Tony JAA

Vorawit Yirum (birth name) was born on February 5, 1976 in the city of Si-Saket near Surin (Isaan province in northeastern Thailand). He is the third of four children born into a family of farmers and elephant trainers. Since childhood, he grew up with elephants, and every day he climbed onto the backs of two little elephants named Flower and Leaf. As the animals grew, so did Vorawit's skills in jumping on their backs. However, his childhood was not peaceful and carefree. Because the family lived near the Cambodian border, they often heard the sounds of airplanes and bomb explosions.

While helping his father grow rice and train elephants, he became interested in watching films Bruce Lee и Jackie Chan, which were demonstrated on white screens by an operator visiting their village. He had to walk 10 km just to watch a movie.

Little Vorawit decided to train hard to become a champion. Classes were held every morning from 5 to 10, and continued after school late in the evening. The father coached his son when he went to school in Surin. At the age of 10 he watched the film “Born to fight” and learned about the Thai director and stuntman, Panne Rittikrai.

At the age of 13-14, when he was in the third year of college, he asked Panna's permission to stay in Surin and train with him. From that moment on, he began working in the film industry - fetching water, cleaning seats, cooking, holding an umbrella over the camera, etc. Eventually, at the age of 15, Panna took him under his wing and became his mentor.

In 1992, future Tony JAA (this is a pseudonym), already being on Panna's stunt team, Muay Thai Stunt, starred for the first time in an action movie episodeKing of Ring“. IN "Phantom Warrior” 1994, he got a more serious role, and a fight scene with the main character. “Mission Hungter 2/Warrior Battle” (1996) was the film in which Jha got enough screen time to show himself. And in “Warrior of Death“, the same year, he got one of the first key roles in his career.

When Worawit turned 21, Panna recommended that he enroll in Maha Sarakham University, 400 km from Bangkok, which was a sports school that taught many martial arts: taekwondo, Muay Thai, sword fighting, krabi krabong, judo, aikido, and gymnastics and other disciplines. He studied acting and stunts with Panna every weekend.

Around this time, in 1997, Yirum dubbed Robina Shu in film "Mortal Kombat 2“. At the same time, he participated in many college competitions and won gold medals in all types of martial arts.

On July 31, 1998, when his father had a “prophetic dream,” Vorawit changed his name to Panom Yirum.

In 2001, he appeared in the action movie “muay thai killer” with Rittikrai, but by this time preparations were already underway for a big-budget film, the contract for which was signed back in 1999, when Panna shot a short film demonstrating Yirum’s skills and showed it to a famous producer, Laundry Pinkayu (It was Pinkayu who then came up with the pseudonym Tony Ja). After lengthy preparation and studying the ancient style of Muay Thai Boran for 3 years, an extremely successful action film appeared in 2003, which became a springboard for both Tony Jaa himself and for the entire Thai cinema - “Ong-Bak” .

In 2004, Tony had a cameo in the film “Bodyguard” like an already established star of Thai action films. And a year later there was a successful premiere of another big action movie with Jha in the title role - “Dragon's Honor“. The film, like Ong-Bak, was a huge success and established Tony as a star. Later there was even a video game based on the film “Tom yum goong: The game” (2005).

In 2007 there was a cameo again in the second part “Bodyguard“, and in 2008 the premiere of the film “Ong Bak 2: Unmatched“, in which Jha acted not only as the lead actor, but as co-director and screenwriter along with Panna Rittikrai. After a February 2009 visit to Surin to mark the start of filming, he once again changed his name and became Thatchakorn Yirum. The prequel to the first "Ong Bak" did not find the same success (despite the "Film of the Year" award at the Nine Entertainment Awards 2009) as the original, but in 2010 Panna and Tony tried again with the sequel.Ong-Bak 3“. The release of which also did not become very successful.

28 May 2010 years Jah took monastic vows, and served his obligations in the Buddhist monastery of Surin (Thailand) for more than 2 years, under the name Pra Kitty Sopano.

After leaving the monastery, Tony accepted the company's contract Sahamongkol Film International for the second part of the action movie “Dragon's Honor” , in which he starred with the star of “Chocolate”, JJ Yanin. The film was released in 2013. During this same period, Jah teamed up with Dolph Lundgren in the Thai western comedy “Man will rise“, but the project remained unfinished. But in 2014, their collaboration ended in success with the release of the film “The slave trade“, in which he also starred Michael Jai White.

In 2015, Tony Jaa made his Hollywood debut as one of the action actors “Fast and Furious 7“, as well as in the second part of the action movie “SPL Stars of Destiny” .

In 2016, he played himself in a cameo in the Mile Jai White action film “Never Give Up 3“, and a year later appeared in the film “Three X's: world domination“, in which he received more screen time than in “Fast and Furious” .

In 2017, Jah played in the episode “SPL Stars of Destiny 3: Paradox“, and in the short film by Jack Ma “Guardians of Martial Arts” along with such martial arts stars as Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Sammo Hungand Jackie Wu.

In 2018, the premiere of the action film “triple threat“, in which Jha collaborated with Iko Uwaisom, Michael Jai White, Scott Adkins, Tiger Chenand JJ Yanin. Also, this year there was a cameo role in the film “Master Z: Ip Man's Legacy“, in which he had a fight scene with Max Zhang.

In 2020, two films were released in which Jha collaborated with such movie stars as Milla Jovovich, Nicolas Cage, и Alain Moussi. This "Monster Hungter” And "Jiu-Jitsu: Battle for Earth“. In 2021, Tony appeared in the action comedy Chen Sicheng, "Chinatown Detective 3” .

In 2022, he joined the star cast of the action movie “The Expendables of 4“, in which he sufficiently showed his talents.

In 2024, the film “non Stop“, in which Jah stars with Iko Uwaisom, Ma Dong-seok and Jet Li. The film is positioned as an Asian version of “The Expendables.”