Mark Dacascos

Mark Alan Dacascos (born February 26, 1964) is an American actor and martial artist. He won numerous karate and various styles of kung fu championships between the ages of 7 and 18.

Beginning in January 2005, Dacascos has portrayed the Chairman on Food Network's television series Iron Chef America. This role was previously played by Takeshi Kaga in the original Japanese Iron Chef, and Dacascos' character is presented as Kaga's nephew, though the actors are not related. Dacascos went on to continue the role in Iron Chef Australia. His other roles include: Eric Draven in The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Eubulon, the Advent Master, on Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, the role of "Mani" in the French film Brotherhood of the Wolf and the lead role of "Crying Freeman" in the film of the same name. Starting with the episode "Hana 'a'a Makehewa", which first aired on December 13, 2010, he portrays the recurring character Wo Fat, Steve McGarrett's arch-nemesis, on Hawaii Five-0.

Dacascos competed in season 9 of Dancing with the Stars. His partner was Lacey Schwimmer. The pair was eliminated in the 7th episode.

Biography
Dacascos' father, Al Dacascos, is from Hawaii, and is a martial arts instructor of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese ancestry. His mother, Moriko McVey-Murray, is of Irish and Japanese ancestry. In the History Channel presentation, "Samurai", he revealed that many of the Japanese side of his mother's family were killed in the bombing of Hiroshima. His stepmothers are award winning martial artist Malia Bernal and Hawaiian singer Melveen Leed. Dacascos attended Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, where he majored in Chinese and drama. Dacascos is proficient in Wun Hop Kuen Do, Capoeira, Wing chun Shuai jiao, Karate, Jeet kune do and Kick boxing.

Personal life
He is married to actress Julie Condra, who starred with him in Crying Freeman. They have three children, two older boys and one younger girl. Their names are Makoa, Kapono and Noelani.

Career
Dacascos became an actor after being discovered walking down the street in San Francisco's Chinatown by Chris Lee (at that time, assistant director) and Rexall Chin (hairstylist) for director Wayne Wang. Though his first scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, he has gone on to establish a film and television career primarily playing martial artists. His breakout role was in the 1993 film Only the Strong, in which he played Louis, a Capoeira master who takes a high school's potential failures and turns their lives around by teaching them the Brazilian martial art based on the West African martial art brought by slaves. In the following year, Dacascos co-starred with Party of Five's Scott Wolf as Jimmy and Billy Lee, respectively, in the movie, based on the video game, Double Dragon.

He plays the role of the Chairman of Iron Chef America and Iron Chef Australia. In the series' backstory he is the nephew of the original Iron Chef Chairman, Takeshi Kaga; the actors hold no relation in real life.

He has been featured in many action films such as Brotherhood of the Wolf, Crying Freeman and Cradle 2 the Grave, in which he squared off against Jet Li. He also performed in three video games: voice acting in Stranglehold, live acting in Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom and digitally recreating The Chairman in the Iron Chef video game for Wii.

Dacascos was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2002 for his role in Brotherhood of the Wolf, which was a box office success in the United States. He also appeared in the short-lived but critically acclaimed television series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, which was a follow-up to the 1994 film The Crow. One of his more recent roles is in the children's television show, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, where he portrays Advent Master Eubulon, mentor of the Kamen Riders and creator of the Advent Decks.

Dacascos' latest acting endeavor is on the CBS series, "Hawaii Five-0" in which he portrays the recurring role of "Wo Fat", an enemy of Steve McGarrett. He will also be taking on the role of Kung Lao in the second season of the YouTube series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.