Iko Uwais (real name Uwais Qorny; born February 12, 1983 in Jakarta, Indonesia) is an Indonesian actor, choreographer and martial artist. He became famous for his work with director Gareth Huw Evans, leading him to become famous for leading roles in films like Merantau and The Raid.
He is an expert in the Indonesian martial art of pencak silat, which led him to be discovered by Evans when the latter was shooting a documentary about it. Among his accomplishments in the style, he placed 3rd at the 2003 Indonesian national championships, and has apparently some experience with Rival Dojos in real life.
As an actor, Uwais' characters tend to be stoic, somber badasses with a trademark Death Glare, though occasionally hiding a softer side too.
His notable roles include:
- Merantau (2009) as Yuda
- The Raid Redemption (2011) as Rama
- Man of Tai Chi (2013) as Gilang Sanjaya
- The Raid 2: Berandal (2014) as Rama
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) as Razoo Qin-Fee
- Beyond Skyline (2017) as Sua
- Mile 22 (2018) as Li Noor
- TripleThreat (2019) as Jaka
- Stuber (2019) as Oka Tedjo
- Wu Assassins as Kai Jin
- The Expendables 4 (2023) as the Big Bad
Tropes about his work
- Death Glare: Often it only takes a look to his eyes to know that his character is gonna kick some serious ass.
- One-Man Army: Every character played by Uwais usually gets to beat and/or kill many people. Uwais himself also has a tale or two about this in real life, although presumably less successfully."There was a brawl between schools. I went into one classroom and the kids in the class started beating me up. [laughs] I just reacted to that, so I started fighting, but not because I wanted to show that I knew pencak silat."
- Skilled, but Naive: He often plays superb fighters who nonetheless start the story being much less worldly (and often less corrupt) than their superiors or antagonists.
- The Stoic: His signature style, with a touch of Tranquil Fury.
