Marrese Crump is an American actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, martial artist

Martial arts

Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

 and author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

. His most notable role to date is costarring in the martial arts sequel Tom Yum Goong 2

Tom Yum Goong 2

Tom Yum Goong 2 is an upcoming Thai martial arts film starring Tony Jaa and Marrese Crump. The film is the sequel to Tom-Yum-Goong.-Production:The sequel officially went into production in August 2011...

 alongside Tony Jaa

Tony Jaa

Tatchakorn Yeerum , formerly Panom Yeerum , better known in the West as Tony Jaa, in Thailand as Jaa Panom, is a Thai martial artist, actor, choreographer, stuntman, director, and monk...

. His first major role was in the movie, Wrong Side of Town

Wrong Side of Town

Wrong Side of Town is a 2010 American action crime comedy film written, produced and directed by David DeFalco, starring former ECW, WWE and current TNA superstar Rob Van Dam, former WWE superstar and current mixed martial arts Dave Batista, martial artist Marrese Crump, rapper Ja Rule, and former...

alongside Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam

Robert Alexander "Rob" Szatkowski , better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam , is an American professional wrestler and actor who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....

, Dave Batista and Ja Rule

Ja Rule

Jeffrey Atkins , better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper, singer, and actor.Born in Hollis, Queens, he began his career in the group Cash Money Click and debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci and its single "Holla Holla"...

, which was distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment

Lions Gate Entertainment

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...

.

Crump broke into the movie industry as a result of his martial arts skill, often serving as the fight choreographer as well on the films he is in.

Early life

Marrese Crump spent most of his childhood in a southeast suburb of Tampa, Florida

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

 called Progress Village

Progress Village, Florida

Progress Village is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,482 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Progress Village is located at ....

. He grew up as an athlete, participating in the sports of football, basketball and track, but his true passion has always been martial arts. He started his training at the age of 7 when his brother introduced him to Master Kim-Jae.

Film career

Marrese Crump first project in movies was a G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...

 fan film called "Battle for the Serpent Stone", serving as the action coordinator. He took some time off thereafter to focus on his career path as an actor, often passing up invites to be a stunt performer

Stunt performer

A stuntman, or daredevil is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career.These stunts are sometimes rigged so that they look dangerous while still having safety mechanisms, but often they are as dangerous as they appear to be...

.

Wrong Side of Town

Wrong Side of Town

Wrong Side of Town is a 2010 American action crime comedy film written, produced and directed by David DeFalco, starring former ECW, WWE and current TNA superstar Rob Van Dam, former WWE superstar and current mixed martial arts Dave Batista, martial artist Marrese Crump, rapper Ja Rule, and former...

was Crump's first major role as Markus, alongside Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam

Robert Alexander "Rob" Szatkowski , better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam , is an American professional wrestler and actor who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....

, Dave Bautista and Ja Rule

Ja Rule

Jeffrey Atkins , better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper, singer, and actor.Born in Hollis, Queens, he began his career in the group Cash Money Click and debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci and its single "Holla Holla"...

. Marrese also served as fight choreographer on the production, mapping out several of the movies' fight scenes, including Crump's character Markus versus Big Ronnie (played by Dave Bautista).

In August 2011, it was released that Crump was cast as the co-star opposite Tony Jaa

Tony Jaa

Tatchakorn Yeerum , formerly Panom Yeerum , better known in the West as Tony Jaa, in Thailand as Jaa Panom, is a Thai martial artist, actor, choreographer, stuntman, director, and monk...

 in Tom Yum Goong 2

Tom Yum Goong 2

Tom Yum Goong 2 is an upcoming Thai martial arts film starring Tony Jaa and Marrese Crump. The film is the sequel to Tom-Yum-Goong.-Production:The sequel officially went into production in August 2011...

.

Martial arts

Crump's passion for martial arts began as he started watching Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...

 films and imitating the movements as a young child. At age 7, he began his training under Master Kim-Jae who taught the concept of integration. Following the advice of his teacher, he went out and immersed himself in arts from all over the world; Karate

Karate

is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...

, Muay Thai

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is similar to other Indochinese kickboxing systems, namely pradal serey from Cambodia, tomoi from Malaysia, lethwei from Myanmar and muay Lao from Laos...

, Kung Fu

Chinese martial arts

Chinese martial arts, also referred to by the Mandarin Chinese term wushu and popularly as kung fu , are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families" , "sects" or...

, Capoeira

Capoeira

Capoeira is a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native influences, probably beginning in the 16th century...

, western boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

, Filipino martial arts

Filipino martial arts

Filipino Martial Arts refers to ancient and newer fighting methods devised in the Philippines, the most popular of which are known as Arnis/Eskrima/Kali. The intrinsic need for self-preservation was the genesis of these systems. Throughout the ages, invaders and evolving local conflict imposed new...

, Taekwondo

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...

 and Ninjutsu

Ninjutsu

or may be:*the arts associated with espionage and assassination in feudal Japan, see Ninja*modern schools of martial arts claiming to be based in these traditions, see Modern Schools of Ninjutsu*fictional depictions, see Ninja in popular culture...

. Along this path, he received training from some of the world's top masters and grandmasters of our time.

With the blessing of his masters, Marrese opened his first training facility at the age of 18 and transitioning it into one of the most respected academies in the Tampa

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

 area before closing it in 2005 to pursue his career in movies.

To stay connected with the martial arts community during his movie career, Marrese Crump along with Anesti Vega founded the website, crumpdojo.com, an online social media

Social media

The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...

 community for martial artists. As of August 2011, Crump Dojo has transitioned into an online resource blog for information, news and inspiration on martial arts, training, and fitness. It is updated by Marrese Crump

Marrese Crump

Marrese Crump is an American actor, martial artist and author. His most notable role to date is costarring in the martial arts sequel Tom Yum Goong 2 alongside Tony Jaa...

 and maintained by Anesti Vega.

Lineage

Rony Costa
Hector Padro
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|  
Marrese Crump
The Art of Marrese Crump
 
|-
|  Direct Students of Marrese Crump  || Joe Harrison 
 Oscar Lugo 
 Dave Bautista 
 Anesti Vega 
 Nick Kozlowski 
 Lewis Singleton 
 Jim Mitchell 
 Ao Muangput 
|}