Richard Norton

Richard Norton is a 10th Dan Black belt in Zendokai Karate and 5th degree Black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Richard began his martial arts journey at the age of 11 when he commenced training in Goju Karate and has been exploring a wide variety of martial arts ever since. Over 28 years training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has defined Richard Norton as one of the great all-rounders in martial arts. Now considered to be one of Australia's most successful career Martial Artists, Richard has gained a reputation of being an expert coach and caring individual who understands the formula for bringing out the best in his students. Richard Norton gained a strong reputation in the early years for his expertise as a body guard, and gaining contracts looking after many famous celebrities including, The Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Bowie, ABBA, John Belushi, Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks.. Richards talents also opened the door to the movie industry where he made his first screen appearance in the 1980 Chuck Norris film The Octagon, and he has worked on over 80 feature films and television programs. Richard Norton has been on the cover (as well as featured in editorials) of martial arts magazines including Black Belt twice (published since 1987), Australasian Fighting Arts in 1983 (published 1974 to 1998), Blitz Magazine, Impact (published 1992 to 2010) with Cynthia Rothrock in 1993, and with Jackie Chan in 1997, Inside Kung Fu, MA Training (published 1988 to 2000), Martial Arts & Combat Sports (published 1999 to 2002), and Martial Arts & Combat Sports. In 2014 Norton was inducted into the Australasian Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He also is the Head Instructor of the Richard Norton Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu organisation. Film Norton is known for his appearances in Hong Kong action films.Norton's Hong Kong credits include The Magic Crystal, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars, City Hunter, (a live action remake of the manga), Millionaire's Express, and Mr. Nice Guy. A signature catchphrase of Norton's characters is "Painful?", usually asked after striking a decisive blow. The most comical example is in Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars, where he faces Sammo Hung and in the movie Millionaire's Express against Yasuaki Kurata. Over his career, Norton has faced off with many top martial arts action stars, including Jackie Chan (in three films), Sammo Hung, Yasuaki Kurata, Benny "the Jet" Urquidez (in Kick Fighter), Don "The Dragon" Wilson (in CyberTracker), and Cynthia Rothrock (in China O'Brien & Lady Dragon). Norton served as fight coordinator on the 2007 film The Condemned (starring "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones), doubling for Jones. He also starred in a contemporary drama, Under the Red Moon. In August 2010, Norton appeared at Berlin Movie Con, a convention of martial arts where he was joined by ten other stars of Martial arts cinema in a two-day show. It was staged in the Universal Hall in Berlin, Germany. Among his fellow stars were Cynthia Rothrock, Don "The Dragon" Wilson and Conan Lee. Norton has trained in many aspects of martial arts, including Judo, Karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido, Thai boxing and several Japanese weapons systems. He used this experience to co-create the hybrid martial art Zen Do Kai with fellow security guard Bob Jones. He has a 5th-Degree Shihan rank Black Belt in Goju Ryu, 8th-Degree Masters rank in Chun Kuk Do (Chuck Norris system), 5th-Degree Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a 10th-degree Black Belt in Zen Do Kai Karate, an organisation of over 5,000 members. He has trained with Tino Ceberano, Tadashi Yamashita, Fumio Demura, Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace, Pete "Sugar Foot" Cunningham, Jean-Jacques Machado and Chuck Norris. Norton holds seminars covering such topics as street defence, martial arts weapons drills, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and mixed martial arts. In September 2007, Norton released a two-disc DVD set on Black Belt Digital Video called Black Belt training Complexes. The DVDs show Norton executing fast and accurate examples of his skill, and some additional seminar footage is also included. They focus on the development of speed, power and continuity of movement, with explanations of the principles. Norton became the fight coordinator on Walker, Texas Ranger in 1993. He was a minor (sometimes uncredited) character in several episodes (at least eight), and had a starring role as villainous businessman Frank Scanlon in The Avenging Angel; he was in the two-part finale The Final Show/Down as Jonas Graves, part of Emile Lavocat (Marshall R. Teague)'s criminal gang (he also appears in the "flashback" scenes illustrating the end of the Hayes Cooper legend, as part of Mills "Moon" Lavocat (also Marshall R. Teague)'s desperado gang). Fighting Stars Magazine ranked Norton's climactic fight with Chuck Norris in The Octagon (1980) as #13 on its list of the 25 greatest fight scenes of all time.