Chuck Norris is a martial artist and an actor who has appeared in both movies and tv series.
He was born on March 10, 1940, in Ryan, Oklahoma, to Wilma and Ray Norris, who worked as a bus driver, truck driver and a mechanic.
At the age of 12 his family moved to Torrance, California, where, as the eldest of three children, he helped his mother raise his siblings.
He was educated at North Torrance High School from 1955 until his graduation in 1958.
Following his graduation from high school, Norris joined the US Air Force and it was during this period of his life that he first began learning martial arts.
Chuck Norris (pictured) is a martial artist and an actor who has appeared in both movies and tv series. He first learned martial arts while stationed in Korea with the US Air Force
During a posting in Korea, Norris started to learn the art of Tang Soo Do.
Upon his return to the United States, Norris started working for Northrop Aviation while also working as a martial arts instructor.
After two years of balancing jobs, Norris quit working in aviation and began to teach martial arts full-time.
Eventually Norris started to use his martial art skills to fight competitively in a career which spanned a decade.
After a rocky start, where he lost his first three tournaments, Norris became almost unbeatable.
Among his incredible haul of martial art awards are: The National Karate Championships, 1966, All-Star Championships, 1966, the World Middleweight Championship, 1967, and again in 1968 as well as a number of all-American competition victories.
After a rocky start, where he lost his first three tournaments, Norris became almost unbeatable. In 1974 Norris retired from professional martial arts as the undefeated Professional Full-Contact Middleweight Champion
During his fight career, Norris produced an incredible fighting record of 65 victories and just five defeats.
In 1974 Norris retired from professional martial arts as the undefeated Professional Full-Contact Middleweight Champion.
After being encouraged to get into acting by his friend Steve McQueen, Norris utilised his martial art skills to break into the movie business.
In 1972 he appeared in Way of the Dragon as the rival of Bruce Lee. The appearance is widely credited as helping kick-start his on-screen career.
He then starred in a number of other films such as Good Guys Wear Black and Forced Vengeance before taking up a role as a former prisoner of war returning to Vietnam to free other soldiers in Missing In Action.
He said he took on this role as a tribute to his younger brother Wieland who died while fighting in Vietnam.
After being encouraged to get into acting by his friend Steve McQueen, Norris utilised his martial art skills to break into the movie business. In 1972 he appeared in Way of the Dragon (pictured) as the rival of Bruce Lee. The appearance is widely credited as helping kick-start his on-screen career
By 1990 Norris’ films had collectively grossed more than $500million worldwide and he had drawn comparisons to stars such as Bruce Lee and Clint Eastwood.
In 1993 Norris starred in Walker, Texas Ranger – a show which lasted for eight years and frequented the Top 30 Programs of 1995-1999.
At the turn of the century, Chuck Norris became the subject of a popular series of internet memes.
The online jokes, such as ‘Chuck Norris doesn’t turn on the shower, he stares at it until it starts to cry’, portrayed him as the ultimate hard man.
The internet memes provided Norris with an entirely new generation as an audience who may not have been familiar with his earlier works.
By 1990 Norris’ films had collectively grossed more than $500million worldwide and he had drawn comparisons to stars such as Bruce Lee and Clint Eastwood
As a testament to this, he appeared in The Expendables 2 alongside other Hollywood ‘tough guys’ such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Stathum, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Norris has been known to involve himself in politics, having backed George H. W. Bush in the 1988 elections as well as throwing his weight behind Mike Huckabee in 2008 in the race for the Republican party nominee.
In 2012 Norris voiced his support for the Republican candidate Mitt Romney after having initially accused him of flip-flopping and trying to buy the Republican nomination.
On the eve of the 2012 election, Norris posted a video online with his wife Gena warning that if people did not show up at the polls and vote out President Obama, ‘our country as we know it may be lost forever.’
In 2016, Chuck Norris voiced his support for President Donald Trump, saying that Obama ‘craziness’ would have continued if Hillary Clinton had been elected into office.