Cynthia Rothrock

Cynthia Rothrock, “The Queen Of Martial Arts Films”

In a recent post just several days ago I referred to Gina Carano as “The Face Of Women’s MMA”.

Today I would like to introduce Cynthia Rockroth, “The Queen Of Martial Arts Films”.

She was once quoted, “throughout my life, I’ve been opening the door for other women to get involved with martial arts films. I was the first woman to be on the cover of a karate magazine and the first woman to win a men’s championship.”

Quite an accomplishment!

I myself became aware of Cynthia Rothrock while flipping through a martial arts publication, I guess it was Black Belt Magazine, probably in the very early 80s when she was on the West coast demo team.

Between 1981 and 1985 Cynthia Rothrock was a five-time (and undefeated) World Karate Champion in forms and weapons.

Remarkably, these categories were open to both male and females at the time.

She currently holds an astonishing five Black belts in numerous Far Eastern martial art styles such as Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do and Wu Shu.

She most probably was the first Caucasian actress that ever had a lead role in a Chinese film as a heroine.

Rothrock became one of the few Caucasian performers to achieve big-time stardom in the local Hong Kong film industry having starred with Michelle Yeoh, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, even before achieving success in the U.S.

Reportedly, she set a record of becoming the very first non-Chinese westerner to carry an action movie single-handedly in Hong Kong. Cynthia departed from Hong Kong as one of the most celebrated action stars in Hong Kong’s movie history!

She has starred in countless movies here in the U.S. since returning from Hong Kong in the late 80s.

Probably best known for starring in “China O’Brien” and “Guardian Angel”, Cynthis Rothrock has added the fact that she is an inductee to the Black Belt Hall of Fame and Inside Kung-Fu Hall of Fame to her long list of outstanding accomplishments.

Even after all her major achievements off and on the Big Screen, Cynthia has also become certified as an instructor of Fighting Chance Combat Systems, a reality based, self defense system against armed assaults.

Cynthia Rothrock – Queen Of Martial Arts Films