Tony Jaa is currently : in Thailand, shooting and directing Ong-Bak 2
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It will take at least one year for the filming of Ong Bak 2 which got a production budget of around 150 million baht from Sahamongkol Film. The movie is expected to be released at the end of 2007 at the earliest.
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TONY JAA FAN CLUB Tony Jaa International Fan Club
c/o SahamongkolFilm International Co., Ltd
Add.: 388, 9th floor, 3B, S.P. Building (IBM) Phaholyothin Rd, Payathai
Bangkok 10400 Thailand
Just The Facts:
Name : Panom Yeerum (Thai : พนม ยีรัมย์)
Birth name : Worawit, but Tony changed it into Panom several years ago (July 31, 1998) after his father had a premonition dream
Nicknames : Jaa Panom, Jaa or P'Jaa
Birth date : 5 February 1976, making him 30 years old
Birth place : Surin province in Isaan area (North-East of Thailand)
Height & Weight : 172 cm (around 5'6") and 62 kg (around 136 lbs)
Tony has trained in Muay Thai since he was 10 years old.
As a child, he threatened his father that he would attempt suicide if he was not allowed to study Muay Thai.
His father was a Muay Thai boxer and gave Tony his first lessons.
His models are Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
His parents are still living in Surin with Flower and Leaf, two elephants that his family has owned for many years and inherited from his grandparents.
His parents were cornacs and rice farmers. Tony Jaa did his first somersaults on his elephants back.
His master, Panna Rittikrai, has trained Tony since he was 15 years old.
He likes nature and animals.
He briefly met Jackie Chan and Steven Seagal several years ago. He had the opportunity to have dinner with Jackie Chan, but he had already boarded a plane when he received the news.
He doubled for Sammo Hung when the martial-arts actor made a commercial for an
energy drink that required Tony Jaa to grasp an elephant's tusks and somersault onto
the pachyderm's back.
He did a dozen films as a stuntman or actor in Panna Rittikrai's early films, before shooting Ong-Bak.
Tony fought five times in the ring when he was in Muay Thai training camp and won all the matches.
The nickname "Tony Jaa" was choosen by Prachya Pinkaew, director of Ong-Bak and Tom Yum Goong.
He did a commercial and a publicity tour to promote Thai fruits in China (June 2005).
He broke the record for the biggest Muay Thai training session with 1000 persons in Hong Kong (July 2005).
His father made a cameo appearance in Tom Yum Goong.
Athletic Gold Medalist in the province of Surin
Starred in Sing Siam, Directed by Panna Ritthikrai
Chairman of the Sword Club, Mahasarakam College of Physical Education
Thai Martial Arts Exchange Student in China
Speaker for Mahasarakam College of Physical Education on Thai Martial Arts, helping to develop an interest in sports among High School students
Athletic Gold Medalist for consecutive years at the National College of Physical Education in Sword-fighting, Gymnastics (Track & Field, Long Jump and High Jump)
Representative for the National College of Physical Education to publicize martial arts in eastern provinces
Stunt double for Robin Shou in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (shot on location in Thailand)
Choreography and leading role in Ong Bak
Choreography and leading role in TOM-YUM-GOONG
"I do have goals but to make the future better, I first have to make today be the best it can be."
"I am the kind of person who has been running after my dreams since i was a little kid and i think it was good for me. I think we all can create opportunity by taking a chance and not waiting for an opportunity to come our way. We should try to create luck".
"I feel fortunate that i'm able to live life because birth is a miracle in itself. It is up to you whether you will want to consider yourself lucky or not".
"I am grateful and think you all for making these websites for me and for keeping up with all the news. Wherever I go I always get updated news. When browsing online I saw my photos being used to promote the movie in all kind of countries. Whether I was in Asia, Europe or America, I saw new pictures of me on all sort of websites. Thank you to my fans for creating these websites for me".
"Please try to remember that you only have one life. So just be happy to be alive. Be grateful for the chance to live life the fullest. That's all I have to say to you all".
The way of the Dragon "I like the fight scene between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. It was very realistic".
Saving private Ryan "The gun battle scenes that were stretched over a long time, but were shot using a single take, gave a great sense of reality. It was almost like you were there".
The Last Samurai
"I was extremely impressed how all of the cast managed to play the role of the Samurai so well and so convincingly".
Seven Samourais "It helped to pass on the mystery of the Samurai to future generations. Even though it was shot in black and white, it still felt very realistic".
"I was crazy about him. I tried to emulate his high jump. I tried to get my back muscles to look like his. He has this way of acting that looks like a cat, and I would try to do that. My favorite Bruce Lee movie is The Way of the Dragon . We were rice farmers, so my mom would tell me I would have to finish farming a certain part of the rice farm before I could go play, and then we could go play movies. Sometimes we would play like we were showing those movies. We would cut paper dolls and act like we were showing movies on the screen and have people come and do voiceovers for the characters in the movie".
"Bruce Lee is a serious person, whereas Jackie Chan has that comedic element in him. Jackie Chan used everything around him as a weapon. When there would be ceremonies in the town -- weddings, funerals, religious holidays -- they would show Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies outdoors on a giant sheet. Even if it was 10 kilometers away from my village, I would go out of my way to watch these films. At night, when I saw the moonlight was out, I would go out into the field and practice at being Jackie Chan on my own. After a while, that got boring. So I had to bring my friends to watch the films with me. We'd play at being Jackie Chan. I would be the one on the elephant, so I would be Jackie Chan. My friends would be on the water buffalo and we'd be fighting each other. We even had scripts involved. We created a set out of wood. We would hit each other and run into the wooden set. My mom would be like, "What are you doing? What are you doing?" She would come and try to hit us! "
"He's the first person to do action films in Thailand and the first person to create a stunt team in Thailand. He was the star of 1981's Born to Fight , which was really the first movie where Thai people were absolutely shocked to see stuntmen put their life on the line. Challenging death is the key point of that movie. Panna wanted people to see the dedication and the manpower it took to put the movie together. In terms of plot, it was more of a combination of all martial arts movies. It was a movie that inspired me and allowed me to meet Ong-Bak 's director Prachya Pinkaew - he was also inspired by it. I told my father that I wanted to go meet Panna, but he was kind of wary because he didn't know Panna. At the time, my father told me to finish school and he wanted me to study further and become a priest. I told my father that if he didn't take me, I would kill myself. I was able to study with him and he coordinated the stunts on Ong-Bak".
"The beautiful movements that Jet Li makes come from his martial art of wushu -- it's from Mainland China. When you see it, you see how he has a seriousness about him. It's the quietness of the character that makes him different".
(January 16, 2007)
"I was crazy about him. I tried to emulate his high jump. I tried to get my back muscles to look like his. He has this way of acting that looks like a cat, and I would try to do that. My favorite Bruce Lee movie is 
"Bruce Lee is a serious person, whereas Jackie Chan has that comedic element in him. Jackie Chan used everything around him as a weapon. When there would be ceremonies in the town -- weddings, funerals, religious holidays -- they would show Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies outdoors on a giant sheet. Even if it was 10 kilometers away from my village, I would go out of my way to watch these films. At night, when I saw the moonlight was out, I would go out into the field and practice at being Jackie Chan on my own. After a while, that got boring. So I had to bring my friends to watch the films with me. We'd play at being Jackie Chan. I would be the one on the elephant, so I would be Jackie Chan. My friends would be on the water buffalo and we'd be fighting each other. We even had scripts involved. We created a set out of wood. We would hit each other and run into the wooden set. My mom would be like, "What are you doing? What are you doing?" She would come and try to hit us! "
"He's the first person to do action films in Thailand and the first person to create a stunt team in Thailand. He was the star of 1981's Born to Fight , which was really the first movie where Thai people were absolutely shocked to see stuntmen put their life on the line. Challenging death is the key point of that movie. Panna wanted people to see the dedication and the manpower it took to put the movie together. In terms of plot, it was more of a combination of all martial arts movies. It was a movie that inspired me and allowed me to meet Ong-Bak 's director 
"The beautiful movements that Jet Li makes come from his martial art of wushu -- it's from Mainland China. When you see it, you see how he has a seriousness about him. It's the quietness of the character that makes him different".
