Iko Uwais

Indonesian actor. Born on February 12, 1983, in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. He is a Muslim. At the age of ten he began practicing pencak silat, Indonesia's national martial art. In 2003 he took third place in a citywide tournament, and two years later he became Indonesian champion in pencak silat. That same year, as part of a pencak silat team, he visited the United Kingdom, Russia, and Azerbaijan, where the popularization of this martial art began. In 2007–2008, with the same goal, he visited Cambodia and France.

He is known for his roles in the films Merantau (2009), The Raid (2011), and The Raid 2 (2014). In 2015 the actor also appeared (together with his regular on-screen partner and training mate Yayan Ruhian) in a cameo role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) as a smuggler on Han Solo's ship.

In 2007 Uwais met director Gareth Evans, who was then working on a documentary about pencak silat, and took part in the filming of that picture. And in 2008 he starred in Evans's first feature film, the action movie Merantau, which extensively showcased elements of the Harimau Silat style of pencak silat ("tiger-style silat").