. "I didn't save one martial arts trophy, and I had hundreds. I was just happy to train." He retired from competition at 18 but never stopped training. Even now he works out three times a week, mostly doing PICS: 'The PICS: Go PICS: Odin muay Thai routines. It has left Dacascos as flexible as a high school cheerleader, strong as a gymnast and as ripped as Ritual' at Jimmy Go at Works a bodybuilder. theVenue NextDoor anniversary "I train not just for my acting, but for myself," he said. at SoHo He discovered acting at Portland State University, where he majored in Chinese and drama. After starting out in 1986 with a part on the daytime soap "General Hospital," Dacascos built his film and TV career with action parts that tapped his martial arts skills: "Only the Strong," "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven," "Brotherhood of the Wolf," "Crying Freeman" and "Cradle 2 the Grave." PICS: Got PICS: Side Food La La: But that's changed in recent years. He's become known for TV shows that have nothing to do with martial arts, starring Rice? Fest Street Inn Crab Fest at as the Chairman on the Food Network's "Iron Chef America" cooking competition, and as a celebrity contestant on 2012 Golf Dixie Grill ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," which drew up to 20 million viewers a week. Tournament http://www.staradvertiser.com/featurespremium/20120507_Dacascos_brings_a_lifetime_of_martial_arts_to_Five-0_role.html[9/16/2012 7:15:42 AM] Fighting spirit - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser After Party In fact, at the time "Five-0" sought him for the show's inaugural season, Dacascos had not thrown a punch or kick on camera in several years, he said. Lenkov, who oversees every facet of "Five-0," had worked with Dacascos when the executive producer wrote scripts for "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven." He never considered anyone else for the part of Wo Fat. He liked everything about Dacascos, even the way he wore a suit. Five-0 PICS: Her PICS: UH "He doesn't need to say much to get his point across," Lenkov said. "He is actually a very difficult character to write Redux: A Way Wahine because you don't want to overwrite his dialogue, but give him just enough to be the most powerful man in the room." ‘Five-0’ fan- Thursdays Volleyball tastic at Aiea Bowl Fundraiser WHEN Dacascos brings his villain to life tonight, he'll square off with Steve McGarrett — played by Alex O'Loughlin — in a battle the show's stunt coordinator, Jeff Cadiente, called "epic." The crew used four cameras to capture the fight. "It's our biggest yet," Cadiente said. This Week in TGIF Calendar of Events No one will even hint at the action involved except to note that Wo Fat is taking aim at McGarrett's head. And that Dacascos asked his stunt double to do the kicking. The moves he was being asked to do reminded him of a scene he had shot a few years ago in China while working on a TV series about the late Bruce Lee. The director there wanted Dacascos to get closer with his kick and hit harder. So he did. One take and it was over.