Michael Dudikoff

Michael Joseph Stephen Dudikoff Jr. (born October 8, 1954) is an American actor and martial artist. Born in New York City, his family later moved to Los Angeles. Dudikoff did different jobs to pay for his education, during this time he became a model. This led him to do acting auditions. He played supporting roles in films and television shows, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts action film American Ninja (1985). Dudikoff became an action film leading man and followed up with American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1986), Avenging Force (1986), Platoon Leader (1988), River of Death (1989), Soldier Boyz (1996), Bounty Hunters (1996), Bounty Hunters 2: Hardball (1997), etc. In the 2000s, Dudikoff started to work in real estate, and made film appearances in the 2010s. Early life Dudikoff's father, Michael Joseph Stephen Dudikoff Sr., was Eastern Orthodox Christian. Born in New York to Russian immigrants Mary Bogdanova and John Dudikoff, Michael Sr. served in the Army before marrying Dudikoff's mother, Rita T. Girardin, a French-Canadian piano player from Quebec. The couple moved to California and had five children; the fourth, Michael Jr., was diagnosed with dyslexia.