R ay Park's kids have a lot to live up to. An established actor and a three-time European Wushu Champion, the British butt-kicker (who came to fame as Star Wars' Darth Maul) is one of the few people on earth who can defeat a ninja both in film and in real life. Currently finishing up two major roles — one as Snake Eyes in the recently released GI Joe film and one as a circus knife-thrower on the upcoming season of Heroes — Park says throwing punches on screen is nothing compared to his role as Dad to four-year-old Fienna and two-year-old Rokko. Babble caught up with Park about transitioning from fighter to father. — Christina Couch
You're pretty much the closest thing to a professional ninja the world has. That's basically every kid's dream.
I know! It's been amazing. I always wanted to be a ninja as a kid. Every day I go into work and re-live my childhood.
Dreaming out becoming a ninja is kind of like aspiring to be a dragon slayer or unicorn-groomer. Did you ever think in a million years that it would really pan out?
Not like this. I still pinch myself. My parents always said that my head was always in the clouds as a child and that I was always in a fantasy world. I grew up in the '80s and having He-Man and Thundercats and GI Joe and Star Wars, the universe was open to what you could imagine. As a kid I just wanted to have superpowers like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan and Jet Li and the guys in kung-fu movies. That's why I got into doing martial arts.
"When my daughter was young, she would fall and we'd say, That's a great stunt! Do that again!"
Most actors break into Hollywood then start training for a specific film, but you were a UK National Martial Arts Champion long before breaking into film. How did you get started?
I was seven years old when I went to my first class and from the very first day I went in and saw all the different animal fighting styles like crane and dragon, I thought this is something out of a kung-fu movie! I was always very energetic as a kid, always playing sports or practicing stunts on my BMX on ramps or jumping over cars. My buddies and I would take our bikes up to the woods and pretend like we were in the movies. When I was about thirteen or fourteen, I remember thinking I really want to get into movies. I was watching a bunch of Jackie Chan movies where he would have different weapons and I thought I could do that! I talked to my teacher about it and he said, "You've got to practice. Jackie only takes on world champions or guys that are good at what they do. If you want to be in his movies, that's what you've got to do," so I just kept practicing and hoped that one day I'd get the opportunity.
Are your kids athletes as well? Would you want them to study martial arts?
They're very active. My daughter is very into dance and theater and shows. We do a lot of plays, a lot of role-play games, dressing up, telling stories at home. Ever since my daughter could speak, she always wanted us to tell her stories from the mouth, not from the book, so I got good at making up stories and re-living my childhood in that way. My wife is a gymnast and we don't push them into doing what we do, but [my children] like running around and playing with Mommy and Daddy. The martial arts worked for myself and I enjoy it, but I wouldn't want to push it on them. If they wanted to learn, I would send them to a school where they could have some friends. It's supposed to be fun.
Now that you're a parent, are you afraid that your kids are going to hurt themselves? Are you more protective?
No. We've never sort of coddled them. When my daughter was young, she would fall and we'd say "That's a great stunt! Do that again! Come on, get up!" so she wasn't scared of falling. We didn't make a big deal about it. We'd make sure she was okay and reassure her, but we didn't over-react. The same with my son; it's just something we did because we didn't want to overprotect them. My daughter did get hurt once. We were on the playground and someone left a stick at the bottom of the slide. She went down [head first] and screamed. It was the first time hearing a child scream and just knowing that she was in pain and she wasn't pretending or faking it, the feeling I had, the anger and the pain. I ran over and grabbed her up and took her to the hospital. Her seeing me like that in such a panicked state just made it worse. I learned a little lesson myself that day. It wasn't a nice one.
