Darren Shalawi: The Biography and the Cause of Death

Darren Shalawi, sometimes called Shahlavi, was an English actor, martial artist and stuntman. His name is of Persian origin. The most famous screen character is Taylor Milos from the 2010 Ip Man 2 movie.

Actor's role Darren Shalawi is primarily the role of bad guys in martial arts films, for example, "Blood Moon" and "Master Tai Chi 2". He starred in the Hong Kong TV series "Technoboys", American films "Cataclysm," "The Hero Necessarily," "The Legion of the Living Dead" and the cult classic horror film "Beyond the Time", filmed by German director Olaf Ittenbach.

In recent years, Darren has appeared in such high-budget blockbusters as the "300 Spartans" and "Keepers", in the independent project "Ultimate Editing" with Robin Williams, and as an actor and stuntman in a number of Uwe Boll films (including "BloodRayne" and " In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale ").

early years

Darren Shalawi was born on August 5, 1972 in the family of Iranian immigrants in the town of Stockport in the English county of Cheshire. At the age of 7, Darren began to study judo and take up acting classes. He sought to achieve this as quickly as possible, because after seeing the films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, Darren's main dream was shooting in action films. Later, at the age of 14, he began training at the Shotokan-karate school under the guidance of the sensei Dave Morris and Horace Harvey, and then went on to study boxing, kickboxing and muaythai at the Masters in Toddie's gym.

First professional experience

At the age of 16, Darren Shalawi began his film career and in the 1990s brought the attention of the Hong Kong film producer Bey Logan. In the commentary of Bey Logan himself to the DVD edition of the movie "Master Tai Chi 2" says that Darren spent a lot of time in the producer's house, looking through, studying and copying martial arts films from his personal collection. In an interview with the Persian Mirror newspaper, Darren Shalawi mentioned that Logan had written a script for him, after which he went to Malaysia. However, on arrival it turned out that there was no money for the shooting, and Logan's partner Mark Houghton took Shalavi to work as a stuntman. Later, Darren moved to Hong Kong to continue his acting career.

The beginning of an acting career

In the mid-1990s, after moving to Hong Kong to continue his film career, Darren Shalawi was spotted by the famous stage director and director Yuan Heping, who took him as the bad guy who opposed Jackie Wu's character in the movie Master Tai Chi 2 ". At that time, Darren worked as a bouncer in a nightclub and bodyguard of visiting celebrities such as Patrick Stewart and Bruce Willis.

For a long time Darren had to play bandits and killers, and also perform stunt tricks. In addition, in 1995, he tried his hand at the producer's field, being an assistant to the producer on the filming of the fiery angel. Darren also managed to work in advertising: along with the famous Jackie Chan he advertised beer in the commercial of one Taiwanese company.

After Master Tai Chi 2 was released in Hong Kong movie theaters, the head of Seasonal Films corporation Ng Xiuen and director Tony Liung Siu Hung saw potential in the young actor and signed a contract with him for filming in the joint American-Hong Kong film "Bloody Moon "(1997). All the shortcomings of this action movie are more than filled with scenes from Shalavi in the role of villain and the presence of stars such as Gary Daniels and Chuck Jeffries, so he is considered a cult among fans of martial arts films.

Work in films of other genres

Towards the end of his career, Darren Shalavi, whose photo has appeared on magazine covers more than once, has turned into a horror genre, starting cooperation with the cult and scandalous German director Olaf Ittenbach, whose films are often banned due to extreme violence in their cruelty. Shalavi acted in film and participated in staging the stunts in the films "Legion of the Living Dead" and "Beyond the Time." Complete director's versions of these paintings are very difficult to find.

In 2004, Darren starred in the film "Final Installation", created by a young director Omar Naim and tells about the problems of preserving personal secrets in the future world.

Shalavi did tricks for such films as The Chronicles of Riddick, Night at the Museum, 300 Spartans, and often appeared on screen in humorous episodic roles, such as the role of a sleeper and incapable of fighting a guard in the film "In the King's Name: History Siege of the dungeon, "where he replaced Ray Liott in battle scenes with Jason Statham, directed by Cheng Xiaodong. In an interview with Darren Shalawi, whose biography had already allowed him to rightfully be considered a star of the first magnitude, he said he wanted to return to creating martial arts films after their collaboration with militant star Mark Dakaskos ended . At the same time, he appeared in some episodes of the series "Artificial Intelligence", as well as as a guest star on the TV show "The Reaper".

"Ip Man 2"

In 2010, Shalavi was given the big role of Taylor's villain "Twister" by Mylos in the film "Ip Man 2", starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Lynn Hung and Huang Xiaoming. Although Darren appears only in the second part of the film, his boxing matches with Sammo Hung and the final defeat in the battle with Donnie Yen are the climaxes of the film, and the character of Shalawi acts as the main negative hero. A little later, Darren appeared in the psychological thriller "Little Red Riding Hood", and also played the role of Kano in the television series "The Mortal Battle: The Legacy."

Darren Shalavi performed the role of Devon in the thriller "Making", released in 2013, where he was also starred by such famous actors as Dolph Lundgren and Steve Austin. In the 2013 film "Marine: Rear" Darren performs the role of Kaisel. In this film, also starred Neil McDonagh and WWE star Mike "Miz" Misanin.

The last years of the actor's life

The last film of Shalavi is the "Kickboxer" shot in 2015, a remake of the famous action movie of 1989 with the same name. Darren played Eric Sloan in this film. In addition to him in the shooting involved the MMA fighter Alain Moussy, former WWE superstar Dave Batista, as well as Jean-Claude Van Damme, who played the main role in the original film.

Personal life

Darren Shalavi has a younger sister named Elizabeth (born October 15, 1986) and brother Robert Shalavi. February 28, 2000 Darren married the Canadian kickboxer Lurey Andershut (born August 20, 1978). The couple broke up in 2003, they had no children.

Darren Shalawi: the cause of death

The sudden death of militants star Darren Shalawi, who was only 42 years old, shocked all representatives of Hollywood show business.

The famous actor and stuntman died on January 14, 2015 in his own house in Los Angeles. His body was discovered by neighbors.

Police in Los Angeles could not immediately name the exact cause of Darren's death and assumed that it could be triggered by an overdose of narcotic or other medications.

In many media there was information that in the death of the actor, the intolerance of medicines prescribed to him by doctors was to blame. It was said that Darren Shalawi, whose films became cult, suffered from an old hip injury, so the doctors prescribed him a new painkiller. As the cause of death, the actor called a toxic reaction caused by drug intolerance. However, according to official data, the death occurred as a result of a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis.