November 5, 2024 • 37 mins
Unlock the secrets of success with Chris Casamassa, a renowned 10th-degree black belt and a key player in the martial arts arena. From learning invaluable life lessons with his pioneering father to emerging as a successful entrepreneur and actor, Chris’s journey is nothing short of inspiring. He opens up about the profound impact of passion, commitment, and perseverance on his life, sharing personal anecdotes about the unique challenges and rewards of working with family. His story is a testament to how deeply ingrained principles can guide us through diverse career paths.
Ever wondered how martial arts can pave the way to Hollywood? Listen as Chris recounts his unexpected leap from martial arts to acting, where authenticity and genuine passion became his guiding lights. Discover his thrilling experience of auditioning for the role of Scorpion in "Mortal Kombat" and the exciting opportunity to double for George Clooney as Batman. Chris also talks about the business aspect of martial arts, sharing insights on expanding Red Dragon Studios and empowering children through his bully-proof program. The conversation highlights the synergy between passion and business acumen in achieving success.
Chris isn't just about martial arts and films; he's dedicated to making a positive impact beyond the dojo. Whether it's expanding Red Dragon Karate locations or public speaking, Chris is on a mission to inspire and empower. He delves into the resilience required in the entertainment industry, turning rejections into opportunities. With a commitment to helping children become bully-proof and a vision of a potential anti-bullying TV show partnership with Disney, Chris's endeavors are a powerful reminder of the influence of persistence and passion. Engage with Chris's story and find the motivation to fuel your own pursuits.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Masters Alliance podcast and I
am Herb Perez.
Today we are joined by ChrisCasamassa, 10th degree black
belt in the Red Dragon Schools,owner and operator of over 17
schools.
More importantly, he has beeneverything from an actor, stunt
person, successful businessentrepreneur and now a leader
(00:22):
amongst leaders, teachingchildren and best school owners
how to be better.
Strap in, this is going to bean amazing podcast.
Welcome to the Masters Alliancepodcast.
Uncut and uncut is a great wordbecause we talk about pretty
much anything and everything andtoday I'm joined by a good
(00:45):
friend, great friend, who taughtme a lot about what was
necessary, certainly in what Icall Hollywood.
He's been able to take thatskill and use the same skills
that he used to become anamazing martial artist and
transcend not only that arenabut acting and everything else,
but more importantly now, as aspeaker and a motivator of young
(01:07):
children.
Welcome, chris Casamassa.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Thank you, sir, happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Or, as I like to call you, the red dragon, and
certainly well-earned, the manythings you've done.
But I want to start with.
I know you had a closerelationship with your dad.
What was it like to train withyour father, a martial arts
pioneer, from such a young age?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, that's a fantastic first question, so
let's dive in.
First of all, just in the grandscheme of things, it was great.
I had a front row seat to theearly days of martial arts in
America.
I got to watch firsthand one ofthe guys who helped bring mixed
martial arts into the forefrontof today's culture.
(01:52):
So that part of it was great.
Now, as anybody who was in themartial arts knows, working with
your family has its super highhighs and its super low lows,
because when you do shit wrong,it's never about what you did
wrong, it's about what you didwhen you were six years old.
So working with family it's adouble-edged sword.
And uh, but unfortunately forme, listen, I had way more great
(02:13):
times than I had bad times.
And uh, like I said I, I got towatch, in my opinion, one of
the greats when it comes tomartial arts in America.
You know he's my dad, so I'm alittle prejudiced, but literally
I always looked at him like amodern day Michelangelo.
He created something out ofnothing and until he passed away
(02:36):
he was creating until his verylast day.
So he was an innovator, he wasa pioneer and I was happy to
have that opportunity tobasically have that front row
seat.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And and.
Again I'm sorry for his passing.
I know it's been a minute ortwo for that and sorry for your
loss, but hopefully this is nottoo personal of a question.
But you know what?
What were one or two or justeven one of the most important
lessons that you learned fromhim?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
that you learned from him.
The most important lesson wasthat passion trumps everything.
If you have a passion for whatyou do, success generally will
follow when it comes from fromthe heart.
If you're in it just for themoney, if you're in it just for
the fame, you're in it for thewrong reasons, and the truth is
(03:27):
people can smell bullshit a mileaway.
So that was probably one of thebiggest things.
The second biggest thing wasdon't go halfway Like fully
commit to what it is that you'regoing to do and give it a
thousand percent of what you'vegot, and if it works, cool.
And if it doesn't, then pivotand do something else.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Well, you've achieved the I mean just an outstanding
accomplishment in the martialarts you, you have reached a
ninth level degree black belt.
What, what motivated you tocontinue that journey, despite
all these other successes you'vehad in life?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Well, just to point of clarity, I'm actually 10th
degree now, which, when my dadpassed, that title went to me.
So yeah, there's that.
Um, what motivated me was andlisten, as cliche as it's going
to sound, it's true my dad wasmy hero and I always aspired to
be not like him, but to followin his footsteps, because I'm my
(04:26):
own person.
He always encouraged me to bemy own person, but he was
someone that I always looked upto, and I got started in the
martial arts when I was fouryears old because I wanted to be
around my dad, and we're goingto kind of turn a little bit
here.
My dad was a great martialartist and loved the martial
arts, but on the business sideof things he didn't really know
what he was doing.
(04:46):
He was from the Marine Corps,he was a cop, and he decided I
love martial arts more thananything and I want to make that
my living.
And so he learned all of hislessons the hard way.
But one of the hard ways was mydad was never home.
He was always at the studio andI learned at a very young age.
You want to see, daddy, you gotto go to karate, and so that
got me involved with it.
But once I got involved with itI kind of got hooked on it.
(05:08):
And again, one of the importantlessons he told me was he said
listen, if you want to start youcan, but you are not allowed to
stop or quit until you make itto black belt.
And of course you know you'refour years old, you're like okay
, dad, whatever, and whatever.
(05:30):
And there was times during mytraining where I wanted to give
up.
I didn't make my black beltuntil I was 10, which at that
time was unheard of having a10-year-old kid black belt.
But that was six years oftraining and when I was eight I
wanted to quit.
When I was nine I wanted toquit.
He wouldn't let me and hetaught me about that dedication
and perseverance at a very youngage.
And he said now you're a blackbelt, you quit.
Well, as anybody knows, you getto black belt Like I was hooked
.
That was a drug for me.
(05:50):
I wasn't going anywhere, like Ihad that black belt and I felt
like, you know, a superhero atthat time.
So that always motivated me andkept me interested.
And the other thing that reallykept me interested, as you know,
being in the martial arts for asuper long time.
There's so much to learn Like Ican't.
I can't possibly know it all.
There are so many styles, somany cultures, so many cool
things to learn.
I feel like Indiana Jones.
Every day I get to uncover anddiscover new things.
(06:12):
The martial arts is thousandsof years old, so for one person
to like know all of it it's notpossible.
So I was always excited aboutthe learning about where this
came from, where that came from,how this got started.
How did this guy do it?
Why did this guy stand under awaterfall?
Why did this guy create theKodokan?
I was always curious aboutthose things and that curiosity
really kept me going.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
How has your approach to the martial arts evolved
over the years since you startedat such a young age?
There were all these greatlearning moments that you
probably had.
What is the biggest evolutionyou've seen in yourself or in
your training?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Change is constant.
I think that's the biggestevolution and I think so many
people nowadays in the martialarts get married to these
traditions and this old way ofdoing things and these cultures
that were devised 50, 100, 1,000years ago, and they're paying
homage, which is, I mean, it'sokay on one part of it, but
(07:10):
listen, the world changes,people change, and if you don't
adapt to what's happening andwhat's going on, if you don't
embrace new ideas and newconcepts, then you're going to
stagnate and die.
And one of the things I saywhen I'm on stage all the time
is change is is change isconstant and it's important to
adapt and evolve, because youknow who else didn't evolve the
dinosaurs and we all know whathappened to them.
(07:31):
So I don't.
I never wanted to be a dinosaurin the industry.
I always wanted to to respecttradition but to embrace
innovation.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You know, in your, in your content and your responses
, you've you've knowingly orunknowingly quoted some very
influential people andphilosophers, including Deepak
Chopra, which said, you know, hesaid do what you love and
everything will follow.
You don't have to chase money.
(08:02):
And the last thing you said,which is actually Einstein, is
about entropy, and and and JeffGoldblum, actually in Jurassic
Park.
All right, that's someHollywood writer, but what are
their?
And how many Red Dragon studiosare you guys up to now?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
We are currently up to 17 locations here in Southern
Cal.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, my information was a little off.
I had you at 14.
So what's the biggest challengeof overseeing 17 locations?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
17 egos.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Can they run a school without the egos, though?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Can they do yeah listen, you have, you have to
have it because that, that egois that, that self-confidence
and self-assuredness and andreally that was that was more of
a joke the 17 men and womenthat I have that was more of a
joke.
The this, the 17 men and womenthat I have that are part of our
company, are all awesome.
We are a family.
We're in this together and,just like any family, we have
our dysfunctions right.
There's ups, there's downs, sobut we but we're together.
(08:58):
And as they buy into the visionthat we have for Red Dragon
more and more, that togethernesscreates a strong bond and that
bond makes us even better.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And that gets a little bit to the next question
is the business side of themartial arts, and how do you
balance the business side ofmartial arts with the passion
for teaching and inspiring youngpeople?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
It's actually easier than most people believe,
because it goes back to what Isaid.
When someone's on the floorwith me and, by the way, I've
seen you teach so when someone'son the floor with you, there is
no doubt in both the student orthe parent's mind that the
person doing the teaching rightnow loves this more than
anything on the planet.
There is a passion that comesfrom the love that we have, from
(09:44):
the art that we enjoy giving tothe students that we teach and
that can be felt.
That's why I said earlier,people can tell bullshit a mile
away.
You know an instructor that'sin it just for the money.
They don't care, they'redisconnected, they're you know
just.
They care more about themselvesthan they do about the student.
When I watch you teach, when Isee great instructors teach, I
(10:06):
know that it's all about theperson they're teaching at that
moment.
Whether it's one or a hundredon a floor is irrelevant.
It's the, it's the passion thatcomes from it.
So if you have that, you don'tinstantly make money.
Let's, let's.
Let me just clear that up rightaway.
Just because you're passionateabout, because I know a bunch of
passionate martial artists thatare dead ass broke because they
don't know how to bridge thatgap, and it comes to basic
(10:28):
business things like knowing topay your rent on time, paying
your light bill, your phone,electric internet there's so
many things that go along withrunning a business.
And just because you're a blackbelt and you hang your shingle
out the front door going, hey,I'm open and you think the
world's going to flood to you,it doesn't work like that, front
door going, hey, I'm open andyou think the world's going to
flood to you.
It doesn't work like that Inthe late 70s, early 80s, maybe
Not today.
(10:49):
So it's important to anybody whois listening to this right now.
If they're in business,understand and know about
business.
And if you don't, if you're notsure, if you're struggling,
then get yourself a businessmentor, get yourself a coach, or
at least follow people who aresuccessful so that you can see,
okay, what made this personsuccessful, how did they do it?
Rather than pointing fingersand going, oh, that's a McDojo
(11:11):
that person's selling out, maybeyou should point a thumb and go
maybe I need to figure someshit out so that I can be
successful and make a living atmy passion.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
And I think that's true and those words are well
said and well heard by me.
I think that I've seen so manyof my mentors who take care of
your family and the things thatyou need to do for your family
(11:48):
first and then take care of theworld, and I think that's a
that's a great philosophy.
I know that you've had a numberof programs um and kids, kid
and kick, the kid fitnessprogram and the B90X.
Can you tell me a little bitabout those or the ones that you
may be involved in now, andwhat are the core philosophies?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, those are all part of the coaching and
consulting that we do.
It's B90Z, which is a birthdayparty program, and the kids
fitness program, which is nowmorphed into the bully proof
program.
But the bully proof initiativequick sidebar here.
You know, I'm on a missionright now.
Part of my, my passion andpurpose.
Nowadays I'm trying to help amillion kids become bully-proof
by putting them through acertification course that we
(12:28):
have, as of right now, thisrecording.
I've taught just over 80,000kids through this course and I
do these clinics at martial artsstudios.
I do them at public schools,private schools, churches, rec
centers, wherever I can get in.
It was one of the reasons why Iwrote the books.
I wrote three books on bullyprevention for kids to get the
word out, and right now my agentand I are negotiating with
Disney on potentially being ableto do a weekly TV show
(12:51):
featuring anti-bullying segmentsand if I do that, man, I'm
gonna hit a million likeovernight, but that's part of
the goal.
So all those programs that I'vecreated that have helped over a
thousand martial arts schoolsat this point are all now part
of our concierge coaching andconsulting program that we've.
That we've put together.
But it's really about.
(13:11):
For me, the reason I starteddoing is I want to help other
people in the industry, right,we, we talked about that.
Listen, my dad was a fantasticmartial artist, but he didn't
know jack shit about business,right.
And so, like I said, he learnedall the lessons the hard way
because I had the front row seat.
I was taking notes, I waspaying attention to make sure,
okay, this worked, this didn't,this worked, this didn't.
And now this is our next year,is our 60th year in business,
(13:33):
like Red Dragon's been aroundfor 60 years, six decades, and I
wanted to go another sixdecades.
So we've documented everything.
We've got systems and processes,and my catchy little saying is
We've got systems and processesand my catchy little saying is
our systems have systems.
There's nothing that happens inour company by accident.
It is all by design, it is allon purpose and it is all planned
for a reason.
And, by the way, this goeswithout saying, the quality on
(13:55):
the floor.
We're assuming that Becausewe're like, oh, I've got to make
money First, you've got toteach great classes, you've got
to develop great students,because that's the product.
The product that we sell is howdid I change that kid's life?
How did I take that kid fromzero to hero, from a kid who was
shy and introverted getting hisass kicked, to one who's
(14:16):
self-confident, self-assured,now doing way better in school?
If you're not doing that withyour students, that's the first
thing you have to fix.
Quality trumps everything right, it's quality first quality
first.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
That was the question I had.
That you've answered, which wasone of the things that you're
teaching your other businessowners.
But I'm going to move on.
I want to talk a little bitabout and I was there to witness
some of it, but how did youtransition from martial arts to
acting?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Great question.
So when I was young, bruce Leewas the guy right and me and
everybody in the martial arts.
That's how like I want to beBruce Lee.
So I wanted to be my dad.
But I also love Bruce Lee and Iwould watch Bruce Lee on in
movies, tv stuff and I'd be likeman.
I want to do that, I want tohave the ability to do that
(15:10):
would be cool, to do martialarts on screen, to make it, you
know, get a bigger audience andto do that.
And so I started taking stepsin that direction and I did
little little.
You know I'm in California soit's kind of easier access to.
You know, go do this movie orgo do that movie.
(15:31):
But I started out as asbackground player, I started out
as an extra which, like you,just basically are you're part
of a crowd in the scene and uh,and so I kind of, I kind of
worked my way up and then,fortunately, because I developed
a skill good enough, that skillopened some doors and caught
some eyes and caught someattention.
But listen, again, it's back tomy dad.
So when I was first doingmovies and tv, my dad said
listen, when you get on thesesets here's the important thing.
When people tell you what to do, you look them in the eyes and
you say yes, sir, and youcontinue to say yes, sir, and
(15:52):
you do what they tell you to do.
He goes.
When you have a million dollarsin the bank, you look at them
and you say yes, sir, but do youthink we could try this?
And that was great advice,because I was, because the goal
is to be to be humble, right,the worst thing that you could
do is go into a movie set whereyou know nothing about that
world and it just looks likelike you're, you're god's gift
to that world.
And so it was the.
(16:13):
The secret there, my dad taughtme, was be humble.
Be humble but be curious andlearn while you're going.
And so I did.
I did a little stuff here andthere, but, as, as you know,
because you were getting readyand doing the olympics, I was on
the pro tour, uh, for nasca,the north north america sport
karate, because you won goldmedal in 92.
Yes, sir, yeah.
So I started on the pro tour in84, 85 and got my rear end
(16:35):
kicked for the first three, fouryears and it wasn't until 89,
from 89 to 92, that for 89 99that four-year grade is when I
finally became the number onecompetitor in the world.
Right, I was number one.
So you and I were number onesalmost at the same time, which
is great.
You were.
You were doing the thing withthe olympics, which is awesome
and I'm so that that's.
That would be a life goal forme.
I mean, the thing that you didis freaking great.
(16:57):
But I was on the pro tour doingthat and I got scouted when I
was at the battle of Atlanta.
Uh, joe Corley and Pat Johnson,who you know.
Pat had a project and JoeCorley actually recommended me,
for it was a movie called shootfighter and when I was competing
I had this persona, this biggerthan life thing.
(17:17):
And listen, I was young anddumb and cocky as all hell, but
it worked for competition.
I had to have that.
When I got up on that stage,like I am God's gift to the
competition world, it had tocome across to the audience, to
the judges, the whole thing.
Pat didn't like me, he didn'twant me, but Joe knew me from
the circuit.
He knew I wasn't actually anice guy.
That was talented.
(17:38):
Pat goes listen, this guy'sgood, but he's an asshole.
And he wasn't wrong.
But he, you know you don't wanta person like that on your sets
, on your movie sets.
And Pat was doing, you know he'ddone Ninja Turtles, the
original Karate Kid, and so Joesaid, listen, just take a chance
on him.
And he did, and that was theshoot fighter movie that Mike
Bernardo starred in and BillyZapka and Marty Cove, and that
(17:58):
was really kind of my firstforay into it.
And then the thing that kicksin in the movie world is it's
not who you know, it's who knowsyou.
And now Pat knew me.
He knew that he could trust me.
He knew I was actually a goodguy that was talented, and so,
as he would do differentprojects, my phone would ring
hey, do you want to come do this?
(18:19):
Hey, do you want to come dothat?
So it opened.
It opened a lot of doors thatwould have normally been closed
to me do that.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
So it opened.
It opened a lot of doors thatwould have normally been closed
to me.
That's a I have a funny petstory.
But uh, you know he, uh, weshare the commonality for
whatever reason.
He didn't like me when he firstmet me and took me into the
office to tell me that he justhad a feeling about me and I had
not said anything, doneanything and I think it had a
lot to do with the Olympic thingand he just assumed I was a
certain way.
(18:47):
But it was an interesting time,but that's a story for another
day.
What was it like to be part ofthe iconic movies I mean you
were in.
You know Karate Kid, mortalKombat, you know Batman.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what it was like to be
part of all that?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Surreal a little bit about what it was like to be
part of all that.
Surreal is the best word I canI can use when I'm when I'm
talking about those.
You know, the mortal kombat wasthe, the thing that really put
me over and really made it,where I was able to get some
bigger and better projects.
And I got the mortal kombatrole almost by accident.
And you know, I think they werelooking for martial artists to
do background in in the movieand it was a big budget
(19:28):
hollywood movie and I'd neverbeen in when I'd done, you know,
shoot fighter, revenge of theninja, like basically b movie
stuff.
Um, but this was gonna be thefirst a type of movie that I
have an opportunity to get inand I went to the audition.
They were looking forbackground fighters.
There's like a hundred guys atthis audition.
It was crazy, but they had itset up like a tournament.
They had three people in chairs.
(19:49):
I had no idea who they were andthey had like this square
performance area and they saidjust come up and do your best
stuff.
Well, this played right into mywheelhouse.
I'm like this is a tournamentand I got a chance to go like
near the end.
So I was watching everybody.
I'm like, ah, that guy sucks,that guy's good, that guy's good
, that guy's really good, like.
And so now I'm thinking whatcan I do to set myself apart?
(20:11):
Cause there were some guys thatwere there that at that time
were probably a little betterthan me and I was like, okay, I
got an idea, so they call me upand I go, I go start doing my
form and as they're sitting inthe chair, I realized I can jump
over these guys.
So I have a part in my thingwhere I do a flying sidekick in
the beginning of my kata.
I just took three extra stepsand I did it over them sitting
in the chairs and to this day Iremember them Slow motion.
(20:34):
It's a podcast, but I watchedtheir heads look like this Just
watch me jump over.
I did some moves behind themand then I dove, I did a diving
roll back over them and Ifinished and I was like, okay,
well, hopefully that was enoughand I go home.
This was way before cell phonesand I go home, my phone rings.
I'm like, hey, we want you tocome back tomorrow.
I'm like all right, cool, so Icome back the next day.
And now there's maybe 25 guysand they go.
(20:57):
We want you to do some morestuff, no-transcript guys.
We want real martial artists todo the background, some of the
background fighting great.
So now my, my third callback,and I'm like man, it's hard to
(21:19):
be an extra in an a-list movie.
I go back the third time andthere are three guys, me and two
other guys.
They have a big 35 millimetermovie camera.
There's a bunch of peoplearound it I know none of these
people are and a guy walks overto me and we're just standing
there.
They don't ask us to do anymore shows.
Guy walks over to me, looks atme and goes, it looks all three
(21:39):
of us and says would you guysmind taking off your shirts?
And I looked at him and I'mkind of a smart ass and I was
nervous as hell.
So I looked at him.
I go listen.
If it'll help me get in thismovie, I'll go back to your
trailer.
Okay, right, and so you'relaughing and no one can see this
.
But you were.
You were laughing and that'sthe reaction I was hoping for.
But that didn't happen.
(21:59):
The dude looked at me,stone-faced, and said nothing
and I was like okay, whateverthis is, I just lost it.
I'm not getting it.
So I was in great shape.
I still try and keep myself ingreat shape.
We take off our shirts.
We're standing there and I'mtrying to look like I'm not
(22:22):
flexing, but I'm flexing.
I look over to my left and theguy on my left he's kind of
heavyset.
Guy on my right is like a Furby.
He's like all furry and stuff alot of body hair and so they
take the camera filming us.
It was the weirdest thing totake the camera.
They're filming us and thenthey go into, like this football
, huddle behind the camera andwhat seemed like 10 minutes it
was probably 30 seconds, and theguy who came over to take their
shirts off, he come, walks upto me and he shakes my hand.
He goes welcome to world ofcombat.
(22:43):
You're going to be scorpion.
And until that moment I had noidea and I don't know to this
day.
And I've asked larry casanoff,the producer, many times like
did you really have somebody orwas it an open call audition?
We just weren't telling people?
He still hasn't told me whatwas going to happen, but I
didn't know.
And looking back on it, like ifthey had said, hey, these roles
(23:05):
are open, I probably would havebeen nervous.
I may have not done what I didin the grand scheme of things.
And the funny end to that storyis I got home and I called my
mom.
I go, mom, mom, mom, I got inthis movie.
I'm going to be scorpion.
She goes that's great honey,what's a scorpion.
So that's how I got that.
(23:25):
And then and then, once I gotthat it was, it was a little
easier to get to.
Uh, I got to do Batman rightafter that and then blade right
after that.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Well, that's going to lead into my next question.
What was it like to double for?
I mean, listen, I think youlook like them, but what was it
like to double for georgeclooney and batman and robin?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
that was, I mean again, a super surreal
experience, and you know, I'mprobably one of only 25 people
on the planet that's everactually worn the real bat suit
from the movie.
And so so Pat Johnson, who, whodid the fight choreography for
that he did Mortal Kombat heinvited me to come over to
Batman.
He goes I think you can doubleGeorge Clooney and I go, okay,
(24:03):
cool.
And I went in and got to meetthe director, joel Schumacher,
and, uh, I didn't have to do anymartial arts just because Pat
pulled me in and I went and metJoel and Joel Joel was a
floyantly flamboyant, to put itmildly, and I walked in and met
him hey, how you doing.
And he walked up to me.
He grabs me by the chin.
He goes oh my God, you areperfect.
(24:25):
Your chin is exactly likeGeorge Clooney's, which it is
Actually.
We have the exact same chin andbecause, you know, with the
mascot, all you're seeing is thechin.
He goes.
You are perfect, same height,same chin.
I love it.
Thanks, pat Boom.
We walked out.
That was my audition for Batman, and so we got that.
But the coolest thing about thatone of the coolest things was
the movie previous to Batman andRobin was Batman Forever with
(24:46):
Val Kilmer.
So what they do is theyrepurpose the suits.
So the next movie, the suitsfrom that previous movie become
the stunt suits that yourehearse in.
So when they outfitted me andthey put me in the bat suit, I
looked in the front of the chesspiece and it said Kilmer on it.
So I had Val Kilmer's bat suitthat I got to take pictures in
(25:06):
and practice and do all thestuff in for the movie.
And then they had the beauty, athing called the beauty suits,
and they have a trailer that iscalled the bat trailer and the
only thing in there are thebatman suits and they've got
like 50 of them because you know, something happens to one, they
get a pretty face with theother.
So that experience of goinginto and it would take 25 to 30
(25:27):
minutes to put the suit on, likein the movie you see him, he
gets in that thing in like fiveseconds don't happen.
That thing takes forever for it.
But listen, it was really cool.
I got to meet ArnoldSchwarzenegger, uma Thurman,
chris O'Donnell, aliciaSilverstone.
So to get to hang out and meetwith those people on set was it
was just surreal.
We did more fight scenes in thatBatsuit than they'd ever done
(25:48):
in any Batman movie.
And we did some great stuff andClay Barber, who was Robin's
double, him and I together, Imean we did some great stuff
that is somewhere on the cuttingroom floor that they just
didn't put in the movie Becausewhat I think happened was at
that time George Clooney wasn'tGeorge Clooney, he had just come
(26:10):
off of ER.
He did another movie withNicole Kidman that did OK, and
then they put him in Batman, butthey didn't trust that he was
going to be able to carry themovie.
So if you go back and watchBatman and Robin which I don't
recommend if you go back andwatch it, it's more about Mr
Freeze and poison Ivy, which areArnold Schwarzenegger and Uma
Thurman, who at that time werehuge stars.
It's more about them andBatgirl than it actually is
(26:30):
about Batman.
So they cut out a lot of ourfight scenes.
That that was at the premiere.
I was really bummed out aboutit because we would do the.
We do the fight scenes on set,the crew would do standing, give
us standing ovations, like thestuff they're like.
We've never seen stuff likethat because you know how
talented clay is right.
So I'm trying to keep up withhim.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
That dude can kick like nobody's business, but we
we came up with some really,really creative fight scenes
that unfortunately didn't makethe final cut of the movie well,
you know that the uh, I don'tknow, and you may not know this,
but the casting director forthat uh, finn, she was a friend
of dan hups from wmac masters,and so I got a phone call from
(27:08):
macho.
They were looking for the nextrobin, and so, um, they asked me
if I had anybody Right and Igave them two of my students one
kid just amazing looking PuertoRican Swedish kid, angelo Perez
Amazing, and then another kidfrom from Norway, and both of
(27:29):
these kids were really goodmartial artists, they had
trained me for quite some timeand they went through about four
or five callbacks with molly.
Molly finn is her name yes hepassed away um her.
Her son was a friend of dan'sfrom the art world.
Um, long story short, theyended up obviously casting um
what was that kids, the guy, the?
(27:50):
Uh, what was robin's the actor?
chris o'donnell they cast chriso'donnell instead, but had they
cast these two kids, you know,because she had found it from
terminator um, then it wouldhave been a different movie,
maybe just for the martial artsat least, because these kids
could actually do martial arts.
But yeah, I mean, I rememberall of that, but I've always
(28:10):
been so happy and proud for youof all those opportunities you
had.
But how do you balance yourbusy career with your personal
life without prying?
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well, when I did Batman and Mortal Kombat, I
wasn't married.
I was young and single andstill ready to mingle, so it was
a lot easier at that time.
Nowadays I'm married, I got twokids, so it becomes a little
more challenging to do that.
But the answer to your questionis just scheduling and learning
to say no, like there's stuff Ihave to turn down nowadays that
(28:43):
I just I can't crowbar anotherthing into my schedule what are
your interests outside of themartial arts in acting?
snowboarding and mountain bikeriding I did not know that oh,
oh, I mean, I love snowboarding.
It's really one of the things.
And listen, as I get older,I've gotten into golf.
Unfortunately, it's verystereotypical and cliche.
(29:03):
Oh, an old guy golfing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can't.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
I can't golf but snowboarding.
I'm a big fan of skiing becauseit's just a lot easier to get
up and down.
But a lot easier to get up anddown.
But uh, what advice would yougive to young people who are?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
interested in pursuing martial arts or acting,
I will give them the sameadvice that uh, our friend, pat
johnson, gave me, uh, early onin my career.
It's just on this set of shootfighter, one of the first things
I did with him, uh, he gave mesome great advice because I had
some speaking lines and stuffand I wasn't doing well.
I wasn't an actor at that pointbecause I hadn't taken any
acting lessons, I was just amartial artist that thought he
could act.
There was a big differencebetween those two people.
(29:41):
He came up to me one day on setand he goes Chris, I want to
tell you something, chris, myson, as he would say to us all
the time on WMAC, he said listen, they can take a great actor
and make him look like a martialartist, but they cannot take a
great martial artist and makehim look like an actor.
You need to take acting lessons.
(30:02):
And I took that advice to heartand I did and I signed up, took
acting lessons for six, sevenyears, uh, just going through,
and I you know three differentacting coaches because different
styles.
You got improv, you got drama,you got comedy.
So that advice served me wellbecause it helped me land some
(30:24):
roles that I wouldn't havegotten had I not taken those
lessons.
The other thing I would say islearn to understand that no
doesn't mean you're no good.
I can't tell you, herb, theamount of times I heard no, and
I'm sure you have too.
No, you're not right for this.
No, you're not right for that.
It doesn't mean you're not good.
It just means a castingdirector has a job.
They've got to make thatcharacter be the person off the
(30:44):
page on the screen.
Sometimes you don't have theright look, sometimes you're not
delivering your acting linesthe right way or you're just not
the right body type of whatthey're looking for.
It's very specific on roles thatthey cast, but the thing for
that to remember is this You'rea no for that one, but, like
Molly Finn, the casting director, okay, you're not right for
(31:06):
that, but they cast otherprojects and if you're
respectful and you're kind andyou're humble and you do the
right things, you do a good job,but you're just not right for
that role, they go.
Hey, I remember that Chris guy.
Things you do a good job, butyou're just not right for that
role to go.
Hey, I remember that Chris guy.
He wasn't right for that thatmovie, but I think this one's
going to be good for him.
Let's give him a call.
And so I would get calls likethat on other castings that I
went to that the answer was no,no, no, and I get pulled into
other projects.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
And I have one.
I have one last question, andit's are you involved or do you
have any plans of becominginvolved in, I mean, what's next
for you?
Do you have any more film ortelevision projects?
Or is it business, the mortalcombat, the business combat
thing that you're doing that?
What is your, what's next foryou?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Uh, what's next for me?
Uh, number one on the agenda is, uh, pushing forward on my
bully proof program.
Uh, hopefully getting that onDisney and doing that and that
combines both my love of martialarts and my love of film and
television, that would be great.
So I'm pushing forward withthat.
We'll find out what happensfirst quarter of 2025.
With that I've got anotherkid's book for bully-proof
prevention that I'm going tolaunch.
Our goal we're at 17 Red Dragonlocations.
(32:07):
My first goal's next stop is 25.
I want to get us to 25.
If we get 25 and I canstabilize, I'm going to shoot
for 50.
25 and I can stabilize, I'mgoing to shoot for 50.
Because, listen and you knowthis herb what we do changes
lives and it saves lives.
The amount of students andparents that I've talked to and
run into over the years.
(32:27):
It says my kid still remembersyou and he remembers what you
taught him.
And blah, blah, blah.
Because now it's generationalfor me.
I've been teaching for almost 40years, so I'm on my almost my
third generation of people.
I've been teaching for almost40 years, so I'm on my almost my
third generation of people.
I've got kids, of kids who arebringing me their kids.
So not only do I feel old, butI feel honored that, like you
(32:47):
taught my dad and you taught mygrandpa, I'm like I taught your
grandpa Holy cow, that's crazy.
So we're pushing forward that Ido a ton of public speaking.
So I'm like I, I'm listen, I'mnot stopping, you know I'm I'm a
rolling stone that's going togather no moss.
So I'm doing public speakingand writing books.
I'm doing the boy for thing.
I did a movie with master kenlast year called cop versus
killer, which is out on amazonum, whose real name is matt page
(33:10):
, uh, so I'm still doing that.
I'm working.
We've got a couple filmprojects that I'm going to do
next year as well.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
So I'm still doing all the things that I did
because I enjoy it and I love itand I'm very blessed to be able
to make a really good living atthe things that I love well, I
think that's, that's the, that'sthe cap to a great conversation
today, because the one thingI've always respected and
admired and I enjoyed workingwith you, the short period of
(33:38):
time that I did get to on WMACMasters and the cast and crew
and characters that we, uh, uh,we we had the benefit of, of
spending time with I mean, someof the best, in my opinion, some
of the best martial artists um,uh, striking, but the?
Um, with the exception of oneor two, the but what an amazing
(34:00):
time that was, was an amazinglife.
But the thing that has alwaysimpressed me about you, chris,
is that you don't stop.
Many people just stop.
They either stopped doingmartial arts or they stopped
finding and doing what theirpassion was.
And the thing that you saidwhich I'm going to remember and
I always like to have a takeawayfor people, is we help people,
and you have helped and continueto help many people.
(34:23):
I've been a beneficiary of thatduring that time and over the
years that we've stayed in touch.
You know you've always beenthat positive influence and I
love your story about yourconfidence and your what some
might perceive to be somethingdifferent than that, but you
just used it in such an amazingway, and I wish you the best as
(34:45):
you continue to help people.
Do what we do, do it better,whatever it takes for them to
understand that, because I knowthat your business seminars
resonate with people and I knowthat they sign up there for a
reason.
If somebody wanted to getinvolved in your programs, where
would be the best place forthem to find you?
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Well, listen, I'm the easiest guy to find on social
media.
I'm on all the platformsFacebook, Instagram, Snapchat,
TikTok, YouTube.
I'm pretty easy to find.
The challenge is spelling mylast name.
But you could go to our studio,which is RedDragonKarate.
But you could go to, you know,our studio, which is red dragon
karatecom.
Or you can go to businesscombatcom, and that's combat
with a K, a little tongue incheek reference to mortal combat
(35:23):
.
Uh, for more information onthat.
But, Herb, listen, you're ahumble guy too, so don't sell
yourself short.
We crushed on WMAC masters andthe cat.
The cast that they put togetheron that was made up of the best
martial artists in the countryat that time, so even if we
don't say so ourselves even ifwe don't say so, I'm going to
say it for you.
Okay, you.
And if you've never seen herb akick, I've never seen someone
(35:47):
kick that hard in my life.
You actually scared me thefirst time I heard you kick a
shield and so I was superimpressed with you and I knew
you'd won the olympics and stuffso I knew you were no joke, but
we had a blast on that show andwe got to do pull up and push
up workouts on Pat Johnson.
Grab bar.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Grab bar and then we went.
We spent as much time in thegym and I was jealous because I
could never look.
No matter what I did, Icouldn't get a tricep like you
guys had.
What I did, I couldn't get atricep like you guys had and
nobody wanted to take theirshirt off in front of Hakeem or
Mike Bernardo.
Those guys had it Well.
(36:25):
Chris, thanks again for today.
I know you have a busy schedule, but we'll have to do it again.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Thank you, Thanks for having me on the show man.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Well, that was an amazing podcast and I even
learned a few things about ChrisCasamassa that I did not know
before.
Tenth Degree Black Belt stillinspiring younger generations to
succeed, but, more importantly,bringing others along that
journey that can help others.
His words about inspiringothers and leaving a legacy will
(36:56):
last with me for a long time,and I hope they do with you as
well.
Don't forget to check out ourother podcast, and again, this
has been a Masters Alliancepodcast, uncut, and I'm Herb
Perez.
See you next time, thank you.
Welcome to the Masters Alliance podcast and I
am Herb Perez.
Today we are joined by ChrisCasamassa, 10th degree black
belt in the Red Dragon Schools,owner and operator of over 17
schools.
More importantly, he has beeneverything from an actor, stunt
person, successful businessentrepreneur and now a leader
(00:22):
amongst leaders, teachingchildren and best school owners
how to be better.
Strap in, this is going to bean amazing podcast.
Welcome to the Masters Alliancepodcast.
Uncut and uncut is a great wordbecause we talk about pretty
much anything and everything andtoday I'm joined by a good
(00:45):
friend, great friend, who taughtme a lot about what was
necessary, certainly in what Icall Hollywood.
He's been able to take thatskill and use the same skills
that he used to become anamazing martial artist and
transcend not only that arenabut acting and everything else,
but more importantly now, as aspeaker and a motivator of young
(01:07):
children.
Welcome, chris Casamassa.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Thank you, sir, happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Or, as I like to call you, the red dragon, and
certainly well-earned, the manythings you've done.
But I want to start with.
I know you had a closerelationship with your dad.
What was it like to train withyour father, a martial arts
pioneer, from such a young age?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, that's a fantastic first question, so
let's dive in.
First of all, just in the grandscheme of things, it was great.
I had a front row seat to theearly days of martial arts in
America.
I got to watch firsthand one ofthe guys who helped bring mixed
martial arts into the forefrontof today's culture.
(01:52):
So that part of it was great.
Now, as anybody who was in themartial arts knows, working with
your family has its super highhighs and its super low lows,
because when you do shit wrong,it's never about what you did
wrong, it's about what you didwhen you were six years old.
So working with family it's adouble-edged sword.
And uh, but unfortunately forme, listen, I had way more great
(02:13):
times than I had bad times.
And uh, like I said I, I got towatch, in my opinion, one of
the greats when it comes tomartial arts in America.
You know he's my dad, so I'm alittle prejudiced, but literally
I always looked at him like amodern day Michelangelo.
He created something out ofnothing and until he passed away
(02:36):
he was creating until his verylast day.
So he was an innovator, he wasa pioneer and I was happy to
have that opportunity tobasically have that front row
seat.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And and.
Again I'm sorry for his passing.
I know it's been a minute ortwo for that and sorry for your
loss, but hopefully this is nottoo personal of a question.
But you know what?
What were one or two or justeven one of the most important
lessons that you learned fromhim?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
that you learned from him.
The most important lesson wasthat passion trumps everything.
If you have a passion for whatyou do, success generally will
follow when it comes from fromthe heart.
If you're in it just for themoney, if you're in it just for
the fame, you're in it for thewrong reasons, and the truth is
(03:27):
people can smell bullshit a mileaway.
So that was probably one of thebiggest things.
The second biggest thing wasdon't go halfway Like fully
commit to what it is that you'regoing to do and give it a
thousand percent of what you'vegot, and if it works, cool.
And if it doesn't, then pivotand do something else.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Well, you've achieved the I mean just an outstanding
accomplishment in the martialarts you, you have reached a
ninth level degree black belt.
What, what motivated you tocontinue that journey, despite
all these other successes you'vehad in life?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Well, just to point of clarity, I'm actually 10th
degree now, which, when my dadpassed, that title went to me.
So yeah, there's that.
Um, what motivated me was andlisten, as cliche as it's going
to sound, it's true my dad wasmy hero and I always aspired to
be not like him, but to followin his footsteps, because I'm my
(04:26):
own person.
He always encouraged me to bemy own person, but he was
someone that I always looked upto, and I got started in the
martial arts when I was fouryears old because I wanted to be
around my dad, and we're goingto kind of turn a little bit
here.
My dad was a great martialartist and loved the martial
arts, but on the business sideof things he didn't really know
what he was doing.
(04:46):
He was from the Marine Corps,he was a cop, and he decided I
love martial arts more thananything and I want to make that
my living.
And so he learned all of hislessons the hard way.
But one of the hard ways was mydad was never home.
He was always at the studio andI learned at a very young age.
You want to see, daddy, you gotto go to karate, and so that
got me involved with it.
But once I got involved with itI kind of got hooked on it.
(05:08):
And again, one of the importantlessons he told me was he said
listen, if you want to start youcan, but you are not allowed to
stop or quit until you make itto black belt.
And of course you know you'refour years old, you're like okay
, dad, whatever, and whatever.
(05:30):
And there was times during mytraining where I wanted to give
up.
I didn't make my black beltuntil I was 10, which at that
time was unheard of having a10-year-old kid black belt.
But that was six years oftraining and when I was eight I
wanted to quit.
When I was nine I wanted toquit.
He wouldn't let me and hetaught me about that dedication
and perseverance at a very youngage.
And he said now you're a blackbelt, you quit.
Well, as anybody knows, you getto black belt Like I was hooked
.
That was a drug for me.
(05:50):
I wasn't going anywhere, like Ihad that black belt and I felt
like, you know, a superhero atthat time.
So that always motivated me andkept me interested.
And the other thing that reallykept me interested, as you know,
being in the martial arts for asuper long time.
There's so much to learn Like Ican't.
I can't possibly know it all.
There are so many styles, somany cultures, so many cool
things to learn.
I feel like Indiana Jones.
Every day I get to uncover anddiscover new things.
(06:12):
The martial arts is thousandsof years old, so for one person
to like know all of it it's notpossible.
So I was always excited aboutthe learning about where this
came from, where that came from,how this got started.
How did this guy do it?
Why did this guy stand under awaterfall?
Why did this guy create theKodokan?
I was always curious aboutthose things and that curiosity
really kept me going.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
How has your approach to the martial arts evolved
over the years since you startedat such a young age?
There were all these greatlearning moments that you
probably had.
What is the biggest evolutionyou've seen in yourself or in
your training?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Change is constant.
I think that's the biggestevolution and I think so many
people nowadays in the martialarts get married to these
traditions and this old way ofdoing things and these cultures
that were devised 50, 100, 1,000years ago, and they're paying
homage, which is, I mean, it'sokay on one part of it, but
(07:10):
listen, the world changes,people change, and if you don't
adapt to what's happening andwhat's going on, if you don't
embrace new ideas and newconcepts, then you're going to
stagnate and die.
And one of the things I saywhen I'm on stage all the time
is change is is change isconstant and it's important to
adapt and evolve, because youknow who else didn't evolve the
dinosaurs and we all know whathappened to them.
(07:31):
So I don't.
I never wanted to be a dinosaurin the industry.
I always wanted to to respecttradition but to embrace
innovation.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You know, in your, in your content and your responses
, you've you've knowingly orunknowingly quoted some very
influential people andphilosophers, including Deepak
Chopra, which said, you know, hesaid do what you love and
everything will follow.
You don't have to chase money.
(08:02):
And the last thing you said,which is actually Einstein, is
about entropy, and and and JeffGoldblum, actually in Jurassic
Park.
All right, that's someHollywood writer, but what are
their?
And how many Red Dragon studiosare you guys up to now?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
We are currently up to 17 locations here in Southern
Cal.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, my information was a little off.
I had you at 14.
So what's the biggest challengeof overseeing 17 locations?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
17 egos.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Can they run a school without the egos, though?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Can they do yeah listen, you have, you have to
have it because that, that egois that, that self-confidence
and self-assuredness and andreally that was that was more of
a joke the 17 men and womenthat I have that was more of a
joke.
The this, the 17 men and womenthat I have that are part of our
company, are all awesome.
We are a family.
We're in this together and,just like any family, we have
our dysfunctions right.
There's ups, there's downs, sobut we but we're together.
(08:58):
And as they buy into the visionthat we have for Red Dragon
more and more, that togethernesscreates a strong bond and that
bond makes us even better.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And that gets a little bit to the next question
is the business side of themartial arts, and how do you
balance the business side ofmartial arts with the passion
for teaching and inspiring youngpeople?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
It's actually easier than most people believe,
because it goes back to what Isaid.
When someone's on the floorwith me and, by the way, I've
seen you teach so when someone'son the floor with you, there is
no doubt in both the student orthe parent's mind that the
person doing the teaching rightnow loves this more than
anything on the planet.
There is a passion that comesfrom the love that we have, from
(09:44):
the art that we enjoy giving tothe students that we teach and
that can be felt.
That's why I said earlier,people can tell bullshit a mile
away.
You know an instructor that'sin it just for the money.
They don't care, they'redisconnected, they're you know
just.
They care more about themselvesthan they do about the student.
When I watch you teach, when Isee great instructors teach, I
(10:06):
know that it's all about theperson they're teaching at that
moment.
Whether it's one or a hundredon a floor is irrelevant.
It's the, it's the passion thatcomes from it.
So if you have that, you don'tinstantly make money.
Let's, let's.
Let me just clear that up rightaway.
Just because you're passionateabout, because I know a bunch of
passionate martial artists thatare dead ass broke because they
don't know how to bridge thatgap, and it comes to basic
(10:28):
business things like knowing topay your rent on time, paying
your light bill, your phone,electric internet there's so
many things that go along withrunning a business.
And just because you're a blackbelt and you hang your shingle
out the front door going, hey,I'm open and you think the
world's going to flood to you,it doesn't work like that, front
door going, hey, I'm open andyou think the world's going to
flood to you.
It doesn't work like that Inthe late 70s, early 80s, maybe
Not today.
(10:49):
So it's important to anybody whois listening to this right now.
If they're in business,understand and know about
business.
And if you don't, if you're notsure, if you're struggling,
then get yourself a businessmentor, get yourself a coach, or
at least follow people who aresuccessful so that you can see,
okay, what made this personsuccessful, how did they do it?
Rather than pointing fingersand going, oh, that's a McDojo
(11:11):
that person's selling out, maybeyou should point a thumb and go
maybe I need to figure someshit out so that I can be
successful and make a living atmy passion.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
And I think that's true and those words are well
said and well heard by me.
I think that I've seen so manyof my mentors who take care of
your family and the things thatyou need to do for your family
(11:48):
first and then take care of theworld, and I think that's a
that's a great philosophy.
I know that you've had a numberof programs um and kids, kid
and kick, the kid fitnessprogram and the B90X.
Can you tell me a little bitabout those or the ones that you
may be involved in now, andwhat are the core philosophies?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, those are all part of the coaching and
consulting that we do.
It's B90Z, which is a birthdayparty program, and the kids
fitness program, which is nowmorphed into the bully proof
program.
But the bully proof initiativequick sidebar here.
You know, I'm on a missionright now.
Part of my, my passion andpurpose.
Nowadays I'm trying to help amillion kids become bully-proof
by putting them through acertification course that we
(12:28):
have, as of right now, thisrecording.
I've taught just over 80,000kids through this course and I
do these clinics at martial artsstudios.
I do them at public schools,private schools, churches, rec
centers, wherever I can get in.
It was one of the reasons why Iwrote the books.
I wrote three books on bullyprevention for kids to get the
word out, and right now my agentand I are negotiating with
Disney on potentially being ableto do a weekly TV show
(12:51):
featuring anti-bullying segmentsand if I do that, man, I'm
gonna hit a million likeovernight, but that's part of
the goal.
So all those programs that I'vecreated that have helped over a
thousand martial arts schoolsat this point are all now part
of our concierge coaching andconsulting program that we've.
That we've put together.
But it's really about.
(13:11):
For me, the reason I starteddoing is I want to help other
people in the industry, right,we, we talked about that.
Listen, my dad was a fantasticmartial artist, but he didn't
know jack shit about business,right.
And so, like I said, he learnedall the lessons the hard way
because I had the front row seat.
I was taking notes, I waspaying attention to make sure,
okay, this worked, this didn't,this worked, this didn't.
And now this is our next year,is our 60th year in business,
(13:33):
like Red Dragon's been aroundfor 60 years, six decades, and I
wanted to go another sixdecades.
So we've documented everything.
We've got systems and processes,and my catchy little saying is
We've got systems and processesand my catchy little saying is
our systems have systems.
There's nothing that happens inour company by accident.
It is all by design, it is allon purpose and it is all planned
for a reason.
And, by the way, this goeswithout saying, the quality on
(13:55):
the floor.
We're assuming that Becausewe're like, oh, I've got to make
money First, you've got toteach great classes, you've got
to develop great students,because that's the product.
The product that we sell is howdid I change that kid's life?
How did I take that kid fromzero to hero, from a kid who was
shy and introverted getting hisass kicked, to one who's
(14:16):
self-confident, self-assured,now doing way better in school?
If you're not doing that withyour students, that's the first
thing you have to fix.
Quality trumps everything right, it's quality first quality
first.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
That was the question I had.
That you've answered, which wasone of the things that you're
teaching your other businessowners.
But I'm going to move on.
I want to talk a little bitabout and I was there to witness
some of it, but how did youtransition from martial arts to
acting?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Great question.
So when I was young, bruce Leewas the guy right and me and
everybody in the martial arts.
That's how like I want to beBruce Lee.
So I wanted to be my dad.
But I also love Bruce Lee and Iwould watch Bruce Lee on in
movies, tv stuff and I'd be likeman.
I want to do that, I want tohave the ability to do that
(15:10):
would be cool, to do martialarts on screen, to make it, you
know, get a bigger audience andto do that.
And so I started taking stepsin that direction and I did
little little.
You know I'm in California soit's kind of easier access to.
You know, go do this movie orgo do that movie.
(15:31):
But I started out as asbackground player, I started out
as an extra which, like you,just basically are you're part
of a crowd in the scene and uh,and so I kind of, I kind of
worked my way up and then,fortunately, because I developed
a skill good enough, that skillopened some doors and caught
some eyes and caught someattention.
But listen, again, it's back tomy dad.
So when I was first doingmovies and tv, my dad said
listen, when you get on thesesets here's the important thing.
When people tell you what to do, you look them in the eyes and
you say yes, sir, and youcontinue to say yes, sir, and
(15:52):
you do what they tell you to do.
He goes.
When you have a million dollarsin the bank, you look at them
and you say yes, sir, but do youthink we could try this?
And that was great advice,because I was, because the goal
is to be to be humble, right,the worst thing that you could
do is go into a movie set whereyou know nothing about that
world and it just looks likelike you're, you're god's gift
to that world.
And so it was the.
(16:13):
The secret there, my dad taughtme, was be humble.
Be humble but be curious andlearn while you're going.
And so I did.
I did a little stuff here andthere, but, as, as you know,
because you were getting readyand doing the olympics, I was on
the pro tour, uh, for nasca,the north north america sport
karate, because you won goldmedal in 92.
Yes, sir, yeah.
So I started on the pro tour in84, 85 and got my rear end
(16:35):
kicked for the first three, fouryears and it wasn't until 89,
from 89 to 92, that for 89 99that four-year grade is when I
finally became the number onecompetitor in the world.
Right, I was number one.
So you and I were number onesalmost at the same time, which
is great.
You were.
You were doing the thing withthe olympics, which is awesome
and I'm so that that's.
That would be a life goal forme.
I mean, the thing that you didis freaking great.
(16:57):
But I was on the pro tour doingthat and I got scouted when I
was at the battle of Atlanta.
Uh, joe Corley and Pat Johnson,who you know.
Pat had a project and JoeCorley actually recommended me,
for it was a movie called shootfighter and when I was competing
I had this persona, this biggerthan life thing.
(17:17):
And listen, I was young anddumb and cocky as all hell, but
it worked for competition.
I had to have that.
When I got up on that stage,like I am God's gift to the
competition world, it had tocome across to the audience, to
the judges, the whole thing.
Pat didn't like me, he didn'twant me, but Joe knew me from
the circuit.
He knew I wasn't actually anice guy.
That was talented.
(17:38):
Pat goes listen, this guy'sgood, but he's an asshole.
And he wasn't wrong.
But he, you know you don't wanta person like that on your sets
, on your movie sets.
And Pat was doing, you know he'ddone Ninja Turtles, the
original Karate Kid, and so Joesaid, listen, just take a chance
on him.
And he did, and that was theshoot fighter movie that Mike
Bernardo starred in and BillyZapka and Marty Cove, and that
(17:58):
was really kind of my firstforay into it.
And then the thing that kicksin in the movie world is it's
not who you know, it's who knowsyou.
And now Pat knew me.
He knew that he could trust me.
He knew I was actually a goodguy that was talented, and so,
as he would do differentprojects, my phone would ring
hey, do you want to come do this?
(18:19):
Hey, do you want to come dothat?
So it opened.
It opened a lot of doors thatwould have normally been closed
to me do that.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
So it opened.
It opened a lot of doors thatwould have normally been closed
to me.
That's a I have a funny petstory.
But uh, you know he, uh, weshare the commonality for
whatever reason.
He didn't like me when he firstmet me and took me into the
office to tell me that he justhad a feeling about me and I had
not said anything, doneanything and I think it had a
lot to do with the Olympic thingand he just assumed I was a
certain way.
(18:47):
But it was an interesting time,but that's a story for another
day.
What was it like to be part ofthe iconic movies I mean you
were in.
You know Karate Kid, mortalKombat, you know Batman.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what it was like to be
part of all that?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Surreal a little bit about what it was like to be
part of all that.
Surreal is the best word I canI can use when I'm when I'm
talking about those.
You know, the mortal kombat wasthe, the thing that really put
me over and really made it,where I was able to get some
bigger and better projects.
And I got the mortal kombatrole almost by accident.
And you know, I think they werelooking for martial artists to
do background in in the movieand it was a big budget
(19:28):
hollywood movie and I'd neverbeen in when I'd done, you know,
shoot fighter, revenge of theninja, like basically b movie
stuff.
Um, but this was gonna be thefirst a type of movie that I
have an opportunity to get inand I went to the audition.
They were looking forbackground fighters.
There's like a hundred guys atthis audition.
It was crazy, but they had itset up like a tournament.
They had three people in chairs.
(19:49):
I had no idea who they were andthey had like this square
performance area and they saidjust come up and do your best
stuff.
Well, this played right into mywheelhouse.
I'm like this is a tournamentand I got a chance to go like
near the end.
So I was watching everybody.
I'm like, ah, that guy sucks,that guy's good, that guy's good
, that guy's really good, like.
And so now I'm thinking whatcan I do to set myself apart?
(20:11):
Cause there were some guys thatwere there that at that time
were probably a little betterthan me and I was like, okay, I
got an idea, so they call me upand I go, I go start doing my
form and as they're sitting inthe chair, I realized I can jump
over these guys.
So I have a part in my thingwhere I do a flying sidekick in
the beginning of my kata.
I just took three extra stepsand I did it over them sitting
in the chairs and to this day Iremember them Slow motion.
(20:34):
It's a podcast, but I watchedtheir heads look like this Just
watch me jump over.
I did some moves behind themand then I dove, I did a diving
roll back over them and Ifinished and I was like, okay,
well, hopefully that was enoughand I go home.
This was way before cell phonesand I go home, my phone rings.
I'm like, hey, we want you tocome back tomorrow.
I'm like all right, cool, so Icome back the next day.
And now there's maybe 25 guysand they go.
(20:57):
We want you to do some morestuff, no-transcript guys.
We want real martial artists todo the background, some of the
background fighting great.
So now my, my third callback,and I'm like man, it's hard to
(21:19):
be an extra in an a-list movie.
I go back the third time andthere are three guys, me and two
other guys.
They have a big 35 millimetermovie camera.
There's a bunch of peoplearound it I know none of these
people are and a guy walks overto me and we're just standing
there.
They don't ask us to do anymore shows.
Guy walks over to me, looks atme and goes, it looks all three
(21:39):
of us and says would you guysmind taking off your shirts?
And I looked at him and I'mkind of a smart ass and I was
nervous as hell.
So I looked at him.
I go listen.
If it'll help me get in thismovie, I'll go back to your
trailer.
Okay, right, and so you'relaughing and no one can see this
.
But you were.
You were laughing and that'sthe reaction I was hoping for.
But that didn't happen.
(21:59):
The dude looked at me,stone-faced, and said nothing
and I was like okay, whateverthis is, I just lost it.
I'm not getting it.
So I was in great shape.
I still try and keep myself ingreat shape.
We take off our shirts.
We're standing there and I'mtrying to look like I'm not
(22:22):
flexing, but I'm flexing.
I look over to my left and theguy on my left he's kind of
heavyset.
Guy on my right is like a Furby.
He's like all furry and stuff alot of body hair and so they
take the camera filming us.
It was the weirdest thing totake the camera.
They're filming us and thenthey go into, like this football
, huddle behind the camera andwhat seemed like 10 minutes it
was probably 30 seconds, and theguy who came over to take their
shirts off, he come, walks upto me and he shakes my hand.
He goes welcome to world ofcombat.
(22:43):
You're going to be scorpion.
And until that moment I had noidea and I don't know to this
day.
And I've asked larry casanoff,the producer, many times like
did you really have somebody orwas it an open call audition?
We just weren't telling people?
He still hasn't told me whatwas going to happen, but I
didn't know.
And looking back on it, like ifthey had said, hey, these roles
(23:05):
are open, I probably would havebeen nervous.
I may have not done what I didin the grand scheme of things.
And the funny end to that storyis I got home and I called my
mom.
I go, mom, mom, mom, I got inthis movie.
I'm going to be scorpion.
She goes that's great honey,what's a scorpion.
So that's how I got that.
(23:25):
And then and then, once I gotthat it was, it was a little
easier to get to.
Uh, I got to do Batman rightafter that and then blade right
after that.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Well, that's going to lead into my next question.
What was it like to double for?
I mean, listen, I think youlook like them, but what was it
like to double for georgeclooney and batman and robin?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
that was, I mean again, a super surreal
experience, and you know, I'mprobably one of only 25 people
on the planet that's everactually worn the real bat suit
from the movie.
And so so Pat Johnson, who, whodid the fight choreography for
that he did Mortal Kombat heinvited me to come over to
Batman.
He goes I think you can doubleGeorge Clooney and I go, okay,
(24:03):
cool.
And I went in and got to meetthe director, joel Schumacher,
and, uh, I didn't have to do anymartial arts just because Pat
pulled me in and I went and metJoel and Joel Joel was a
floyantly flamboyant, to put itmildly, and I walked in and met
him hey, how you doing.
And he walked up to me.
He grabs me by the chin.
He goes oh my God, you areperfect.
(24:25):
Your chin is exactly likeGeorge Clooney's, which it is
Actually.
We have the exact same chin andbecause, you know, with the
mascot, all you're seeing is thechin.
He goes.
You are perfect, same height,same chin.
I love it.
Thanks, pat Boom.
We walked out.
That was my audition for Batman, and so we got that.
But the coolest thing about thatone of the coolest things was
the movie previous to Batman andRobin was Batman Forever with
(24:46):
Val Kilmer.
So what they do is theyrepurpose the suits.
So the next movie, the suitsfrom that previous movie become
the stunt suits that yourehearse in.
So when they outfitted me andthey put me in the bat suit, I
looked in the front of the chesspiece and it said Kilmer on it.
So I had Val Kilmer's bat suitthat I got to take pictures in
(25:06):
and practice and do all thestuff in for the movie.
And then they had the beauty, athing called the beauty suits,
and they have a trailer that iscalled the bat trailer and the
only thing in there are thebatman suits and they've got
like 50 of them because you know, something happens to one, they
get a pretty face with theother.
So that experience of goinginto and it would take 25 to 30
(25:27):
minutes to put the suit on, likein the movie you see him, he
gets in that thing in like fiveseconds don't happen.
That thing takes forever for it.
But listen, it was really cool.
I got to meet ArnoldSchwarzenegger, uma Thurman,
chris O'Donnell, aliciaSilverstone.
So to get to hang out and meetwith those people on set was it
was just surreal.
We did more fight scenes in thatBatsuit than they'd ever done
(25:48):
in any Batman movie.
And we did some great stuff andClay Barber, who was Robin's
double, him and I together, Imean we did some great stuff
that is somewhere on the cuttingroom floor that they just
didn't put in the movie Becausewhat I think happened was at
that time George Clooney wasn'tGeorge Clooney, he had just come
(26:10):
off of ER.
He did another movie withNicole Kidman that did OK, and
then they put him in Batman, butthey didn't trust that he was
going to be able to carry themovie.
So if you go back and watchBatman and Robin which I don't
recommend if you go back andwatch it, it's more about Mr
Freeze and poison Ivy, which areArnold Schwarzenegger and Uma
Thurman, who at that time werehuge stars.
It's more about them andBatgirl than it actually is
(26:30):
about Batman.
So they cut out a lot of ourfight scenes.
That that was at the premiere.
I was really bummed out aboutit because we would do the.
We do the fight scenes on set,the crew would do standing, give
us standing ovations, like thestuff they're like.
We've never seen stuff likethat because you know how
talented clay is right.
So I'm trying to keep up withhim.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
That dude can kick like nobody's business, but we
we came up with some really,really creative fight scenes
that unfortunately didn't makethe final cut of the movie well,
you know that the uh, I don'tknow, and you may not know this,
but the casting director forthat uh, finn, she was a friend
of dan hups from wmac masters,and so I got a phone call from
(27:08):
macho.
They were looking for the nextrobin, and so, um, they asked me
if I had anybody Right and Igave them two of my students one
kid just amazing looking PuertoRican Swedish kid, angelo Perez
Amazing, and then another kidfrom from Norway, and both of
(27:29):
these kids were really goodmartial artists, they had
trained me for quite some timeand they went through about four
or five callbacks with molly.
Molly finn is her name yes hepassed away um her.
Her son was a friend of dan'sfrom the art world.
Um, long story short, theyended up obviously casting um
what was that kids, the guy, the?
(27:50):
Uh, what was robin's the actor?
chris o'donnell they cast chriso'donnell instead, but had they
cast these two kids, you know,because she had found it from
terminator um, then it wouldhave been a different movie,
maybe just for the martial artsat least, because these kids
could actually do martial arts.
But yeah, I mean, I rememberall of that, but I've always
(28:10):
been so happy and proud for youof all those opportunities you
had.
But how do you balance yourbusy career with your personal
life without prying?
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Well, when I did Batman and Mortal Kombat, I
wasn't married.
I was young and single andstill ready to mingle, so it was
a lot easier at that time.
Nowadays I'm married, I got twokids, so it becomes a little
more challenging to do that.
But the answer to your questionis just scheduling and learning
to say no, like there's stuff Ihave to turn down nowadays that
(28:43):
I just I can't crowbar anotherthing into my schedule what are
your interests outside of themartial arts in acting?
snowboarding and mountain bikeriding I did not know that oh,
oh, I mean, I love snowboarding.
It's really one of the things.
And listen, as I get older,I've gotten into golf.
Unfortunately, it's verystereotypical and cliche.
(29:03):
Oh, an old guy golfing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can't.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
I can't golf but snowboarding.
I'm a big fan of skiing becauseit's just a lot easier to get
up and down.
But a lot easier to get up anddown.
But uh, what advice would yougive to young people who are?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
interested in pursuing martial arts or acting,
I will give them the sameadvice that uh, our friend, pat
johnson, gave me, uh, early onin my career.
It's just on this set of shootfighter, one of the first things
I did with him, uh, he gave mesome great advice because I had
some speaking lines and stuffand I wasn't doing well.
I wasn't an actor at that pointbecause I hadn't taken any
acting lessons, I was just amartial artist that thought he
could act.
There was a big differencebetween those two people.
(29:41):
He came up to me one day on setand he goes Chris, I want to
tell you something, chris, myson, as he would say to us all
the time on WMAC, he said listen, they can take a great actor
and make him look like a martialartist, but they cannot take a
great martial artist and makehim look like an actor.
You need to take acting lessons.
(30:02):
And I took that advice to heartand I did and I signed up, took
acting lessons for six, sevenyears, uh, just going through,
and I you know three differentacting coaches because different
styles.
You got improv, you got drama,you got comedy.
So that advice served me wellbecause it helped me land some
(30:24):
roles that I wouldn't havegotten had I not taken those
lessons.
The other thing I would say islearn to understand that no
doesn't mean you're no good.
I can't tell you, herb, theamount of times I heard no, and
I'm sure you have too.
No, you're not right for this.
No, you're not right for that.
It doesn't mean you're not good.
It just means a castingdirector has a job.
They've got to make thatcharacter be the person off the
(30:44):
page on the screen.
Sometimes you don't have theright look, sometimes you're not
delivering your acting linesthe right way or you're just not
the right body type of whatthey're looking for.
It's very specific on roles thatthey cast, but the thing for
that to remember is this You'rea no for that one, but, like
Molly Finn, the casting director, okay, you're not right for
(31:06):
that, but they cast otherprojects and if you're
respectful and you're kind andyou're humble and you do the
right things, you do a good job,but you're just not right for
that role, they go.
Hey, I remember that Chris guy.
Things you do a good job, butyou're just not right for that
role to go.
Hey, I remember that Chris guy.
He wasn't right for that thatmovie, but I think this one's
going to be good for him.
Let's give him a call.
And so I would get calls likethat on other castings that I
went to that the answer was no,no, no, and I get pulled into
other projects.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
And I have one.
I have one last question, andit's are you involved or do you
have any plans of becominginvolved in, I mean, what's next
for you?
Do you have any more film ortelevision projects?
Or is it business, the mortalcombat, the business combat
thing that you're doing that?
What is your, what's next foryou?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Uh, what's next for me?
Uh, number one on the agenda is, uh, pushing forward on my
bully proof program.
Uh, hopefully getting that onDisney and doing that and that
combines both my love of martialarts and my love of film and
television, that would be great.
So I'm pushing forward withthat.
We'll find out what happensfirst quarter of 2025.
With that I've got anotherkid's book for bully-proof
prevention that I'm going tolaunch.
Our goal we're at 17 Red Dragonlocations.
(32:07):
My first goal's next stop is 25.
I want to get us to 25.
If we get 25 and I canstabilize, I'm going to shoot
for 50.
25 and I can stabilize, I'mgoing to shoot for 50.
Because, listen and you knowthis herb what we do changes
lives and it saves lives.
The amount of students andparents that I've talked to and
run into over the years.
(32:27):
It says my kid still remembersyou and he remembers what you
taught him.
And blah, blah, blah.
Because now it's generationalfor me.
I've been teaching for almost 40years, so I'm on my almost my
third generation of people.
I've been teaching for almost40 years, so I'm on my almost my
third generation of people.
I've got kids, of kids who arebringing me their kids.
So not only do I feel old, butI feel honored that, like you
(32:47):
taught my dad and you taught mygrandpa, I'm like I taught your
grandpa Holy cow, that's crazy.
So we're pushing forward that Ido a ton of public speaking.
So I'm like I, I'm listen, I'mnot stopping, you know I'm I'm a
rolling stone that's going togather no moss.
So I'm doing public speakingand writing books.
I'm doing the boy for thing.
I did a movie with master kenlast year called cop versus
killer, which is out on amazonum, whose real name is matt page
(33:10):
, uh, so I'm still doing that.
I'm working.
We've got a couple filmprojects that I'm going to do
next year as well.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
So I'm still doing all the things that I did
because I enjoy it and I love itand I'm very blessed to be able
to make a really good living atthe things that I love well, I
think that's, that's the, that'sthe cap to a great conversation
today, because the one thingI've always respected and
admired and I enjoyed workingwith you, the short period of
(33:38):
time that I did get to on WMACMasters and the cast and crew
and characters that we, uh, uh,we we had the benefit of, of
spending time with I mean, someof the best, in my opinion, some
of the best martial artists um,uh, striking, but the?
Um, with the exception of oneor two, the but what an amazing
(34:00):
time that was, was an amazinglife.
But the thing that has alwaysimpressed me about you, chris,
is that you don't stop.
Many people just stop.
They either stopped doingmartial arts or they stopped
finding and doing what theirpassion was.
And the thing that you saidwhich I'm going to remember and
I always like to have a takeawayfor people, is we help people,
and you have helped and continueto help many people.
(34:23):
I've been a beneficiary of thatduring that time and over the
years that we've stayed in touch.
You know you've always beenthat positive influence and I
love your story about yourconfidence and your what some
might perceive to be somethingdifferent than that, but you
just used it in such an amazingway, and I wish you the best as
(34:45):
you continue to help people.
Do what we do, do it better,whatever it takes for them to
understand that, because I knowthat your business seminars
resonate with people and I knowthat they sign up there for a
reason.
If somebody wanted to getinvolved in your programs, where
would be the best place forthem to find you?
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Well, listen, I'm the easiest guy to find on social
media.
I'm on all the platformsFacebook, Instagram, Snapchat,
TikTok, YouTube.
I'm pretty easy to find.
The challenge is spelling mylast name.
But you could go to our studio,which is RedDragonKarate.
But you could go to, you know,our studio, which is red dragon
karatecom.
Or you can go to businesscombatcom, and that's combat
with a K, a little tongue incheek reference to mortal combat
(35:23):
.
Uh, for more information onthat.
But, Herb, listen, you're ahumble guy too, so don't sell
yourself short.
We crushed on WMAC masters andthe cat.
The cast that they put togetheron that was made up of the best
martial artists in the countryat that time, so even if we
don't say so ourselves even ifwe don't say so, I'm going to
say it for you.
Okay, you.
And if you've never seen herb akick, I've never seen someone
(35:47):
kick that hard in my life.
You actually scared me thefirst time I heard you kick a
shield and so I was superimpressed with you and I knew
you'd won the olympics and stuffso I knew you were no joke, but
we had a blast on that show andwe got to do pull up and push
up workouts on Pat Johnson.
Grab bar.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Grab bar and then we went.
We spent as much time in thegym and I was jealous because I
could never look.
No matter what I did, Icouldn't get a tricep like you
guys had.
What I did, I couldn't get atricep like you guys had and
nobody wanted to take theirshirt off in front of Hakeem or
Mike Bernardo.
Those guys had it Well.
(36:25):
Chris, thanks again for today.
I know you have a busy schedule, but we'll have to do it again.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Thank you, Thanks for having me on the show man.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Well, that was an amazing podcast and I even
learned a few things about ChrisCasamassa that I did not know
before.
Tenth Degree Black Belt stillinspiring younger generations to
succeed, but, more importantly,bringing others along that
journey that can help others.
His words about inspiringothers and leaving a legacy will
(36:56):
last with me for a long time,and I hope they do with you as
well.
Don't forget to check out ourother podcast, and again, this
has been a Masters Alliancepodcast, uncut, and I'm Herb
Perez.
See you next time, thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.