Michel Qissi

Landing in Los Angeles

In 1982 Michel Qissi arrived in California with seven thousand dollars in his pocket and almost no English. He wasn't traveling alone. His childhood friend Jean-Claude Van Vaerenbergh, who had not yet taken the name Van Damme, came with him. The two shared a tiny apartment and a diet built on spaghetti while they looked for work in the city's gyms.

His training went back a long way. Qissi began boxing training at age seven at the Brussels training center and became an amateur welterweight champion in Morocco before turning twenty. American action cinema was the only real goal of that transatlantic journey.

And the gamble paid off.

They landed their first roles as extras in Breakin' in 1984, thanks to their athletic build. But Qissi's luck changed when the production company Cannon Films gave the green light to a low-budget martial arts project. In 1988 he appeared in Bloodsport as Suan Paredes, a Brazilian fighter who served as a showcase for the lead's skills.

The makeup that hid the villain

Qissi originally worked as a choreographer and Muay Thai technical advisor on the set of Kickboxer in 1989. The producers were looking for a tall, muscular Asian actor for the role of Tong Po, but couldn't find anyone who conveyed real danger. So the Moroccan offered to audition on camera after convincing the team he could transform.

They applied a latex prosthetic to his forehead to alter his features and shaved his head, leaving a long ponytail. The result was so unsettling that the original film credits listed him as Tong Po, playing himself. For years, many viewers believed the actor was a professional Thai fighter.

Anonymity was his best promotional tool.

He reprised the role in Kickboxer 2 in 1991, and his physical presence became the standard for B-movie villains. Qissi did more than act. He designed the striking distances so the cameras could capture the impact without injuring the leads. The final fight of the first installment required three days of filming to complete.

Cameras, Production and Returning to the Mat

In 1993, he decided he wanted to get behind the camera. He directed Terminator Woman and later took over directing Extreme Force in 2001. He wasn't seeking approval from professional critics because he knew his niche market in the home video format perfectly well.

His career moved away from the spotlight to focus on training and independent productions across Europe. In 2014 he appeared in Bara, and in 2019 he shot Out for Vengeance alongside other veterans of the video store era. He never lost touch with fans at martial arts conventions.

In 2024, he joined the cast of The Last Kumite, a fan-funded project that aimed to revive the visual aesthetic of the 1980s. The production raised more than 150,000 euros through crowdfunding. Filming took place in Germany under the technical direction of Ross W. Clarkson.

Qissi coordinated many of the fight sequences using high-speed cameras to capture the impacts without relying on digital effects.