
Olivier Gruner
was born
2 August 1960 in
Paris, France.
Olivier
is a French
World Kickboxing
Champion and
former Commando
Marine and
helicopter pilot. Following his
retirement from
kickboxing,
Olivier
became an actor
and later a
director
specializing in
action movies.
EARLY LIFE
Gruner was born
in a family
where his
father as well
as his brother became
noted surgeons.
His younger
brother became
an engineer.
Olivier took a
different kind
of direction in
his life after seeing a
Bruce Lee movie
at age 11.
Gruner became
captivated with
martial arts and
started studying
Shotokan Karate,
and then boxing
and kickboxing.
MILITARY
Rather than
pursuing the
academic life, he joined
the Marine
Nationale when
he was 18 years
old. Volunteering for
their Commando
Marine unit. As
a part of his
military
training he
learned to scuba
dive, sky dive
and climb.
KICKBOXING
CAREER
In 1981 Olivier
got out of the French
military to
train full time
and become a
professional kickboxer.
He traveled
specially to
the French Alps
and began
training to
fight
professionally.
In order to pay
for his training
expenses, he had four jobs
at the time, a bouncer, a ski
patrol member, a
trainer and a
ski lift
operator. In
1984, he began
fighting
professionally
as a kickboxer
in France and
already after
10 professional
fights, he
became the
French
middleweight
champion.
By 1985, his
successes in the
ring allowed him
to train and
fight full time
and, in 1986, he
became World
Middleweight
Kickboxing
Champion. Having
achieved his
dream of
becoming World
Champion, in
1987, he retired
to pursue a
career as an
actor. model and
director.
ACTING CAREER
Olivier was discovered
at the 1987
Cannes Film
Festival. That
is where he began
his film career.
Olivier joined Imperial
Entertainment
and started acting
in action movies
in 1990. His
first movie was with the
urban action
movie
Angel Town
and Albert Pyun’s cyberpunk
1992 science
fiction thriller
Nemesis.
Gruner stayed with
Imperial
Entertainment
and gone on to
perform in
Automatic
(1994),
Savate
(1997),
Mercenary
(1997),
Mars
(1998),
Interceptors
(1999),
T.N.T.
(1998), and
Interceptor Force 2 (2002). Ultimately he
appeared in more
than 30
films and two
television
series. Olivier
has develop a
reputation as a
hard working,
disciplined
Hollywood actor. |
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Throughout his
career Olivier
maintained his
passion for
fitness,
continuing the
brutally
demanding
physical regimen
he had developed
and maintained
through his
military and
kickboxing
career and
adding to it the
skills needed to
pursue his other
demanding
physical
hobbies.
Over the years,
Olivier has
maintained his
demanding
physical regimen
and learned new
skills including
surfing and
becoming a
commercial
helicopter pilot.
He continues to
ski and sky dive.
In 2013 Olivier
premiered with
his first
feature film as
director and
star, entitled
Re-Generator.
In 2014 Olivier
made his second
feature as a
director,
Sector 4:
Extraction.
And currently is
working on
Executive
Protection.
Olivier has many
plans for the
future and will
be active for a
very long time
with his sports
and film career.
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