He was born in Lansing – Michigan on 10 April 1951. His mother was a nurse and his father was a teacher. The family moved to Fullerton when he was five.  His interest in martial arts started at the age of five.

As he grew up he went to Japan and there he had the chance to study martial arts and to learn about their philosophy. He especially worked on Buddhism and Zen. Learned the languages of the Far East and started to read and write in these languages. He married Miyako Fujitani in Japan in 1975. Also the same year he became the first foreigner who opened a Dojo in Japan.

He received the name "Shigemichi Take" (Pathway to Prosperity) in the Aikido World. He has been almost every place in the Far East. It is said that he used to work for CIA in those days but there is no confirmation.

He visited USA for a couple of times during those years. In 1982 he opened a school on Martial Arts at West Hollywood called “TenShin Dojo”. Besides he made the choreography of martial arts in many of the Hollywood Films. He met with Mike Ovitz who became his manager later, which opened a new page in his life… Hollywood.

His career as an actor started with a spectacular film called “ Nico – Above The Law”. A big number of people watched the film in Los Angeles.

The movie fans met this handsome huge man with a different charisma and his ponytail in enthusiasm and film did very good in the box-office.

New era has started in the action movies:

“ Steven Seagal ”..