Over the years, the acting industry has welcomed with both hands (not so) new actors with new fighting styles. Lateef Crowder is one of those actors known for his unique fighting style called Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that combines the elements of dance, acrobatics, and music. We’ve seen this fighting style being used in our favorite movies and Lateef is a master of this art.
Lateef is popularly known for performing amazing stunts in movies and visual effects for your video game characters. Just in case you haven’t seen this dreadlocked man dancing and kicking ass, here are some facts about Lateef Crowder.
Lateef was born in Brazil
Lateef Crowder, birth name Lateef Crowder dos Santos born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil but moved to San Jose, California at age four. Lateef started training in martial arts at the age of six, with his father being his teacher. He graduated from the University of New Mexico.
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Lateef was an International competitor of gymnastics and a gymnast of the USA gymnastic team. He is a master in the use of several gymnastic apparatus which includes his win as the best gymnast on the vault at the winter cup challenge of 1997.
Lateef Crowder was born in 1977, and he will be 44 years old on the 23rd of November 2021.
Lateef Made his debut in 2005
Lateef is a Brazilian-born American actor, stunt performer, and master capoeira. He has featured in a total of 53 Films and Tv series as of 2021. Lateef is popularly known for playing the role of Eddy Gordo in the action-packed film “Tekken” 2010.
A lot of fans think Lateef made his debut in the industry in 2008’s “The Essence of Martial Arts”, but that’s not true. Lateef first made his appearance in 2005’s “Tom-Yum-Goong” also referred to as “The Protector”. Early in his career, his stunts earned him roles in films and Tv shows like a gang member in “Heros” (2007), Sylathus in “Fading Cries” 2008, Maniac in “Red Velvet” 2008, and Karate Bully in “Ninja Cheerleaders” 2008.
The injury that delayed his breakthrough
Lateef saw an opportunity to showcase his unique skill on the big screen and he took it. Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way he had hoped. During the fight scene between Lateef’s character and Tony Jaa in “Tom-Yum-Goong (The protector)”, an opportunity for him to show the world his Capoeira skill, he injured his Achilles tendon. Since he wasn’t a major character in the movie, there was no need to wait for his recovery before reshooting. Instead, his fight scene was cut short to a few minutes and Lateef lost what could have been his breakthrough gig into the industry.
It wasn’t until five years later before he had the opportunity to fully showcase his fighting skills on the big screen. The movie “Tekken” 2010, and “Undisputed 3: Redemption” 2010, where he played the role of Rodrigo Silva, is tagged as his major breakthrough into the industry.
Lateef is an Award Nominee.
Apart from acting, Lateef shoots short internet videos and demo reels online with his stunt team ZeroGravity. One of his most popular videos on youtube is “Inmate 451” with several reviews from YouTubers. Lateez joined ZeroGravity in the year 2000.
Lateef was a body double and fight stunt performer for Din Djarin in the Disney+ TV series “The Mandalorian” 2020, and other films like “Army of the Dead” 2021, “Triple Frontier” 2019. He was also a stunt coordinator/assistant for films and video games like “Mile 22”, “Call of Duty: WWII”, “Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare”, and other numerous uncredited roles.
In 2016, the 9 foot 10 inches tall actor, was nominated at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a motion picture in “Furious Seven” 2015. As of the time of writing this post, there is no concrete information on the net worth of Lateef Crowder.
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