Who is Joe Taslim, Mortal Kombat’s new Sub-Zero? The Indonesian actor starred in Netflix’s The Night Comes for Us and Star Trek Beyond – and is inspired by Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris

Jan 12 , 2021

Joe Taslim will star as Sub-Zero in the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot. Photo: @joe_taslim/ Instagram

The former judo star appeared in Hollywood’s Fast & Furious 6, cult favourite The Raid and his Head & Shoulders ad went viral on YouTube – here’s everything you need to know about Joe Taslim

If you don’t know the name Joe Taslim, you will soon recognise Indonesia’s bona fide superstar. Taslim became one of the country’s first actors to break into Hollywood, appearing in films like Fast & Furious 6 and Star Trek Beyond. His latest role is Sub-Zero in the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot, set for a theatrical and HBO release later this year.

Here’s everything you need to know about the dashing 39-year-old actor.

He’s a former athlete

Joe Taslim during his athlete days. Photo: @joe_taslim/Instagram

Born in Palembang, South Sumatra, the Chinese-Indonesian actor is a former athlete who practised a variety of martial arts like wushu, taekwondo and varieties of Indonesian pencak silat martial arts. His athletic career peaked in the 1990s and 2000s when he won gold medals in several judo championships, but he unfortunately had to retire due to a sports-related injury in 2009.

He really loves action films

With his martial arts background, Taslim found great success in Indonesian action films like Gareth Evans’ The Raid (2011) and Timo Tjahjanto’s The Night Comes for Us (2018), which premiered exclusively on Netflix. He is set to appear in Indonesia’s very own character-based superhero universe, by Bumilangit, as the superhero Mandala, and has credited Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee as his biggest screen inspirations.

He has an eclectic career