- Jim Coleman
- Sep 30, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 5, 2024
On October 10th, 2024, martial arts legend Ernie Reyes Jr. will be inducted into the esteemed Black Belt Hall of Fame, receiving our Martial Arts Entertainment Award. To celebrate this achievement, we’re revisiting the 1991 interview with Ernie Reyes Jr. featured in Black Belt Magazine, where he discussed his early journey in martial arts and his role in films such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.
Join us for an exciting look back at a pivotal moment in martial arts entertainment history!!
From his very first side kick at age five, Ernie Reyes Jr. was destined to be somebody special. This was no ordinary martial artist. He was a black belt by age nine and was winning forms grand championships against adults. He traveled across the United States, wowing audiences with his tremendous agility while endearing them to him with his captivating smile.
By the age of 12, Reyes Jr. had retired from martial arts competition and began pursuing another dream: film stardom. First came a small role in the Motown production The Last Dragon, followed by a larger part in Red Sonja. Then there was a year-and-a-half run on television as a co-star in Sidekicks, followed by his stunt work as a double for the ninja turtle Donatello in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now, in his biggest role to date, Reyes Jr. appears as Keno, the pizza delivery boy in the hit film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.
Suddenly, "Little Ernie" is not so little anymore—at least, not as far as his acting career is concerned. Although just 19, he is well along the road to stardom. But his goals go well beyond acting success. The former darling of the West Coast Demonstration Team also has designs on directing, writing, and producing films. Sad, but true: Ernie Reyes Jr. has grown up.
In the following interview, he discusses his roles in both Ninja Turtles films, as well as his other Hollywood triumphs, and also takes a stroll back down martial arts memory lane—which, for Reyes Jr., wasn't all that long ago.
—Ed.
BLACK BELT: How did you come to be a stunt double in the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film?
ERNIE REYES JR.: Well, Golden Harvest Studios found four people in Hong Kong to use for all the fight scenes for the turtles. What happened was one of the guys wasn't able to make it for some reason, and they were in a panic to find somebody quickly who was very good in martial arts and who was about my size. So Pat Johnson, the film's fight choreographer, called me one morning and said, "Do you want to do Ninja Turtles?" I went, "Right." I didn't know if he was joking or what. The ninja turtles weren't really that big at that point. It was like, "What are ninja turtles?" But he explained the part to me, and after talking it over with a few people, I decided to go for it.
BB: Was it difficult to perform fight scenes in the heavy ninja turtle outfit?
REYES: The weather in North Carolina, where they filmed the movie, was extremely hot. It was the middle of summer. So the weather was like 100 degrees, plus the costume. My temperature was up above 100 degrees. The costume was so bulky that your flexibility was limited. It's like you're immobile. It was hard to do the things that we had choreographed in the beginning once we got the suits on. It was like, "OK, let's start over." When you got in the costume, you wanted to get out right away. It wasn't like you wanted to hang out and tell jokes while you were in the costume. You did your stuff and you were done.
BB: Were you surprised at the incredible success of the first Turtles film?
REYES: I knew it had a built-in audience because of the success of the cartoons and the comic books, so I knew that there was no way it could fail because it already had millions of kids who were ninja turtle fans. But I didn't realize it would do that well.
BB: How did you get the role of Keno, the pizza delivery boy, in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze?
REYES: The producers really liked what I had done in the first film, so they wrote in the character Keno for me. I didn't audition or anything.
BB: Does Keno do more than just deliver pizza to the turtles?
REYES: Yeah, I become their friend and I go on their adventures with them.
BB: Do you do any fight scenes as Keno?
REYES: Yeah, I have a couple of fight scenes.
BB: Some people have complained about the violence portrayed in the first Ninja Turtles film. Do you feel it was particularly violent?
REYES: No, I don't think of it as a violent film. That wasn't the main emphasis of the film. As people who have taken martial arts know, the martial arts aren't just kicking and punching. And the turtles weren't just going out there beating people up. It was always a last resort or a self-defense situation. It's a cartoon; it's nothing to be taken too seriously. I think it's dumb to emphasize that violence was the main thing. What about all the other things? You know, Splinter the rat talking to them about fighting, being together as a group, and all of those good things. People are just trying to pick on the film and find something wrong.
BB: Did New Line Cinema take this public outcry about violence into account in filming the sequel?
REYES: Yeah, they have, actually. They're downplaying the violence and emphasizing more of a comedic way of fighting, and a lot of funny lines.
BB: What is the plot of the sequel?
REYES: Basically, the turtles are searching for their origin.
BB: Because you started training at such a young age, there were people who felt you would burn out on the martial arts by now. Yet you have continued to train on a regular basis and are as involved in martial arts as you have ever been. How have you avoided burnout?
REYES: Because there were so many different things. The first four or five years, I was excited about training, period. Then I moved on to competition, and that was another four or five years. And then the demonstrations. And now the acting. So there's been a lot of things for me to go to, where I'm not just stagnant. There's been a lot of places for me to use my martial arts. So there's no way in the world I could burn out in the near future.
BB: Has success changed you at all? Are you a different person since you appeared in The Last Dragon, Red Sonja, Sidekicks, and the Ninja Turtles films?
REYES: No. I got the opportunity to do a television show, and now I'm appearing in a couple of new movies, but nothing's changed as far as my personality goes. It may be a new lifestyle, but as far as personality, not at all.
BB: Has your father, Ernie Reyes Sr., played a big role in your success?
REYES: My father has choreographed all of my fight scenes except for those in the Turtles films. So whenever I work, he's choreographing my fight scenes, helping me look good. Plus, he's taught me how to use the martial arts in my normal, day-to-day life.
BB: You two seem pretty inseparable.
REYES: Yeah, we are, actually. We talk all the time. Although I live in Los Angeles and he's in San Jose, we're still pretty close.
BB: Because your parents were divorced, many people think you grew up without a mother figure, but that's not exactly true, is it?
REYES: Some people said it was a single-parent family, but I don't really believe that because I have a mom and I see her all the time. Maybe I haven't lived with her a lot, but she's played an important part in my life.
BB: What other projects do you have in the works?
REYES: Well, I did a movie for the Disney Channel, which started in February. It’s called Secret Bodyguard.
BB: Is it a martial arts-related film?
REYES: Right. There's a lot of other things on the back burner. I never like to talk about anything that I don't know I'm shooting for real, because you don’t know what's going to happen. There's been so many times when we've been so close on something and it fell through. The movie business takes time. You never know what's going to happen.
BB: Sidekicks was your television debut. How long did the show run?
REYES: About a year and a half. It was a fun show. It was a great experience for me because I hadn't acted that much. It was a great learning experience. I got to act and I got a good feel of what the business was like. It's a lot of work.
BB: Are you worried about being typecast as strictly a martial arts performer/actor?
REYES: No, I plan to do movies using my martial arts for a pretty long while because it’s a special ability that I’ve been gifted with. But I’m also planning on doing movies where I’m not using my martial arts. But I’m not planning on getting away from them any time soon.
BB: Do you credit your martial arts skills for opening the door to Hollywood?
REYES: Oh yeah, the martial arts started it all, by me traveling and doing the demonstrations and so forth.
BB: You seemed to really enjoy your days as a competitor and a member of the West Coast Demonstration Team.
REYES: I had a great time doing all those shows, traveling every weekend to tournaments, competing, doing demonstrations, the crowd response. It was a good time.
BB: Did you realize the tremendous impact you had on crowds at the tournaments you performed at?
REYES: I realized the people were really enjoying the shows. But now I comprehend that I was kind of setting the standard for all the young kids out there nowadays, as far as being a role model. I think that’s a problem with society. They tell you from a young age that you can’t do this because you're only six years old. But hey, even at a young age, six years old, eight years old, ten years old, we can do everything that the adults can do, and maybe better.
BB: How old were you when you retired from martial arts competition?
REYES: I retired at the ripe old age of 12.
BB: That’s when many martial artists are just beginning to compete.
REYES: Yeah.
BB: You took gymnastics and incorporated it into your martial arts training, did you not?
REYES: Yeah, I used to compete in gymnastics for a couple of years. It was great. I incorporated a lot of the stuff into martial arts, and now I use it in the movies.
BB: What are your goals?
REYES: My goals are to continue acting, but it’s only one facet of business. I want to be able to make movies, be able to write, produce, and direct. And I plan on hopefully doing it in the near future. I don’t want to be 30 years old and finally be getting my chance, even though it may seem young in the entertainment business. I want to be able to do it, like, this year.
