Olivier Gruner

Biography

Olivier Gruner (French: [ɔlivje ɡʁyne] ) (born 2 August 1960) is a French actor, filmmaker, martial artist and former kickboxer. Born in Paris, he moved back to France in 1988 after serving in the French Armed Forces and competing as a professional kickboxer, during which time he won a silver medal at the W.A.K.O. World Championships. He has appeared in over 40 films and 4 television series and is best known for martial arts and action films.

== Early life and education == Gruner was born into a French family with parents in the surgery and engineering industry. Gruner began martial arts at the age of 11 after watching a Bruce Lee movie, which inspired him to pursue both martial arts and a potential career in the film industry. Being constantly bullied at school further motivated him to learn martial arts to defend himself. He began studying Shotokan karate, then boxing, kickboxing, and full contact kickboxing. In 1978, at age 18, he joined the French Navy, volunteering for their Commandos Marine unit, also nicknamed the Bérets Verts (Green Berets). He was operational in Djibouti and Somalia, where he was particularly involved in anti-piracy operations.

== Kickboxing == In 1981, Gruner left the military with the aim of training full-time to compete professionally as a kickboxer. In 1984, he began fighting as a professional kickboxer. By 1985, his successes in the ring allowed him to fight full-time. Later that same year he won a silver medal in the 1985 W.A.K.O. World Championships. Gruner retired from professional kickboxing in 1987 and pursued an acting career, following the lead of bodybuilders Reg Park and Arnold Schwarzenegger. To promote himself, Gruner plastered posters of himself around Cannes during the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, which caught the attention of a movie producer. Gruner was invited to Los Angeles for screen tests.

== Film career == Gruner joined Imperial Entertainment Corporation and began acting in action movies. He has appeared in martial arts magazines, such as Budo Journal, Combat, Impact, Inside Karate, Inside Kung Fu Yearbook and many more. In 1989, he starred in his first movie: the urban action movie Angel Town. Although the film was not well received, Gruner's screen presence was notable, and his acting was compared favorably to Dolph Lundgren. In 1992, Gruner starred as "Alex Raine" in Albert Pyun's cyberpunk 1992 science fiction thriller Nemesis. Critics appreciated the amazing movie stunts, thrilling action sequences, and innovative special effects pushing the film industry limits like Blade Runner and Terminator 2. Both Nemesis and Angel Town were popular in video distribution, and Nemesis is one of the movies Gruner is most proud of. In 2010, Gruner played Corsair Duguay in Tales of an Ancient Empire. Gruner played Jagger in Escape from Paradise (2019), and Duguay in Cyborg Nemesis: The Dark Rift (2019), and The Target (2019).

=== 2000s: Television === In 1999, Gruner appeared as Dieter Vanderval in the episode titled "Wildlife" of the series Martial Law. In 2001, he appeared multiple times as Tawrens, in a 26-episode television series Code Name: Eternity. In 2005, NBC hired Gruner to produce a TV series named The Pros, a Way of Life, a project that Gruner had started in 2003. It portrayed life behind the scenes, training, and the discipline required of professional athletes. Gruner had completed episodes on professional boxers, surfers, and MMA fighters, when NBC decided to shelve the series, and it was never released. A separate video published by Gruner is available. Gruner played Ivan in the television series Seven Days, which premiered in 2019.

=== 2010s: Directing === Gruner's first involvement as a director was in 2002 with Interceptor Force 2. In 2011, he premiered his first feature film as a screenwriter, a director, and an actor, titled Re-Generator. This film was previously known as One Night, a project Gruner had been working on since 2010. In 2014, he featured as a director in Sector 4: Extraction, a direct-to-video release. In 2015, Gruner released one more film as a director, a producer, a screenwriter, and an actor: EP/Executive Protection.

=== Film producing === Early in his career, Gruner got involved in the production of some of the films in which he was appearing as an actor. This is the case for Savage (1996), Mercenary (1996), Mercenary 2: Thick & Thin (1998), Interceptor Force (1999), The Circuit (2001), and Crooked (2005). But it was only starting in the 2010s, except Interceptor Force 2 in 2002, that he accumulated his involvement both as a producer, as an actor, and as a director in One Night (2010), Re-Generator (2011), Sector 4: Extraction (2014), and EP/Executive Protection (2015). He has also been involved, as a producer-only, in Front Line (2015). He was both an actor and a producer in Iron Cross: The Road to Normandy (2018).

=== Screenwriting === Gruner co-wrote the stories of some of the movies in which he appeared as an actor. He wrote the stories of T.N.T. (1997), Interceptor Force 2 (2002), Crooked (2005), One Night (2010), Re-Generator (2011), and EP/Executive Protection (2015). He also co-wrote the story and the screenplay of Lost Warrior: Left Behind (2008), and co-wrote the story of Sector 4: Extraction (2014).