Olivier Gruner Biography

Olivier Gruner is one of the world's most versatile experts in the field of physicalfitness. Born into a family where both his father andbrother became noted surgeons and his younger brother became an engineer. However,from an early age, Olivier followed a different path in life. After seeing a Bruce Lee movie at age 11, Olivier became captivated with martialarts and began studying Shotokan Karate, and then boxing and kickboxing. At age 18,he joined the FrenchMilitary, volunteering for their Commando Marine unit. After leaving themilitary in 1981, Olivier left the French military to train full time to competeprofessionally as a kickboxer.
By 1985, his successes in the ring allowed him to train and fight full time and, in1986, he became World Middleweight Kickboxing Champion. Having achieved his dream ofbecoming World Champion, in 1987, he retired to pursue a career as an actor andmodel. Discovered at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, he began a film career thatallowed him ultimately to appear in 27 films and 3 television series, and develop areputation as one of the hardest-working, most disciplined actors in Hollywood.