We wouldn’t be wrong to say that Chuck Johnson has lived and is living a fascinating life. He transitioned from being a martial arts master to becoming Japan’s First Black Stuntman and now forging the career of a visionary film producer for himself. Johnson was born on October 25, 1978, in Detroit, Michigan, but has been living overseas for most of his life. He is the example of a man who lives his dreams and isn’t afraid to take the plunge when it comes to life-changing decisions. He sailed around the world twice, travelled to 33 countries as an international volunteer, learned multiple languages and built a reputation as a renowned stuntman, motion-capture artist, actor, martial arts expert and film producer all at the same time. How many people can say they found their way to success in as many different avenues as Chuck Johnson has? Not many!
Let’s find out more about his life and what he intends to do in the future!
How did Chuck Johnson begin his martial arts journey?
In an interview for Flux Magazine, he recalled his younger years growing up in Detroit, and having to deal with bullies. At around the age of 12, he discovered Jackie Chan movies and immediately became obsessed with the idea that fighting could be systemized. After having spent years copying Jackie’s moves from VHS tapes, his family moved from Detroit to a suburb of Lansing, where his Korean best friend introduced him to Taekwondo at 15. All of the previous years of self-training paid off as Chuck got his black belt in only 2 ½ years, and was the Junior Olympic Taekwondo Champion for Michigan less than a week later. This gave Chuck the confidence to try for an Olympic bid, while also pulling his school grades go from a C- average to graduating with all A’s.
How did Chuck Johnson earn the title of Japan’s first black stuntman from being a professional martial arts champion?
Due to his high grades in school, Chuck was accepted into Michigan State University and was a prime candidate for the school’s study abroad programs. In the pursuit of his Olympic dream, Chuck Johnson used these study abroad programs as a means to go back and forth to Korea to train. Eventually, he spent so much time in Korea that he completed all of the classes the program offered, causing him to re-route to the next nearest place; Hong Kong. While there, in addition to winning Hong Kong’s Intercollegiate Taekwondo Championship for Heavyweights, and studying management and leadership, Chuck was exposed to Rush Hour 2, which was being filmed there at the time. This planted the first seed of Chuck’s desire to switch to film.
After completing his program in Hong Kong, and winning a few national championships in the states, Chuck made the hard decision to fold his dream of being an Olympic contender. While his original goal of studying abroad had always been perfecting his Taekwondo, the process exposed him to so much more of the world than Taekwondo alone had to offer. Having lived in Korea and China, he decided that the next logical step would be moving to Tokyo, Japan. In Tokyo, his size, build, martial arts training, and English ability made him a natural choice as a bodyguard for visiting Hollywood celebrities. After that, there was no turning back. Before he knew it, he was scouted by a casting agency and cast in Godzilla: Final Wars as a martial arts actor. While on set, he met Yuji Shimomura, a famous action director in Japan that offered him a chance to train with his team, and eventually brought him more stunt gigs.
Eventually, because Chuck looked so different from other stunt actors in Japanese movies, he was often given acting roles in addition to the stunt roles, most of the time as a high-profile bad guy. While most of the other stunt people he worked with had to cover their faces or double for actors, Chuck was often given dialog and acting opportunities along with his stunt work. This made Chuck not just a stuntman, but a regularly working actor as well.
Chuck Johnson started the Quiet Flame Dojo from the desire to share his knowledge with others
While happy with his film career, Johnson always maintained his identity as a martial arts master, and thought it important to share the wealth of martial arts knowledge he had gained with others. Along those lines, he started the Quiet Flame dojo in Tokyo. What started off as a once-a-week Taekwondo class with one student eventually grew into Quiet Flame Productions, a full-on multi-location martial arts dojo, action actors training program, and film production company all rolled into one. In addition to still working as an actor and stunt man himself, Chuck trains other actors in action and stunts, casts them in Japanese films, dramas and video games, and even produces films himself.
How did Chuck Johnson jump from owning a stunt school and martial arts studio to directing films?
Besides teaching martial arts in person at Quiet Flame, Chuck also began sharing his martial arts perspective and knowledge on his YouTube channel. Within a few years, his channel was growing by 1600% a year, making him one of the bigger Japan-based Youtubers. At the time, YouTube Japan was just starting to take off and the Youtube Studio had just opened up. This prompted the studio to offer him the opportunity to produce a collaborative film with Toei Studios. Leveraging the fact that he was working with both Google and Toei, Johnson brought Adidas into the mix as well, and pitched the idea of Fists of Absinthe, a time-slip action comedy about a Samurai obsessed American, who has to defend his sneakers against ninja and samurai. Johnson’s pitch was a success, and he won the full support of Toei studios to produce the film. Using the knowledge he gained from producing for Youtube, Fists of Absinthe went on to win multiple awards at festivals, and a nationwide distribution deal in Japan, making him an award-winning film producer for the first film he ever made.
With the success of Fists of Absinthe, and a martial arts philosophy of making the world a better place, Chuck Johnson aims to produce innovative action films that drive social commentary and raise awareness of the issues that impact people’s lives. His next film, and first feature, Eastbound Traffic is made to do just that. It addresses the issue of international sex trafficking; a problem that has become all the more prevalent with the war in Ukraine displacing so many people and driving young people into international sex trafficking rackets.
