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Sean Patrick Flanery

Sean Patrick Flanery Movies

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Sean Patrick Flanery, who stars in The Boondock Saints and other movies, has a black belt and teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This article covers Flanery’s career and passion for martial arts.

Actor With a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt

Sean Patrick Flanery has acted in numerous movies, including Saw 3D and Boondock Saints, but he is an action film star. The actor holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Find out he keeps his movie career while he teaches and competes worldwide.

I highly recommend you see The Boondock Saints. The original is a phenomenal movie with such a strong following. It’s fun to watch and hilarious in its shocking way. I mean, honestly, you can’t take this stuff seriously.

The Boondock Saints Full Movie

Quite some time ago, The Boondock Saints cast joined the USO tour. They made the long-distance journey as a service to entertain the US troops and promote the 10th anniversary of their action movie.

Actors Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, and Brian Mahoney, along with the film’s writer and director, Troy Duffy and producer, Chris Brinker, hopped on a plane to visit multiple military bases.

The visit with the troops proved fruitful. Troy Duffy signed autographs, posed for photos, and answered questions. Someone asked if Troy Duffy worked out at all. He laughed and said, bellowed, “No!” He mentioned that the star of the movie, Sean Patrick Flanery, possesses a black belt in jiu-jitsu and teaches martial arts at his academy in Los Angeles.

“And Shepherds we shall be For thee, my Lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand. Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti.” Sean Patrick Flanery as Conner MacManus

Action Film Star

Flanery does his fair share of acting in movies like Saw 3D, but he is an action film star. In his late forties, the actor holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

His journey in martial arts began at the age of nine. He started with Taekwondo because he believed it was the ultimate fighting technique. He wanted to beat up guys like David Carradine in the television show Kung Fu.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

The action film star found his calling in martial arts. He trained in a variety of styles. He furthered his training when he attended his first UFC event in 1993. Flanery saw Royce Gracie dominate the competition with his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Gracie’s discipline excited him, so he gave up all other martial arts and mastered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

His acting career started taking off, and he won the lead role in the action television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. After the series, he captured several notable movies such as Powder, Simply Irresistible, and The Boondock Saints.

Despite his busy acting career, he wanted to master his newly discovered martial arts discipline. He started his formal Jiu-Jitsu training in 2001 to become a champion himself.

Sean Patrick Flanery Exercise Regimen

Flanery began as a white belt, training three times a week like all beginners. It was an intense training regimen that consumed his life. However, he continued acting, signing on to Stargate SG-1, The Dead Zone, and Charmed.

His dedication to martial arts helped him focus on his acting roles. The two fields fit hand in glove, enabling him to develop his concentration skills and master his control over the dynamics of his body.

Acting Career Break

Flanery’s dedication and goal of becoming a champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brought him to the crossroads of his career in movies and martial arts. They tended to interfere as his success in each field overlapped.

He decided to take six months off from his acting career to master the discipline and become a champion. He also entered the Pan Ams Jiu-Jitsu tournament and other meets.

He successfully took the first annual Inland Empire Champion in 2002. He also won the American National Champion and the Pan American Champion in 2003.

Will There be The Boondock Saints 3?

Flanery says he will always be a master of Jiu-Jitsu and trains even when he goes to movie locations worldwide. The Boondock Saints movies have placed him in the spotlight.

The cult movie keeps him trending on social media outlets, where fans cannot get enough of the vigilante action film. Keeping their ears to the Internet in hopes of announcing that The Boondock Saints 3 is in production is imminent.

Surprisingly, with the grandeur and luxury of the movie business, Flanery places martial arts ahead of his film career. He drives his desire to maintain his mastery of Jiu-Jitsu and shares his craft with his students. If you ever want to meet up with him, you can visit him at his Jiu-Jitsu academy in Hollywood.

Zero Tolerance

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zerotoleranceDirected by Wych Kaosm, Zero Tolerance seems like an action feature billed as a thriller. An ex-CIA operative, played by Dustin Nguyen discovers his estranged daughter murdered in Bangkok.  He hooks up with his former partner, played by Sahajak Boonthanakit, and together they delve into the city’s criminal world. They discover his daughter’s devious past and uncover her killer.

With names like Kane Kosugi, Dustin Nguyen, Gary Daniels and Scott Adkins, you easily suspect many hand-to-hand action scenes. Not so with Zero Tolerance because the movie graces only two full-length brawls. One brawl is a real karate fight, which is cool to watch as Nguyen and Adkins try to take each other down. If you go crazy over martial arts and hand-to-hand combat in movies, then you might be disappointed in the fight scenes.

The characters are strong in the movie with a weak storyline. Some plot points are left unclear and the pace is slow at times. Dustin and the other actors do a great job in playing the good guys against bad guys while dealing with amoral personalities.  One aspect about the movie I did not like is the repugnant strain of chauvinism. It is not just in one scene but throughout the movie, and even the good guys were abusing the women. I was taken aback by the abuse because this is supposed to be an anti-trafficking movie.

I found out after viewing the movie that the scenes with Adkins and Kosugi were shot a couple of years after the unreleased movie was canned.  I didn’t even notice, but still it doesn’t save the movie. It is decent enough if you are a diehard martial arts fan. You can rent it or catch it on cable.

Skin Trade

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skintradeSkin Trade is one of those direct to DVD movies that ends up being a really good movie, and probably would have done well in the theaters. Directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham, the story is about the buying and selling of human beings, particularly women, and two detectives from different countries trying to put an end to the human trafficking ring. One cop is from Thailand. Detective Tony Vitayakul, played by dynamic martial arts champion Tony Jaa. The other cop is from NYC. Detective Nick Cassidy, played by Dolph Lundgren. Turns out they are both after the same crime lord from Serbia. Viktor, played by Ron Perlman, runs the trafficking underworld while getting his family involved at different locations around the world.

Detective Cassidy tracks down Viktor and his youngest son. They have a shootout, and Viktor’s son is killed, but Viktor escapes. The crime lord backlashes at Cassidy by having his men kill his wife, wound him and kidnap his daughter.

Cassidy decides to go after Viktor on his own because he doesn’t trust FBI Agent Reed, played Michael Jai White. He lands in Thailand. Reed alerts Detective Vitayakul that he is in his country. Both the FBI and Vitayakul go after Cassidy, and he escapes barely as Vitayakul chases after Cassidy. Here we get to see Jaa and Lundgren at their most impressive martial arts skills. What a chase this scene offers with speeds through the streets and alleys of Thailand. It ends with an awesome all-out exchange of blows between the two.  Stuff like this makes the movie impressive.

Tony and Cassidy figure out the traitor, come to terms and work together to take down Viktor, including the human trafficking ring.  More hand-to-hand combat occurs, keeping the movie all action. At the same time, the story shines through and is better than most movies of this genre. The acting is good. All in all, the movie is worth watching.