Meet Spike Zhao | Action Actor, Martial Artist & Fight Choreographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Spike Zhao and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Spike, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
I couldn’t imagine having a career that I’m not passionate about. I’ve always believed that choosing a career you love automatically turns all your struggles into something enjoyable. When you’re passionate about your work, even a heavy workload becomes part of your life’s pursuit.

For me, being an action actor and fight choreographer is my way of balancing work and life, thanks to my lifelong dedication to pursuing and perfecting martial arts skills. Unfortunately, this isn’t the easiest era for martial artists to live in, and there are few viable paths for us in modern society. I’ve explored careers as a professional athlete in combat sports and in action filmmaking, but I realized that the latter option gives me a reason to keep refining my martial skills for a lifetime. That’s why I’m here right now. I believe that by doing this, I don’t really have to separate work from life.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As described before, I am an action actor and a fight choreographer. I started my career as a fight choreographer, thanks to my experience in boxing and martial arts. Throughout my career, I gradually shifted my focus towards pure acting. I would say I had a rather smooth career because I was lucky enough to meet so many professionals at the early stage of my career who were willing to guide me through transitioning martial art skills into experiences in making fight scenes.

The hardest part for me is definitely building up the connections and networks, because after all filmmaking is a field that requires a lot of connections. I guess the lesson I learned from this is, keep on doing your best when it comes to your work and your reputation will automatically build up.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would say the Huntington Botanical Garden is definitely my favorite spot to visit. Aside from being a little too far from the central city, it is a great place to work and experience nature. The gardens are also constructed beautifully with different cultural flavors. As a local I am very tempted to register for an annual membership so I could visit this wonderful place even more.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would love to dedicate my shoutout to my favorite movie which is called The Grandmaster. It was directed by Wong Kar-wai, known for films like Chunking Express, In the Mood for Love, and Fallen Angels. The movie has three versions, and I highly recommend the Mandarin cut over the North American cut because it contains more information and is much more sophisticated compared to the other two versions. Instead of simply telling the story of the great Wing Chun master Ip Man, I believe this film showcased the fates of a generation of kung fu masters. And different from other martial arts films, Wong Kar-wai, again, managed to present a popular subject with a subtly different yet elegant touch.

What attracts me the most in this film is not the martial arts element at all, it’s the character’s personalities and their solitude. Wong Kar-wai’s films never miss the element of solitude, and the loneliness is filled in every piece of his work. The solitude is shown on every character’s face and in every word they’ve been spelling. I found this film in general very inspirational and I will definitely recommend this film to filmmakers and anyone who is interested in exploring the meaning of life.

Website: https://www.spikezhao.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gearlesszhao/

Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14228412/