Andrew Koji

The Resignation That Never Happened

Andrew Koji almost sold his camera equipment and moved to Japan to work behind the scenes in 2017.

For years he piled up stunt work and tiny roles in British series like Casualty or Call the Midwife. But the money never came, and the professional frustration weighed more heavily than his training at the National Youth Theatre. Before shooting any major scene in his life, Koji already knew what the systematic rejection of an industry that didn't know where to place his mixed-race look felt like.

And then Jonathan Tropper showed up.

Before sending in his audition for Warrior, the actor, born in Epsom in 1987, had barely any hope in the Los Angeles casting system. He had worked as a stunt double in Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and knew all too well how brutal physical shoots can be, where the performer's face is usually the least of concerns. For the Cinemax series, he decided to film a homemade audition with the help of his mother and a basic crew.

The production based on the original writings by Bruce Lee changed his career after its premiere in 2019. Koji not only brought the martial arts technique needed to play Ah Sahm but also gave the character a vulnerability that convinced the executive producers. The three-season contract broadcast between 2019 and 2023 finally pulled him out of financial precarity in London.

The Assault on the Major Studios

His entry into big-budget mainstream film came with Snake Eyes in 2021. Playing Storm Shadow was an extreme physical challenge, because the actor insisted on performing most of his fight scenes without stunt doubles. It was a risky move that earned him the respect of fight coordinators in Hollywood.

But it was in 2022 that his international profile took a big step up, when he shared the screen with Brad Pitt in Bullet Train. As Yuichi Kimura, the British actor showed that his stage presence worked just as well in the dry drama as in the over-the-top action comedy of David Leitch. He managed to steal scenes from established stars through restrained body language and a gaze full of gravity.

Koji isn't chasing fame quickly.

He prefers projects with real physical demands and shoots that require several months of technical preparation. In 2024 he joined the cast of the third season of Gangs of London to bring his experience in urban combat choreography. For him, acting is a craft performed with the body as much as with the voice.

For the feature film Boy Kills World (2024), he had to undergo specific endurance training to coordinate high-speed handheld camera movements. His role in the thriller Deep Water was scheduled for the 2025 production calendar under the direction of Renny Harlin. The shoot for this latter film was mainly set in New Zealand, with an estimated budget of $30 million.