Master Simon Rhee is a World Taekwondo Kukkiwon certified 7th degree black belt and Tournament Grand Champion, a professional stuntman, actor, martial artist, fight choreographer and stunt coordinator.

He is a member and past president of the International Stunt Association and is a recipient of 2 Taurus World Stunt Awards and numerous Screen Actors Guild Awards and nominations.

Simon Rhee has doubled Jackie Chan and has worked with some of the most sought after Hollywood actors, musicians, and directors including Clint Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Ben Stiller, Ang Lee, Christopher Nolan, John Woo, Doja Cat, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, The Weeknd, Kendall Jenner, Kaia Gerber, and many, many more.

You have had a very successful career in Hollywood, how did that first evolve?

It was 1975, me and my brother Philip were visiting Master Jun Chong in Los Angeles. He was shooting a Korean movie called Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave in a Long Beach junkyard. He told us to come and do a fight scene. That's how it got started.

Share with us your martial arts journey, how you got started and what led you to Los Angeles?

When I was 10 years old, I came down with viral meningitis and stayed in the hospital for two months. After I got out of the hospital, my father started Phillip and I into a taekwondo studio in Seoul, South Korea to make us strong. After we got our black belt, we immigrated to San Francisco to attend junior high school and high school. After graduating high school in San Francisco, our whole family moved to Los Angeles in 1976.

Describe the early days training with your brother and how that motivated or inspired you?

What I remember about training taekwondo in South Korea, we had to train every day except Sunday. I remember cleaning the wooden floor with wet rags before starting the class to make sure the wooden floor was clean, otherwise we would get a knuckle sandwich from our instructor.

You have a very successful career in teaching and training celebrities and athletes. What was your approach in teaching them and was it different than teaching group classes?

When I was teaching the Raiders football players, I wanted to make them have good reflexes and flexibility so they wouldn't injure themselves while they were playing. When I'm teaching actors, it all depends on what is written on a script. Pretty much all the basics are the same in martial arts, so I would start them with very basic but strong foundations. Once they have that, it's pretty easy to teach other materials. It would be very different from group classes since they are not focusing on belt testing.

When you are creating and directing stunts is there still a teaching element involved and what is your emphasis?

When I'm creating or directing stunts, the most important thing is safety. If one of my actors gets hurt, that stops the production, so safety is the first thing. The second is being true to the script and helping our director shoot his vision.

Tell us about some of your recent movie projects?

I just finished a movie called Spaceman with Adam Sandler. We play astronauts on a spaceship. Before that I was the stunt coordinator for two seasons of American Horror Stories and Lucifer.

Who are your martial arts heroes and inspirations?

My martial arts heroes are my instructors, Master Jun Chong for TKD, Master Moo Ryang Choi for Hapkido, and Ron Balicki for FMA and, of course, I got my inspirations from Bruce Lee.

After 40 years you are still at the top of your game, What keeps motivating you to stay passionate?

I love solving problems by using my brain. When I was sparring, I'm always thinking about how I could score and win. Same thing when I'm coordinating stunts, once you receive a script, you have to break it down: What kind of stunts are in the script? Who can I hire to do the stunts safely? Is my budget going to work with this script? Many things go into making a TV show and I love solving the problems and I think that's what makes it passionate for me.

Today many martial artists find social media fame but still strive for the silver screen. What is your advice for those that want to explore a career path in stunts?

I get this question a lot, I can not hire anyone without the Screen Actors Guild union card, so first thing they have to do is try to get that card. It's not easy, it took me 11 years to finally get it.

You could go to the Screen Actors Guild website to find out how to join. You should also have a one minute demo reel of what you are good at on YouTube or Vimeo. Make sure it is not more than one minute. Make it short and have your headshot at the end with your contact info. Go to YouTube and take a look at some other stunt peoples demo reel to get the idea.