Date of birth: 14 February, 1959 (Waltrop, Germany)
Occupation: Actor, martial artist.
Style: Taekwondo, kickboxing.
Biography: Matthias Hues is a German-born martial artist and actor. He was born in Waltrop, Germany. He is the son of Dr. Josef Hues and Maria Humperdinck Hues – the niece of the Hansel and Gretel composer Engelbert Humperdinck. Hues was a sports enthusiast when growing up. At the age of 19, he was part of a German pentathlon team which won medals in Hannover, and was the German hopeful in track and field events. He proved himself to be very quick despite his weight and 6’5″ height, and excelled at martial arts, becoming the holder of a black belt in Taekwondo. He has also studied kickboxing.
After graduating from high school, Hues moved to Paris to pursue a career in hotel management. Once in Paris, he joined a health club at the height of the aerobics boom of the 1980s. Upon returning to Germany, Hues opened two health clubs, where he would invite aerobics instructors from the United States to teach. After a period of time he became more intrigued by American culture and decided to sell the health clubs and move to Los Angeles.
While living in California, he joined the famous Gold’s Gym in Venice – a popular spot for bodybuilders, sports stars and celebrities. It was while training in Gold’s Gym that Hues was spotted by the gym’s managing director, Derek Barton, who convinced Hues to test for a role to replace Jean-Claude Van Damme in an upcoming film. Hues landed the role despite not having any previous acting experience. The film was No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder (1988), a Hong Kong-American co-production directed by Corey Yuen Kwai in which Hues played the villain opposite Cynthia Rothrock and Loren Avedon. The film was a success and it paved the way for more acting work.
His muscular physique, signature long blonde hair and fighting abilities made him a popular choice for villain roles in martial arts movies, although Hues would continue to take acting and speech lessons in a bid to branch out into other genres. His most popular role was as the alien adversary to Dolph Lundren in Dark Angel (1990). His roles have been varied: he played a dancing lion tamer in Big Top Pee Wee (1988); a Klingon general in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991); a gladiator turned private investigator in Age of Treason (1993); an ageing hitman in Finding Interest (1994); and a bumbling idiot trying to kidnap a rich kid in Alone in the Woods (1996). He has also worked with many top martial arts actors, including Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Jeff Wincott, Lorenzo Lamas, Billy Blanks, Bolo Yeung and Michael Worth. He continues to work consistently with the action star Mark Dacascos, featuring in his directorial debut, Showdown in Manila (2016), and the films Ultimate Justice (2017) and Maximum Impact (2017).
He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
Speech! “If you are somewhat healthy and spirited minded, and in it because you love it and that’s your life, you wait every single day for that script to arrive which will push you to the limit… Everyone waits for that, all the time. You finish one, you wait for the next one.” Interview with Kung Fu Movie Guide, 2017.
Click here to listen to KFMG Podcast S02 Episode 21 with Matthias Hues.
Filmography (as actor): 1988 No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder; Big Top Pee-wee; 1989 Fist Fighter; Cage; Aftershock; 1990 Dark Angel; 1991 Kickboxer 2: The Road Back; Diplomatic Immunity; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; 1992 Tequila and Bonetti (TV); I Don’t Buy Kisses Anymore; Blackbelt; Mission of Justice; Talons of the Eagle; 1993 Bounty Tracker; TC 2000; Fist Fighter 2; Age of Treason; 1994 Death Match; Finding Interest; 1995 Fists of Iron; Digital Man; Droid Gunner; 1996 Tiger Heart; Lone Tiger; Starcrypt; Safety Zone; Alone in the Woods; 1997 Bloodsuckers; Executive Target; Cyber Vengeance; Conan (TV); 1998 The Company Man; The Protector; 1999 Hostile Environment; Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (TV); 2000 The King’s Guard; 2001 Legion of the Dead; 2003 The Librarians; 2007 Dragon Wars: D-War; 2008 Chinaman’s Chance: America’s Other Slaves; 2009 Immortally Yours; The Hitmen Diaries: Charlie Valentine; Green Street Hooligans 2; At World’s End; 2010 The Grove (short); 2011 Goy (+ scr.); 2012 Money Fight; 2014 Black Rose; Agency (short); 2016 Showdown in Manila; Beyond the Game; Angel of Death; Eden; 2017 Ultimate Justice; Maximum Impact; 2018 Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich; Railroad to Hell: A Chinaman’s Chance.
