Zak Lee, movie star, martial arts master and entrepreneur

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Zak Lee Guarnaccia was born in Rome, Italy. His very first live stage performance occurred in 1986 at the Sheraton Hotel in Rome, Italy. He faced an audience of 2,000 eager people as he promoted the first sports club to open in Italy. Zak’s acting career grew rapidly in Italy but just as rapidly grew Zak’s fascination with all styles of martial arts.

Zak started pursuing his extensive martial arts career at only nine years old. He rapidly gained vast and varied skills and true global recognition. In the world of martial arts there are a series of movements that are performed to further ones skills. These choreographed motions are called a “kata.” Zak took that element of the art to a new level when he became the first Italian representative of the martial arts showmanship division, which was the force behind musical kata.

As his martial arts prowess continued to grow Zak Lee became one of the first six Italian martial artists ever to travel to China and study at the famed Shaolin Temple. As his martial arts career continued to grow Zak Lee won numerous championships both in Europe and the United States from most of the major martial arts federations.

But Zak was never single minded. At a very young age Zak had the opportunity to visit a movie set in Italy and was discovered by Italian movie producer Marcello Crescenzi. Zak instantly fell in love with both acting and stunt work. Zak was in several film and television productions in his native Italy before moving to Los Angeles, California and further expanded his acting and stunt career.

Zak Lee also has a passion for helping less fortunate people. He does this by using his extraordinary physicality for unique and often sensational fund raising events. In one such event Zak Lee ran on a treadmill for 24 hours obtaining a measured distance of 62 miles stunning his audience but most importantly raising money for the “Homeless But Not Toothless” charity.

Later he bested himself when he climbed the renowned Santa Monica stairs that connect the Cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles. For 24 hours Zak continuously climbed the 189 steps up and down accumulating an estimated 59,724 steps the equivalent of climbing one and a half times Mount Everest. Again his highly publicized act succeeded in its primary mission of raising significant funds for charity.

Always focused on top physical fitness, businessman Zak Lee also invented one the most effective and unique tools ever to enter the fitness world, his “X-Stand-Sit-SitUp Hybrid Chair Bench.” It is highly acclaimed and widely used and can be found in most of the top gyms.

Looking ahead Zak Lee is focused on two things dearest to his heart. He is working diligently with his fellow stunt men and stunt women to get the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to include stunt performance as one of its Oscar categories. The other is a few new films in various stages of development.

One that has particularly caught my eye is Kalm an action adventure crime movie. The basic storyline is when a chauffeur/bodyguard drives a headlining exotic dancer to a small desert town and then find themselves caught up between waring drug lords. Zak Lee created this project and the screenplay was written by Marc Guzman. On board to direct is John Rogers known for Brotherhood of Blood, Brutal, and Drifter.

Clearly Zak Lee Guarnaccia is a man of irrepressible energy, vast talent and a huge heart. His is a story of passion and vision, laughter and love. You can discover more on Zak’s personal website: http://www.zaklee.com/.

Top photo used with permission of David Hamilton.

Ron Irwin

Ron Irwin was born in Chicago, Illinois a long time ago. He served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, became a trial lawyer, TV and radio host, CEO of a public company and once held an Emmy. He never won an Emmy he just held one. Ron has written and published twelve books. His most important book to date is “Live, Die, Live Again” in which Ron tells of his early life and his unexpected and very temporary death in 2012. That experience dramatically refocused his life and within the pages of that book Ron reveals how he achieved a much healthier life, ridding himself of Diabetes, Cancer and Heart Failure. Now Ron enjoys writing about many things including health topics, travel [he has circled the globe several times], adventure, culinary experiences and the world of performing art. Ron’s motto is “Live better, live longer and live stronger because it feels great and annoys others.” Contact the author.