Chris Crudelli
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| Chris Crudelli | |
 Charicature of Crudelli
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| Born | August 1972 Birmingham, England |
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| Occupation | Martial artist Presenter |
| Website Crudelli.com |
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Chris Crudelli (born August 1972) is a martial artist and television presenter. He is best known as the host of BBC television programmes about the martial arts of far eastern countries, Mind, Body & Kick Ass Moves, Kick Ass Miracles, and Kick Ass in a Crisis all shown on BBC Three. He is a developed Kung Fu artist and also worked at the London Theatre for 4 years. He holds a degree in "Chinese Language and Literature", which he completed at the University of London; an Advanced Diploma in "Chinese Language and Literature" from Beijing BNU University and a postgraduate in Acting & Theatre from a London drama school.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
He was born in Birmingham, England. He is of Italian and Irish parentage[citation needed]. Crudelli's early years were spent on an underprivileged council estate in a rough part of Birmingham. By the age of 7 he had already been witness to an armed robbery, an armed kidnapping and hostage situation, and a number of other drug-related crimes.
These early experiences coupled with the civil wars, border conflicts and street skirmishes he later experienced while living for ten years in South East Asia, directed his lifelong research in martial arts to focus on the practical, genuine and readily applicable aspects of mind, body and self defense in the Martial Arts. On that subject, Crudelli states: "You may have the strongest most perfect reverse punch in the world, but it's useless against a gun, think carefully, there is much more to martial arts than punching and kicking."
His parents divorced very shortly after he was born. Chris subsequently traveled a lot with his mother living briefly in L.A., Paris, Switzerland, Italy and Holland. As a child he studied Kung Fu for a number of years before going to live with a Chinese family and later living in China and South East Asia for 10 years.
"I grew up in a rough and underprivileged area of Brum, but frankly, looking back, even I am shocked at the amount of mindless, violent, racist and often alcohol or drug induced trouble I was forced to deal with whilst living and working with the Chinese. For years, actual and inferred violence was virtually a nightly occurrence."
—Crudelli, on living in Birmingham and China
He flew to China as a teenager and studied in Hong Kong where he developed his Kung Fu abilities. He trained under a Chinese full contact Shaolin Champion and herbalist, while also setting bones and making medicines. He later qualified as a Kung Fu instructor.
It was in Hong Kong as a teen that Crudelli first performed Kung Fu, traditional lion and Dragon dance in front of live audiences, of 10,000, at the time his performance team were the S.E. Asian Champions, which led to him demonstrating at the bequest of the Hong Kong Government at official events such as the inauguration of Chris Patten, former Governor of Hong Kong, and for the state visit of Corazon Aquino, former Philippine president. He also worked briefly in the Hong Kong film industry before returning to take a place at London University.
Crudelli's BBC series' have been broadcast in over 120 countries worldwide making him one of the UK's most exported and played presenters in television history.[citation needed] His first 10-part documentary series concentrated on the more exotic, elaborate systems of far eastern martial arts and has enjoyed continued cult success on BBC television, Discovery Channel and is available on a double DVD.
The series travels straight to the source, filming in China, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan. The series examines, through interviews and experiments, the more diverse, and unbelievable, aspects of martial enlightenment, from extreme conditioning to the unusual. This gives the show a strange hybrid quality of Jackass-style stunt show, complete with preliminary disclaimer, and part mentalist circus show, with tricks and mind games, which Crudelli manages to blend seamlessly.
Crudelli has been accused of down playing his abilities, particularly in the sections that examine his own personal skill and level of abilities.[citation needed]
As shown through all the series hosted by Crudelli, he is not only a Kung Fu teacher but also a master of the mystical energies of Qi (Chi, Ki), which are demonstrated throughout the series.
