Muscular African American sports star, actor, media identity and inventor of the phenomenally popular "Tae Bo" fitness system, derived from his extensive martial arts training. Blanks was born in Eerie, Pennsylvania in 1955 amongst humble backgrounds and grew up as one of 15 children, battling dyslexia and tendon problems. However that didn't stop him from starting his martial arts training at age 14 and eventually achieving black belts in tae kwon do & several other arts, and winning numerous US martial arts tournaments.
Blanks first popped up on movie screens in the mid 1980s in tough guy parts utilizing his athletic background and grim faced looks. Films roles included Tango & Cash (1989), Driving Force (1989) and A.W.O.L.: Absent Without Leave (1990). Things looked up in 1991, when Blanks scored the minor role of drug addicted running back "Billy Cole" in the explosive The Last Boy Scout (1991)....and further work followed often sharing lead billing in low budget - high action fare such as Talons of the Eagle (1992), TC 2000 (1993) and Expect No Mercy (1995).
In the late 1990s, Billy's innovative and exciting "Tae Bo" workout routine swept around the world like wildfire, and propelled him into the position of one of the world's most recognizable and biggest selling fitness trainers. The remarkable Blanks continues to refine and promote his unique "Tae Bo" fitness system, and he operates the Billy Blanks World Training Center in Sherman Oaks, California.
7th Degree Black Belt Billy Blanks had one of the greatest karate fight records in the sport's long history. Blanks was a 7-time world karate champion, the first Amateur Athletic Union Champ in 1975, the 1984 Massachusetts Golden Gloves Boxing Champion, and the Tri-State Golden Gloves Champion of Champions. He was the captain of the United States Karate Team and won over 30 gold medals in international competition. He was the number 1 or number 2 rated full-contact karate fighter in the United States for almost seven straight years. His epic battles with "Nasty" Anderson are legends among martial arts fans. He posted over 300 career victories. In 1982, Billy Blanks was honored by being inducted into the Karate Hall of Fame.
Comedy · Family
Jack Sadelstein, a successful advertising executive in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife and kids, dreads one event each year: the Thanksgiving visit of his twin sister Jill. Jill's neediness and passive-aggressiveness is maddening to Jack, turning his normally tranquil life upside down.
4.42011
Action · Thriller
Somewhere in Los Angeles, the city of broken dreams, a stripper is murdered. Now, the private detective she had hired and her ex-footballer boyfriend are going to find her murderer... if they don't kill each other first. But the more they dig, the deeper they become enmeshed in a web of extortion, blackmail and corrupt politics hidden beneath the surface of professional football.
6.81991
Action · Crime
Ray Tango and Gabriel Cash are two successful narcotics detectives who can't stand each other. Crime lord Yves Perret, furious at the loss of income they have caused him, plots an elaborate revenge against them.
6.51989
Thriller · Crime
Forensic psychologist and detective Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.
6.51997
Comedy · Family
On her sixteenth birthday, Sabrina Spellman discovers she has magical powers. She lives with her 600-year-old aunts Hilda and Zelda as well as talking cat Salem in the fictional town of Westbridge, Massachusetts.
7.81996
Action
Lyon Gaultier is a deserter in the Foreign Legion arriving in the USA entirely hard up. He finds his brother between life and death and his sister-in-law without the money needed to heal her husband and to maintain her child. To earn the money needed, Gaultier decides to take part in some very dangerous clandestine fights.
6.61990
Fantasy · Comedy
When Max fools a gang of local toughs, he finds himself in big trouble. Fleeing from the thugs, Max runs into an old warehouse and bumps into a boom box. By doing that, he manages to release Kazaam, a genie who has been held captive for thousands of years.
4.21996
Comedy · Family
Jack Sadelstein, a successful advertising executive in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife and kids, dreads one event each year: the Thanksgiving visit of his twin sister Jill. Jill's neediness and passive-aggressiveness is maddening to Jack, turning his normally tranquil life upside down.
4.42011
Action · Thriller
Somewhere in Los Angeles, the city of broken dreams, a stripper is murdered. Now, the private detective she had hired and her ex-footballer boyfriend are going to find her murderer... if they don't kill each other first. But the more they dig, the deeper they become enmeshed in a web of extortion, blackmail and corrupt politics hidden beneath the surface of professional football.
6.81991
Action · Crime
Ray Tango and Gabriel Cash are two successful narcotics detectives who can't stand each other. Crime lord Yves Perret, furious at the loss of income they have caused him, plots an elaborate revenge against them.
6.51989
Thriller · Crime
Forensic psychologist and detective Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.
6.51997
Action
Lyon Gaultier is a deserter in the Foreign Legion arriving in the USA entirely hard up. He finds his brother between life and death and his sister-in-law without the money needed to heal her husband and to maintain her child. To earn the money needed, Gaultier decides to take part in some very dangerous clandestine fights.
6.61990
Fantasy · Comedy
When Max fools a gang of local toughs, he finds himself in big trouble. Fleeing from the thugs, Max runs into an old warehouse and bumps into a boom box. By doing that, he manages to release Kazaam, a genie who has been held captive for thousands of years.
4.21996
Comedy
Eddie Krumble works as a paid audience member for infomercials and experiences a whirlwind of overnight fame after a late-night talk show host publicizes his frequent infomercial appearances.
4.92018
Action
When old martial arts master Master Tak disappears, his best student, Jet, steps in to find him. However, when he learns that Tak's life is in danger, he decides to protect him at all costs.
6.61992
Action · Crime
Jake, a New York policeman poses as an actor to expose the making of martial-arts death movies in Thailand.
6.91990
Action · Thriller
When shady businessman Ron Hall kidnaps his daughter, retired karate champion Michael Rivers is forced to enter a deadly illegal Kumite tournament in Bulgaria. Enlisting the help of seasoned trainers Master Loren and Julie Jackson, he discovers other fighters face the same desperate struggle to save their loved ones.
6.72024
Sci-Fi · Action
When someone tries to murder watchmaker Eddy Kay, the incident triggers a barrage of nightmares and flashbacks into a past that isn't his own. Fearing for his sanity, Eddy contacts psychiatrist Dr. Anna Nolmar for help. Anna thinks he's hallucinating until another attack proves the dangers are all too real. The two of them go on the run, trying to discover the truth about Eddie's past and true identity before it kills them.
5.21991
Action · Sci-Fi
Somewhere in the future the environmental overkill had come. Many people had died. The rich were able to build the underworld, the poor had to stay on the surface building gangs to survive. Jason Storm, an underworld guard gets knowledge of a conspiracy to kill all people on the surface. He needs to flee to the surface, and wins Sumai, a respected martial arts master, as his ally to stop the dirty plot.
5.31993
Documentary · History
The fantastic story of how an ancient martial art, Chinese kung fu, conquered the world through the hundreds of films that were produced in Hong Kong over the decades, transformed Western action cinema and inspired the birth of cultural movements such as blaxploitation, hip hop music, parkour and Wakaliwood cinema.
6.72019
Action · Thriller
To avenge the brutal murder of his brother, Jake Ray journeys to the Philippines, where his search for truth finds him battling both in and out of the ring. But the weapons are always the same: bare fists, bare feet. And the rules never change: last man standing wins.
4.81989
Action
Ken has just moved from Kansas with his mother. He talks to a girl named Julie, not knowing that her boyfriend Tom is very possessive of her. Tom is learning karate from Lee, a sensei whose brother was killed by a rookie cop named Billy. Billy has since then become the janitor of the school that Ken, Julie and Tom go to. When Ken gets beaten up by Tom for talking to Julie again, Billy helps Ken by teaching him how to defend himself, which eventually leads to a battle between student vs. student, and sensei vs. sensei.
6.21993
Fantasy · Horror
A group of shape-shifting werewolves descend upon a small town in search of a girl who is re-born once every 2000 years. She holds the key to their survival and all will die who stand in their way.
3.12015
Action · Crime
This time China O'Brien has trouble with a dealer who puts a price on her head because she had spoiled an important drug deal of his. But all the world's criminals will not be enough to catch up with China O'Brian, one of the masters of the martial arts.
5.01990
Action · Sci-Fi
Federal Service Agent Justin Vanier has been assigned to infiltrate the mysterious Virtual Arts Academy in search of Eric, a fellow agent. In this high-tech facility, the maniacal leader Warbeck is training assassins to become even more efficient killing machines using virtual reality. Penetrating the organization as a new recruit, Justin finds Eric, and together with the idealistic Vicki must bring down Warbeck before he succeeds with his deadly plans
4.51995
Action · Crime
Two men have different motivations but the same goal when they team up and mount an assault on a powerful drug gang.
5.41994
Action · Adventure
When one of Mike McBride's men goes rogue and takes a group of gymnasts hostage to Devil's Island in exchange for the return of drug lord Carlos Gallindo, the SEALS face their most perilous assignment yet.
4.21997
Action
After 3 DEA agents are killed by crime boss Mr. Li, the DEA reluctantly calls in New York cop and martial arts expert Tyler Wilson and sends him undercover on assignment to Toronto to team up with Canadian vice cop Michael Reeds. Wilson and Reeds must infiltrate Li's gang, so enter a martial arts tournament that Mr. Li is known to attend to recruit talent.
5.11992
Thriller · Action
A private eye helps an amnesiac CIA agent elude mobsters who don't want him to regain his memory of their drug operation.
5.51995
Documentary
The life of Fumio Demura, the greatest karate master of a generation.
6.52015
Action · Drama
Joe Wong is a private investigator who goes in search of a young girl kidnapped by a religious cult. Destined to save her, he teams up with a Vietnam vet, a pro-boxing champ and a former cop to save her...
4.71986
Action · Thriller
A martial arts expert who runs a dojo for under-privileged kids from a dilapidated warehouse is shaken down by gangsters demanding protection money. Then when one of his students is gunned down in the street by the gang, he swears revenge. Meanwhile the gang leader is setting up a death match between the best fighters and is forcing a former trainer to find a new champion by threatening his granddaughter.
5.91996
Action
In the near future Steve takes a job as a tow truck driver that has to battle a gang of baddies led by Nelson.
5.21990
Documentary
Special honoring the grand masters of the martial arts with guest stars from film and television, music performances, live demonstrations, competitions and tributes to Jackie Chan, Bennie "The Jet" Urquidez, Cynthia Rothrock, Billy Blanks, Ernie Reyes Sr., and Shaka Zulu.
Comedy · Drama
When three best friends are forced to fall in love in order to save their jobs, they learn that letting go is a lot harder then it seems.
5.82017
Comedy · Family
On her sixteenth birthday, Sabrina Spellman discovers she has magical powers. She lives with her 600-year-old aunts Hilda and Zelda as well as talking cat Salem in the fictional town of Westbridge, Massachusetts.
7.81996
Animation · Comedy
The zany, fast-paced adventures of a 10-year-old boy and his fairy godparents, who inadvertently create havoc as they grant wishes for their pint-sized charge.
7.62001
Drama
ER explores the inner workings of an urban teaching hospital and the critical issues faced by the dedicated physicians and staff of its overburdened emergency room.
7.81994
Drama · Soap
Follow the lives of a group of young adults living in a brownstone apartment complex on Melrose Place, in Los Angeles, California.
5.91992
Comedy · Talk
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to just Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres.
5.62003
Action & Adventure · Comedy
Sammo Law spins, kicks, and chops his way through crime as a one-man police force in Los Angeles. He's a tough law enforcer who comes to the U.S. in search of a former friend and protegée — and gets drafted as part of the LAPD.
7.11998
Action & Adventure · Comedy
While attending a Hollywood premiere with a famous action star, a crazed fan pulls a gun—but her movie hunk turns into a coward, and it's Vallery who becomes the hero. Suddenly, she's thrown into a world of action and danger as owner of a Hollywood protection agency, Vallery Irons Protection (V.I.P.), taking risks to protect others at a price few are willing to pay.
5.31998
Comedy
Spunky daughter Kim is mortified when her bigger-than-life mom, Nikki, decides to go back to school at the same junior college she attends.
8.01999
Comedy
The Parent 'Hood is an American sitcom that aired on The WB airing from January 18, 1995 to July 25, 1999. The series starred Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglas. Originally to have been titled Father Knows Nothing, the series was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch The WB network.
7.11995