Born Nov 8, 1957
Style:
American Kenpo Karate
Blackbelt Magazine's 1993
Instructor of the Year
A native born son to the
city of Chicago Illinois Jeff started his athletic career very early in
life. Training and competing as a gymnast during the school year and as
a springboard diver in the summer consumed much of his young life.
Jeff�s talent as a springboard diver blossomed in high school where Jeff
set new records in the conference and district and earned the honor of
being named All American with out the assistance of a diving coach.
Waiting for the bus at 5:30 a.m. every morning in the winters of Chicago
to practice at the neighboring high school�s pool ultimately gave Jeff
the discipline and the drive to succeed.
Working his way trough his undergraduate studies at Missouri Southern
State University Jeff was able to complete his degree in general
psychology with a supporting area in biology. During his college years
Jeff began his martial arts career by earning a black belt in Japanese
Goju-Ryu Karate from the legendary master Lou Angel in 1980. Upon Jeff�s
graduation from college Mr. Angel told Jeff to move to California to
study Kenpo Karate from master Ed Parker if he wanted to make martial
arts his life. Selling his car to pay for the U-Haul truck Jeff was off
to Los Angeles to follow his dream and feed his passion. Two years after
arriving in Los Angeles Jeff was invited by Mr. Parker to join three
other people at Mr. Parker�s house in Pasadena California to become what
would be known as his last group of prot�g�s. Jeff began studying acting
at the same time with the same dedication he had approached everything
else in his life. After five years of workshops, auditions and small bit
parts here and there Jeff got his break with his first feature film with
Paramount Pictures called �The Perfect Weapon�.
To date Jeff has starred in 10 feature films such as �Perfect Weapon� (
Paramount), �Street Knight� (Warner Bros.) �The Expert�(MGM) and �Escape
from Atlantis�(Universal). According to the internationally recognized
web site www.martial-arts-network.com Jeff is now rated as the most
popular martial artist in the world. Jeff is the only martial artist
rated higher than Bruce Lee who is second and Chuck Norris third. In
addition Jeff is a certified Defensive Tactics Instructor (DTI) for the
Department of Justice, teaching DEA, FBI, Homeland Security and Special
Teams, and the �sharp edge weapons instructor� for the California
Department of Corrections teaching at Pelican Bay and Folsom. Currently
Jeff resides in Lake Arrowhead California where he oversees the largest
Kenpo Karate organization in the world the AKKS and operates the Jeff
Spreakman�s Kenpo Karate franchise schools now in 14 counties. In
addition Jeff has the Champions Foundation, a non-profit organization
teaching the discipline of Kenpo Karate to underprivileged children
currently in the U.S., Bolivia, Mexico, Germany and soon in Australia
and Chili.
- From Official Jeff
Speakman Website