Who is Iko Uwais? Life and key facts

Uwais Qorny (pronounced [uˌwaɪs ˈkɔrni], born 12 February 1983), known professionally as Iko Uwais, is an Indonesian actor, stuntman, fight choreographer, and martial artist. He is best known for acting in the action films Merantau (2009), The Raid (2011), The Raid 2 (2014), Headshot (2016), Mile 22 (2018), The Night Comes for Us (2018), Stuber (2019), and the Netflix series Wu Assassins (2019–22).

Early life

Qorny was born in Jakarta, to Musthafa and Maisyaroh Kamaluddin. His grandfather, H. Achmad Bunawar, was a silat master and founded a silat school. He is named after the 7th-century Islamic figure Owais al-Qarani.

Career

In 2007, Uwais met director Gareth Evans, who was filming a documentary about silat, a form of martial arts, in Uwais's training hall. Uwais's natural charisma and great camera presence encouraged Evans to cast him as the leading role for his first martial art movie, Merantau. After signing a five-year contract with Gareth Evans and his production company, Uwais resigned from his daytime job as an operational driver at Esia, an Indonesian telecom company.

In his first acting experience in Merantau, Uwais played the role of a young Minang (West-Sumatran), which led him to learn the Minang style of silat harimau (tiger style) from Master Edwel Datuk Rajo Gampo Alam. Merantau was released in Indonesia on 6 August 2009. The film was featured in Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea and Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas with highly positive reviews. Merantau won the Best Film award at ActionFest 2010.

Uwais's second collaboration with Gareth Evans was The Raid (known as The Raid: Redemption in the United States), which began filming in mid-March 2011 and was released in mid-2012. The movie has been hailed by critics and audiences in various festivals as one of the best martial art movies in years. The following year, Uwais appeared in a small role in Keanu Reeves's directorial debut Man of Tai Chi.

In 2014, Uwais collaborated on a third movie with Evans, The Raid 2, a sequel to the original film. Uwais also appeared briefly in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), alongside his The Raid 2 co-stars Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman. He was also asked to choreograph a lightsaber fight in the film by director J. J. Abrams, but the sequence was rejected for being too violent.

In 2016, he appeared in the martial arts film Headshot, which received generally positive reviews.

In 2017, he filmed the international martial arts film Triple Threat, together with Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Tiger Chen, and Scott Adkins—the film was released in early 2019. In 2018, Uwais starred in the films, Mile 22 and The Night Comes for Us.

In the same year, it was announced that Uwais was cast in the lead role of Kai Jin on the Netflix series, Wu Assassins. The series premiered on 8 August 2019. Uwais reprised his role in the sequel film, Fistful of Vengeance. It was released on 17 February 2022 to mixed reviews.

In 2019, Uwais starred in the action comedy film Stuber alongside Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista. In the same year, it was announced that Uwais would appear in a film called Chinatown Express playing a man who must fight through the gangland of New York to save his family after the disappearance of his son during a gang's killing spree.

Uwais was also announced to star in The Bellhop, one of the first five films in development by Balboa Productions, the new production company co-founded by Sylvester Stallone in 2018.

Uwais played Hard Master in Snake Eyes, a spin-off from the G.I. Joe movie franchise. The film was released on 23 July 2021.

In October 2021, Uwais joined the cast of Expend4bles, which was released in 2023 to poor reviews. In May 2023, Iko Uwais was announced to star in a sci-fi thriller Ash directed by Flying Lotus alongside Aaron Paul, Eiza González, Beulah Koale, and Kate Elliott.

In January 2025, Uwais revealed that he had started a film production company, Uwais Pictures. The company's initial slate of films includes Uwais's directorial debut Timur, a dramatization of the Mapenduma hostage crisis that Uwais also stars in.

Personal life

On 25 June 2012, Uwais married singer Audy Item at the Hotel Gran Mahakam in Jakarta. The couple have two daughters, Atreya Syahla Putri Uwais and Aneska Layla Putri Uwais.

Filmography

Film

2009 — Merantau — Yuda — Gareth Evans
2011 — The Raid — Rama — Gareth Evans — Also as action choreographer
2013 — Man of Tai Chi — Gilang Sanjaya — Keanu Reeves — US debut
2014 — The Raid 2 — Rama/Yuda — Gareth Evans — Also as fight choreographer
2015 — Star Wars: The Force Awakens — Razoo Qin-Fee — J. J. Abrams — Cameo
2016 — Headshot — Ishmael/Abdi — The Mo Brothers
2017 — Beyond Skyline — Sua — Liam O'Donnell — Also as action choreographer
2018 — The Night Comes for Us — Arian — Timo Tjahjanto — Also as action coordinator
2018 — Mile 22 — Li Noor — Peter Berg — Also as co-fight choreographer
2019 — Triple Threat — Jaka — Jesse V. Johnson
2019 — Stuber — Oka Tedjo — Michael Dowse — Also as action choreographer
2021 — Snake Eyes — Hard Master — Robert Schwentke
2022 — Fistful of Vengeance — Kai Jin — Roel Reiné
2023 — Expend4bles — Suarto Rahmat — Scott Waugh
2024 — Marni: The Story of Wewe Gombel — —.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px;white-space:nowrap}N/a — Billy Christian — Also as stunt choreographer
2025 — Ash — Adhi — Flying Lotus
2025 — Ikatan Darah — —N/a — Sidharta Tata — Also as executive producer
2025 — Timur — Timur — Himself — Directorial debut, also as executive producer
2026 — Wings of Dread — Paquet — Ashton Chen Pengfei Qin — Hong Kong debut
TBA — Skyline: Warpath — Sua — Liam O'Donnell
TBA — The Bellhop
TBA — Chinatown Express
TBA — Road House 2 — Ilya Naishuller — Post-production
TBA — Pendekar: Warrior — Abah Jaya — John Radel

Television

2019 — Wu Assassins — Kai Jin — Netflix — Main role; also as executive producer and lead fight choreographer

Awards and nominations

Indonesian Movie Awards — Best Newcomer Actor — Merantau — Nominated
2010 — Indonesian Movie Awards — Favorite Newcomer Actor — Merantau — Nominated
Indonesian Movie Awards — Best Chemistry (shared with Donny Alamsyah) — The Raid — Nominated
Indonesian Choice Awards — Actor of the Year — Himself — Nominated
2014 — Indonesian Yahoo! Celebrity Awards — Most Wanted Male — Himself — Nominated
2014 — Republika Awards — The Best Republika's Change Figure — Himself — Won
Infotainment Awards — Indonesian Celebrity of World Achievement — Himself — Won
2016 — JawaPos Group Awards — Actor of the Year — Himself — Won
Golden Raspberry Awards — Worst Screen Combo — Expend4bles — Nominated

Iko Uwais