{"id":15452,"date":"2019-07-24T11:54:48","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T16:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/?p=15452"},"modified":"2019-08-04T22:22:12","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T03:22:12","slug":"mike-moh-waunakee-bruce-lee-once-upon-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/mike-moh-waunakee-bruce-lee-once-upon-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"A Waunakee man is Bruce Lee in new Quentin Tarantino film"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no shortage of star power in Quentin Tarantino\u2019s new film<\/a>. However, only one lives in the Madison area.<\/p>\n

For Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood<\/em>, which screens at theaters here starting July 25, the visionary director takes on Tinseltown circa 1969, at the time of the Manson murders. It\u2019s got an impressive cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio<\/a> and Brad Pitt, plus Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate. But for the role of her friend \u2014 legendary actor and martial artist Bruce Lee \u2014 Tarantino went with Mike Moh, a relative unknown.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old runs Moh\u2019s Martial Arts<\/a> in Waunakee. A Minnesota native, he moved to the city<\/a> in 2013 after spending time in L.A. working as an actor and stuntman. Before Tarantino, Moh was probably best known for playing another beloved (fictional) martial artist, Ryu, in the web series Street Fighter: Assassin\u2019s Fist<\/em>. But that\u2019s not the only reason his casting as Lee seemed fated.<\/span>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n<\/span>\n

Enter \u2018Enter the Dragon\u2019<\/h2>\n

Like many young martial artists, Moh was initially push toward martial arts by Lee\u2019s films.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 8, I saw Enter the Dragon<\/em>; I just started watching the rest of his movies…\u201d Moh told the Waunakee Tribune<\/em><\/a> last week. \u201cNunchucks, flying kicks, shirtless, scrapes across the body: that\u2019s how it started for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an adolescent, Moh began taking taekwondo classes and eventually rose to fifth-degree black belt. He even met his wife Richelle at the studio, which was owned by her parents. Moh himself began teaching there while attending the University of Minnesota (we can\u2019t all be perfect) and intended to go into banking after school. But after a friend helped him land a role on the stunt team of a Jackie Chan movie, plans changed.<\/p>\n

Moh and his wife moved to Los Angeles, and he would go on to snag a recurring role in Empire<\/em>, plus appearances on shows like Castle<\/em> and True Blood<\/em>. Even after moving back to the Madison area in 2013, Moh kept acting. He was cast as the superhero Triton<\/a> in Marvel\u2019s Inhumans<\/em>, but it was canceled after one season.<\/span>\n