Happy Birthday to Martial Artist Cynthia Rothrock

Cynthia Rothrock is an American martial artist and actress in martial arts films. Let’s wish her a very Happy Birthday!

Cynthia Rothrock was born on 8 March 1957, in Wilmington, Delaware. She grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and started taking martial arts lessons at age 13. She holds black belt rankings in seven styles of martial arts and was a high-level competitor in martial arts before becoming an actress.

Cynthia Rothrock was World Champion in forms and weapons five times between 1981 and 1985. These categories are not combat-oriented, being displays of the fluidity of movement rather than fighting, and are not segregated into men and women categories but are fully open to both sexes. She took first place in forms 32 times and first place in weapons 12 times in her first 38 tournaments, including competing in “Men’s Forms” three out of four times as there was no Women’s Division. She was the “Grand Master” of five tournaments and came in first place in 4 out of 5 fighting events.

Her first Martial Arts movie ‘Yes Madam’ came in 1985, and she did seven other films in Hong Kong. Her first US film was ‘24 Hours to Midnight’. She has then acted in various martial arts movies both in Hong Kong and the US. She was an inspiration for the video game character Sonya Blade from the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise. 

–Staff Reporter