Ho-Sung Pak was born on November 8, 1967 is a martial artist, American film actor, action choreographer, writer, and producer.
A Korean American, Pak was born in Seoul, South Korea. He is a master of Kung-fu Wushu. Pak was trained by Wushu master, Sifu Won Jin Bo in China. Sifu Won Jin Bo also trained Jet Li. Ho-Sung is regarded as one of the greatest modern practitioners of Wushu in America and throughout the world. Pak was one of the youngest martial artists to be inducted into the prestigious 1991 Black Belt Hall of Fame after completing an unbelievable perfect season on the national martial arts tournament circuit. In that same year, he became the first competitor in American martial arts tournament history ever to receive unanimous 10-point (perfect) scores from each of the judges at a major national martial arts competition. This took place at the 1991 Diamond Nationals Karate Tournament. In the 1991 season he walked away as the Grand Champion of every tournament he entered that year.
He has been ranked as the number one martial arts competitor in the nation many times by various governing martial arts organizations, such as the North American Sport Karate Association (N.A.S.K.A.) and the Professional Karate League (P.K.L.). He was legendary on the tournament circuit for mastery his art and he has a legendary repertoire. He is able to execute 4 to 5 kicks in midair before landing, his 720 degree kick, where his body would spin two complete revolutions before kicking e also performs his incredible butterfly twist, where his body spins one and a half rotations while perfectly parallel with the ground. When he was actively competing, he definitely took martial arts competitions to a new level of excellence.
Ho-Sung Pak was especially well-known for his dazzling use of the sword.
Ho-Sung Pak has worked extensively in film, TV, and various multimedia projects. He played the the main villain of the first Mortal Kombat game, Shang Tsung, and he also played the Mortal Kombat champion Liu Kang for the first game and Mortal Kombat II.
He was a stunt coordinator for the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze as well as a stunt double for Raphael; he later reprised his role of stunt double in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.
In 2003, he played the leading role in the martial arts movie The Book of Swords. In it he portrayed Lang, an Asian cop who after witnessing the death of his brother during a drugbust gone wrong, leaves town only to come back three years later for revenge. The movie also starred MK actors Daniel Pesina, Katalin Zamiar and Richard Divizio. In a nod to his Mortal Kombat alter ego Liu Kang, Pak is shown wearing a red headband during the final part of the movie, while the other three actors are also seen in similar MK clothing/roles throughout the movie.
In 2004 Pak starred in the martial film Lesser of Three Evils, directed by Wayne A. Kennedy, also starring Roger Guenveur Smith, Peter Greene, Rosa Blasi and Sherilyn Fenn. The film was produced by Ho-Sung Pak, Wayne A. Kennedy and Matthew Chausse who created together the film company GenOne. It was released in 2009 under the title Fist of the Warrior.
During the 1995-1997 show WMAC Masters, his ki-symbol was “Superstar”, which is a translation of his given Korean name. His older brother, Ho Young Pak (“Star Warrior”), as well as fellow Mortal Kombat actor Chris Casamassa (“Red Dragon”), also appeared on the show.
