Tony Jaa in Ong Bak: Thai Warrior Martial Arts at it's Best

Born Panom Yeerum on February 5th, 1976 in Northeastern Thailand, he is better known to western martial arts movie fans as Tony Jaa.

Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior, or Ong Bak: The Muay Thai Warrior, is considered the breakthrough film for Thai martial artist Tony Jaa. Inspired by the likes of Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan, he started as a stunt double in Thai films and commercials.


In this 2003 movie he practiced Muay Boran or "old style" Thai Boxing. Without the need for special effects or a stunt double, Tony Jaa's amazing athleticism, acrobatics and his super-fast, hard-hitting style immediately established him as an up-and-coming martial arts superstar with the potential to attain the same level of notoriety as his heros.

In the movie, Tony plays Boonting, or 'Ting, who lives peacefully in a poor rural Thai village. As a baby, he was left on the steps of the village Temple. Ting was taken in and raised by the Monks who taught him Muay Boran or the old style of Muay Thai (Thai Boxing). Now grown, the young man takes on the responsibility of recovering the head of the Temple's sacred statue of Buddha, Ong Bak, which was stolen by a greedy businessman from the city. Ting tracks the thieves down in Bangkok's seedy underworld where he commences to kick butt to bring back the Ong Bak.

Note: Ong Bak is difficult to translate literally into English. Ong is a Thai word used as an honorific when counting statues or the King's thrones. Bak is a scratch or a scar and, in this title, refers to the distinctive mark on the face of the movie's Buddha statue.

Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior - DVD Widescreen