"I put so much pressure on myself to raise the bar with each and every project. I treat it like every film is my last, and I make sure I pour everything I have into every film I make because if I'm not trying to improve, someone else will."
Scott Edward Adkins (born 17 June 1976 in Sutton Coldfield, England) is an English actor, stuntman and martial artist. He is best known for his work in many, many low-budget martial arts films, though he has been seen in some blockbusters as well. He has also starred in a couple of soap operas back in his native England, though he seems to have stopped doing this by the 2010s.
He is trained in Taekwondo, Judo, Karate, Ninjitsu, Capoeira, Krav Maga, Wushu, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Jeet Kune Do, Tai Chi, Kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
He also runs a podcast called The Art of Action
where he talks to fellow action stars to discuss their approach to martial arts choreography.
He has appeared in the following works:
- Doctors (2000) as Ross
- The Accidental Spy (2001) as Lee's Bodyguard
- Mutant X (2002) as Marko
- Black Mask 2: City of Masks (2002) as Dr. Lang
- EastEnders (2003) as Joel
- Special Forces (2003) as Talbot
- The Medallion (2003) as Henchman
- Danny the Dog (2005) as Swimming Pool Fighter
- Hollyoaks: Let Loose (2005) as Ryan
- The Pink Panther (2006) as Jacquard
- Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006) as Yuri Boyka
- Undisputed III: Redemption (2010)
- Boyka Undisputed (2016)
- Holby City (2006) as Bradley Hume
- The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) as Agent Kiley
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) as Weapon XI
- The Tournament (2009) as Yuri Petrov
- Ninja (2009) as Casey Bowman
- Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013)
- Assassination Games (2011) as Roland Flint
- El Gringo (2012) as The Man
- The Expendables 2 (2012) as Hector
- Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) as John
- Metal Hurlant Chronicles (2012, 2014) as Guillam, Joe Manda
- Zero Dark Thirty (2012) as John Simmons
- Green Street 3: Never Back Down (2013) as Danny
- The Legend of Hercules (2014) as King Amphitryon
- Jarhead 3: The Siege (2016) as Gunny Raines
- Grimsby (2016) as Pavel Lukashenko
- Criminal (2016) as Pete Greensleeves
- Hard Target 2 (2016) as Wes Baylor
- Doctor Strange (2016) as Lucian
- American Assassin (2017) as Victor
- Accident Man (2018) as Mike Fallon
- Triple Threat (2019) as Collins
- Avengement (2019) as Cain Burgess
- Ip Man 4 (2019) as Barton Geddes
- One Shot (2021) as Jake Harris
- Day Shift (2022)
- Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday (2022) as Mike Fallon
- John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) as Killa
Tropes associated with Adkins' roles
- Anti-Hero: Plays these kind of roles a lot.
- Combat Parkour: His fighting style tends to be very agile and makes extensive use of his training in Capoeira and gymnastics.
- Deadpan Snarker: His characters tend to have a very dry sense of humor.
- Evil Brit: He's played a few.
- Extremity Extremist: His fighting style uses a lot of kicks which fits with his Taekwondo, Kickboxing and Muay Thai training.
- Fake American: In a few films, most notably the Ninja films.
- Fake Russian: Adkins has become a go to for these since his first turn as Boyka in the Undisputed series.
- Lightning Bruiser: He hits hard and moves very quickly.
- Mr. Fanservice: Many films have him go shirtless to show off his impressive physique.
- Oop North: He's from near Birmingham.
- Signature Move: The 'Guyver Kick', now more famously known as a 'Boyka Kick'.
- Star-Making Role: Boyka in Undisputed II: Last Man Standing.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's 5'11, dark haired and good looking.
- Those Two Actors:
- Has acted in three films and one television episode with Michael Jai White.
- Starred alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme in a quite a few films, including The Shepherd, Assasination Games, The Expendables 2 and Universal Soldier 4. They're not always on the same side though.
