Billy Blanks
| Billy Blanks | |
|---|---|
Blanks in Okinawa, Japan (April 2006)
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|
| Born |
William Wayne Blanks September 1, 1955 Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | fitness guru, martial artist, actor |
| Spouse(s) | Tomoko Sato (m. 2009) |
| Children |
Billy Blanks, Jr. (son) Shellie Blanks Cimarosti (daughter) |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's karate | ||
Representing the  United States
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| World Games | ||
 |
1981 Santa Clara | Kumite open |
Billy Blanks, Jr. (son)
William Wayne "Billy" Blanks (born September 1, 1955) is an American fitness guru, martial artist, actor, and the creator of the Tae Bo exercise program.
Blanks was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, the fourth of fifteen children.
Blanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven, attending Karate and Taekwondo classes. He was born with an anomaly in his hip joints that impaired his movement. The resulting clumsiness caused taunts from Blank's siblings and led his instructors to believe that he would never accomplish much. Blanks found the answer to these challenges in karate. When he saw Bruce Lee on TV, he decided he wanted to be a world martial-arts champion, which helped counter the hip anomaly.
Blanks was hired as a bodyguard for lead actress Catherine Bach during the filming of 1988's Driving Force, which was filmed in Manila during a time of political unrest. Blanks impressed the producers and was written into the script in a supporting role. This led to Blanks' work in several martial arts films, including King of the Kickboxers and the first Bloodfist. Perhaps his most recognizable role to mainstream audiences is in the opening scene of Tony Scott's The Last Boy Scout, where he plays a doomed pro-football player. Blanks also appeared as the kickboxing instructor to Ashley Judd's character in Kiss the Girls.
In the late 1980s, Blanks developed the Tae Bo workout, while running a karate studio in Quincy, Massachusetts. He used components of his martial arts and Boxing training. The name is derived from taekwondo and boxing. Blanks opened a fitness center in Los Angeles to teach his new workout. He later attracted some celebrity clients such as Paula Abdul, and the popularity of the workout quickly grew, becoming a pop culture phenomenon after Blanks began releasing mass-marketed videos. He sold over 1.5 million VHS tapes in his first year, and is reported to have grossed between $80 million and $130 million in sales.
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