- George Chung
- Feb 22
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 23
In the world of talent, success is often contagious.
If there’s anyone who’s proven this truth time and again, it’s martial arts tournament champ and action star icon Mike Chat. His career is an undeniable example of how top-tier talent not only attracts, but also nurtures more top-tier talent. His track record of guiding world-class athletes and stars speaks for itself.
Whether you recognize him as Wizard from WMAC Masters or as the legendary Blue Ranger from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Mike’s face likely graced your TV screen while you were growing up.
Today, you can spot the stars he’s mentored in modern-day entertainment.
From Rayna Vallandingham, now a standout on Cobra Kai, to Chris Brewster, known for his action design work in Marvel and DC films, Mike has been coaching world champions and Hollywood superstars for years.
So, what’s his secret?
It’s not a single answer, but rather a combination of elements that enable Mike to inspire excellence in others.
We sat down with him to discuss his approach—how he's accomplished so much over the years, the key ingredients to success in any field, and the actionable steps you can take to level up, whether you're aspiring to be an action hero or a martial arts world champion.
Black Belt: Can you give a little insight, a little backstory, on WMAC Masters. How did the “Wizard” come to life?
Mike Chat: That's a great question…because I've haven’t been asked how it came to life. I’ve been asked how was it to play the character.
The character came to life by actually collaborating with the producers. They came to me. So, first I was put forth by Pat Johnson, Larry Lam, Ho Sung Pac, Herb Perez, many of the talent that were already on season one, they pushed very hard for them to bring me on.
It was multiple conversations with the producers over the course of six to eight months, and they asked what would you want your character to be? What would you want your character to look like? And, I mean, I had people designing a character and my look and it kind of evolved over time.
I had it very clear; I wanted to play like this old-school, Jet Li, kind of Wong Fei Hong character. The long braided hair and my hair was already down to [my shoulders] and growing. I wanted the whole traditional thing. Maybe, a farmer's type of outfit with the tabby boots and the crisscross stockings and, big kind of like an old school farmer or Raiden's hat. And that kind of evolved into what my character's outfit wound up being. They were super cool in allowing me to be part of the creation of the look of the character.
I didn't have anything to do with the storyline, but the personality of the character...they essentially wrote it in a way that reflected my personality of, what I wanted this character to be–this self-righteous, do good, one for the people, one for doing the right thing.
And so, I wound up being the good brother versus Larry Lam’s Warlock, the bad one. That's how it came to be, which is actually really cool because…when does that happen? For an actor to, for their very first show, be consulted on what they want their character to look like, right? That happens in development.
Typically as a new actor, you get hired to play the part. You don't get to develop the part unless you do that on your own. So for me, that was incredible.
More to come in the upcoming print issue!
