Tony Jaa is a renowned Thai actor possessing exceptional martial arts skills.

Tony Jaa is a Thailand based actor with an immense international stardom. He, in particular, is absolutely unparalleled when it comes to the action genre in movies. Being a skilled martial artist, he began his career as a stuntman in the Thai movie industry. After struggling for years, he finally came into the limelight with the superhit 2003 movie 'Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior". He went on to impress us with his stunning performance in movies like 'Tom-Yum-Goong', 'Paradox', 'Ong Bak 2: The Beginning', 'Triple Threat', 'XXX: Return of Xander Cage', 'Fast & Furious 7' etc. Apart from that, Jaa is also a director and action choreographer. Also, he is credited as the first person to represent the traditional fighting style of Muay Thai to the international audiences.

Here are some interesting yet lesser-known facts about Tony Jaa:

While the actor is globally known as Tony Jaa, his birth name was actually Panom Yeerum. Later, he changed his name to Tatchakorn Yeerum. However, he is better known as Jaa Panom in Thailand.

Tony Jaa got fascinated to the world of martial arts at a very young age. He was heavily inspired by renowned martial artists such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan as well as Jet Li.

Jaa, when he was just 10 years old, started learning the Muay Thai fighting style at the local temple.

As advised by Panna Rithikrai (the famous martial arts choreographer, actor and director), Jaa joined the Maha Sarakham College of Physical Education situated in Maha Sarakham Province. He learned several other fighting styles such as Ju-Jitsu, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, Bushido etc. at the University.

After completing graduation, Jaa started his career as a stuntman in commercials, television series and movies (mostly directed by Panna Rithikrai).

He also got extensive training in Muay Boran which is considered as the precursor of the Muay Thai fighting style.

'Spirited Killer' was the first movie in which Tony Jaa appeared as a supporting character. After playing supporting role in several other movies, he finally made his debut as the lead actor in the Prachya Pinkaew directorial movie 'Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior' in 2003.

In the movie 'Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior', Jaa performed a number of risky stunts which had previously been executed with special effects. This earned him a lot of acclaim from all around the world.

Jaa became a Buddhist monk on 28th May, 2010, at a Buddhist temple in Surin, Thailand.

Along with Thai, the actor can also speak several other languages such as Kuy, Khmer and Cambodian fluently.