Steven Seagal

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StevenSeagal Last Updated: 10/11/25
Real Name: Steven Frederic Seagal
Born: April 10, 1952
Height: 6' 4"

Grade: B-
Actor/Movie Star: 0%-100%
Prime Years: 1988, 1990-92, and 1994-97
Most Famous Film: Above the Law (1988)
Most Infamous Film: On Deadly Ground (1994)
Masterpiece: Hard to Kill (1990)
Outstanding: Above the Law (1988), Out for Justice (1991), and The Glimmer Man (1996)
Honorable: Marked for Death (1990), Under Siege (1992), and Fire Down Below (1997)

Opinion: Steven Seagal is the best!!!!! I remember being blown away by Above the Law when it first came out of nowhere in 1988. There has been nobody like him before or since then. Everything Steven Seagal does is unique: the way he talks, how he deals with people, the way he holds the gun, his hairstyle with a ponytail, and so on. He can be funny which rarely happens but unexpectedly. What sets him apart from virtually every martial artist in the history of movies is the display of bone-breaking Aikido. It's always unbelievable to watch.

The four films form the core of Steven Seagal's career, causing me to crave for more, but just about everything, starting in 1998, has been disappointing. In several like The Glimmer Man and Fire Down Below, the trademarks are there but with less effect. The biggest mistake he made was going blockbuster for the first time in Under Siege when I really wanted to see ten to twenty more policiers of the same as before. Because of the later video output and the bizarreness that surrounds Steven Seagal, people mock him constantly but not me...he will always have my respect. Frederick Coffin said it the best: "The most unstoppable son of a bitch I ever knew."

Confirmed: Was born in Lansing, Michigan, to Russian Jews. Traveled to Japan as a young man and became the first foreigner to run an Aikido dojo there. Once broke Sean Connery's wrist during training for Never Say Never Again. Became an overnight sensation when Above the Law came out despite having done zero films beforehand. Liked to incorporate same motifs in nearly every film of his: shadowy CIA background, martial arts that's usually of the Aikido kind, religion (often Buddhism or an Eastern philosophy), herbs, a friend or an acquiatance through his CIA days to be used for extra information, Was threatened by the Gambino family for extortion. Is fluent in Japanese.

Rumors: Worked for the CIA.