Steven Roy Coleman (born 22 September 1981) is a British Wushu athlete and actor.Profile, rx3fightcrew.co.uk; accessed 26 December 2014. He is a two-time European wushu champion having been the second gold medallist for Great Britain in daoshu and gunshu behind Ray Park, and is a multiple-time medallist at the European Wushu Championships. Coleman has also won the Great Britain National Wushu Championships multiple times and has broken and set many Great Britain National Wushu records. He is said to have one of the longest competitive wushu careers, having competed internationally for over twenty years.

Career

Early career Coleman began martial arts at the age of nine by practising Shotokan Karate. He trained and competed in Karate and earned a blackbelt at the age of thirteen. From 1991 to 1994 he was a junior Karate Kata champion and in 1994 was a national champion.

In 1995, he turned his attention to Kung Fu and kickboxing. After a year of finding his direction in martial arts Coleman began training in London in wushu and Chin Woo, later complemented by training in sanda and gymnastics. He began to train in wushu around the world including in Great Britain under Mike Donoghue and at Ray Park's former school, as well as in Malaysia under Oh Poh Soon. In 2001 and 2002, Coleman won at the Traditional National Wushu Championships as well as at the 2002 Chin Woo World Championships Wushu Acro Fight Choreo by Steve Coleman, metacafe.com; accessed 26 December 2014.

Wushu career At 21, Coleman decided to focus strictly on Wushu. Training privately under Mike Donoghue, Steve went on to win the all-round National Wushu Championships in 2003 and consecutively every year since. This was added to with another World Chin Woo Championship win in 2006, various European Competition wins, and representation of the Great Britain Wushu Team.Profile, mkgym.co.uk; accessed 26 December 2014.

Coleman made his wushu continental debut at the 2002 European Wushu Championships in Porto, Portugal and his international debut at the 2003 World Wushu Championships in Macau. He subsequently competed in the next few European and world championships, becoming the captain of the Great Britain Wushu Team in 2006. At the 2008 European championships in Warsaw, Coleman won the silver medal in jianshu, but did not compete the following year in the 2009 World Wushu Championships. A year later, he competed in the 2010 European Wushu Championships in Antalya and won a shared bronze medal in changquan. From 2011 to 2012, Coleman retired from competitive wushu.

In 2013, Coleman started competing in wushu again. A year later at the 2014 European Wushu Championships in Bucharest, he became the European champion in daoshu and won silver and bronze medals in changquan and gunshu respectively. He then returned to compete internationally at the 2015 World Wushu Championships in Jakarta with a 7th-place finish in daoshu. A year later, Coleman competed in the 2016 European Wushu Championships in Moscow and became the European champion in gunshu and won bronze medals in daoshu and gunshu. He returned to the European championships two years later also in Moscow and was a bronze medalist in gunshu. Later that year, he competed in the World Martial Arts Masterships in South Korea and finished 6th in gunshu. He then competed at the 2019 World Wushu Championships in Shanghai where he was the oldest competitor.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Coleman returned to competition once again. His most recent competition was the 2023 World Wushu Championships in Fort Worth where he was once again the oldest competitor and competed with multiple injuries.

Acting career His first television appearance was on a show called Masters of Combat, aired on BBC2 in 2001. This was later followed up with an appearance in a documentary This is Kung Fu, also shown on BBC2. In 2002, he appeared for the music video of Junkie XL vs Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" as a "kung fu" performer. In the 2011 film On The Ropes, Coleman appeared alongside Mark Noyce, Ben Shockley and others in a mockumentary style film about martial arts culture in the UK.On The Ropes cast & crew, ontheropes-themovie.com; accessed 26 December 2014. Coleman has most recently appeared on 6 Underground, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, and Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday among other films.

Competitive history

Wushu Year Event CQ DSJS GS2002National ChampionshipsEuropean Championships78122003National ChampionshipsWorld Championships35122004National ChampionshipsEuropean Championships5452005National ChampionshipsWorld Championships 1515 192006National ChampionshipsEuropean Championships4762007National ChampionshipsWorld Championships 35 37 372008National ChampionshipsEuropean Championships562009National Championships2010National Championships2010 European Championships 4DNS2011Retired2012National Championships2013National Championships2014National Championships European Championships2015National Championships World Championships7112016National ChampionshipsEuropean Championships2017National Championships2018National ChampionshipsEuropean Championships4DNSWorld Martial Arts Masterships62019National ChampionshipsWorld Championships37142020-22Did not compete due to COVID-19 pandemic2023World Championships361117

Filmography +YearTitleRoleMediumNotes2001Masters of Combat"Venomous Blade"Television2002"A Little Less Conversation""Kung Fu Guy"Music Video 2011On the RopesShane Powersstunt coordinator, fight choreographer 2012The ProxyTrenchcoat #1TV Series2014AlliesGerman Ambush Soldier2017The Real TargetAgent Double 0 Eight"The Lost Sheep"AlecShortstunt coordinator, fight choreographer 2018"Chopsticks!!"Foreign FighterShort2019"Checkpoint"ManShortMost Terrifying PlacesDrakelow ExplorerTV Series"The Adventurer's Diary"ChaufferShort"10 Minutes for a Pound"Shortassistant stunt coordinator 6 Undergroundstunt performer2020"Undercover"McKenzieShortBadnaamstunt performer2022The Woman Kingcombat trainerAccident Man: Hitman's Holidaystunt double: Scott Adkins2023"Like Real Adults Do"JamesShortMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Onestunts

References

External links

Steve Coleman on Instagram