Darren Shahlavi: biography and photo actor

Actor and stuntman from Britain Darren Shahlavi, who lived a short life (only 42 years), has won his fame as the "bad guys". For many years he was seriously fond of martial arts. And he reached this unprecedented heights. He managed to make his way from the usual bouncer in some club to the set of horror films Olaf Ettenbach. He acted in even episodic roles, dubbed other stars in the cinema, performed the most difficult tricks in his technical characteristics. In January 2015, the media reported on his death.

Little lion cub

Darren Majan Shahlavi was born in a modest family of immigrants from Ireland, on the fifth day of August 1972. And it happened in England, Cheshire, Stockport. "Madjan" in the translation from Persian means "our lion cub." The choice of this second (or, as they say, middle) name associated with the sign of the zodiac, under which Darren was born. And this name has justified itself one hundred percent.

From Judo to Setokan

Little Shahlavi began to learn the art of judo very early - he only recently turned seven at the time. For all classes he came to the rented hall in the building of a functioning cinema. The boy tried every time to come as soon as possible to see what is being shown on the screens. It was then that Darren Shahlavi saw dramatic action, in which the great Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan were shot. And in his head came the idea of ever ever getting into the huge world of cinema - in this magical world of the movie - and to be with them on one set.

Darren Majan never stopped his grueling training. At the age of fourteen, future actor Darren Shahlavi begins to seriously study one of the main styles of Japanese karate called sitokan. His spiritual mentors (sensei) were Dave Maurice and Horace Harvey. A little later the boy switched to kickboxing, boxing and Muay Thai (Thai boxing). These classes were held in the trainer of Master Toddy in Manchester.

The first steps to realizing the dream

Darren Shahlavi already celebrated his sixteenth birthday when his film career finally began, as he had planned many years ago. In the early nineties, he was fortunate enough to catch the eye of one of the Hong Kong experts on action films, Bey Logan, who contributed significantly to the creation of Dante Lama's "Twins", released in 2003.

Master Tai Chi, as Darren was then called, at that time spent a lot of time at home with this expert. He reviewed a huge number of paintings from the personal collection of Bey Logan and very carefully tried to copy every movement of the actors-karate.

In one of the many interviews, the then-young actor Darren Shahlavi, whose biography could be a vivid example to everyone that only through his own work all dreams can come true, shared that Logan had written for him a very interesting scenario. In it, Darren is given the main role. But time passed, and the film never came out. And to this day it is unclear whether it was a newspaper duck or a kind of advertising of the actor himself.

A little later, a colleague of Bey from Britain and an expert on kung fu "hungar" Mark Houghton, who was approved for the role of a star, turned to Shahlavi with a proposal to work in the picture as a stuntman.

Hong Kong 90s

In the mid-nineties, actor Darren Shahlavi, whose photo always portrayed a strong and handsome man, moves to Hong Kong, where he continues to develop his career in film. After some time the talented young man saw the director of fights and director Yuen Voo-ping. It was he who invited Darren to play the role of "bad guy" by the name of Smith in the comedy action "Master Tai Chi 2".

The actor agreed, because this was what he was so eager for. But not everything worked out smoothly. It was during this period that Shahlavi worked as a bouncer in an elite nightclub and guarded celebrities.

"The Bloody Moon" - a step to the fulfillment of dreams

After the endless twist of this film in the Hong Kong theaters, Daria turned his attention to director Tony Leung Siu Hung, who liked the game Shahlavi. He examined the young actor's considerable potential and signed a contract with him to shoot the American-Hong Kong thriller Bloody Moon.

Thanks to this Darren Shahlavi, whose films are particularly beautiful and the technique of performing a variety of battle scenes, was able to work on the same set with Chuck Jeffries and Gary Daniels.

In the "Blood Moon" actor played a maniac killer, who opened a brutal hunt for the great masters who are engaged in martial arts. It was they who had once proven their superiority in the ring, were forced to fight to death with the insane hero Shahlavi. Many of the film fans, who were particularly indifferent to the ribbons on the theme of different martial arts, are sure that this film is the best among hardcore.

Tricks, dubbing and episodic roles of the actor

Gradually, Darren Shahlavi in his final career advanced to the horror genre. He collaborated with director Olaf Ittenbach, whose films were often banned from showing because there were so many violent scenes of violence in each of them.

The actor often acted in film and himself put the fights in many films. Some of them, unfortunately, are almost impossible to see in the original version, which did not cut the censorship.

If he was invited to the projects of famous film studios, for example, "Night at the Museum", "Chronicles of Riddick" or "300 Spartans", he agreed to perform a variety of tricks. And in one of the fantasy films Shahlavi was even involved in the episodic role of a sleeping guard. He acted in action scenes with D. Statham, was a backup of R. Liott.

Once, while giving an interview to one magazine, Darren admitted that he really wants to work again on the martial arts films. Just at this time, he completed the next work on the film with Mark Dakasas, starred in the rating series "In the service of the devil."

Five years before his death Shahlavi takes a leading role in the historical action, where, according to the story, he should appear in almost the last part of the picture. Around this time, the actor starred in the horror fantasy "Little Red Riding Hood" with Amanda Sayfred.

Tragedy

It's been more than a year and a half since the day the actor, stuntman and just a handsome man left this perishable world forever. In the first days after the incident, most mass media trumpeted that the cause of death is contained in medicines that are unbearable for Darren's body. Other media approached this topic with a great deal of imagination and talked about the fact that Darren Shahlavi, whose death stirred not only the admirers of his talent as a stuntman, but also other people, died from an overdose of drugs or alcohol. But in reality everything was not so.

From the coroner's report

About three months after the death of the actor, his family received a report from the coroner, which referred to the results of the investigation. According to this document, Darren Shahlavi died from natural causes - a sudden heart attack occurred.

The young man still had atherosclerosis. His left anterior descending artery was blocked by 95%. This was a consequence of the deterioration of health in recent years.

No single drug or drug was found in his blood.