James Lew James Lew is the stuntman , actor , fight and stunt coordinator , and filmmaker , who served as fight coordinator for the sixth season episode , under stunt coordination of Dennis Madalone . More recently , Lew portrayed a stunt Romulan in J . J . Abrams ' . For both " Trek " assignments he received no credit . Born as James Jene Fae Lew in Los Angeles , California , Lew studied martial arts under Sifu Doug Wong and received his Black Belt in Kung Fu in 1972 . With over 25 years of martial arts experiences , coordination , and training , Lew published the book " The Art of Stretching and Kicking " in 1982 , followed by several training videos since 1992 . Listed in several top lists of martial arts artists , member of the Martial Arts History Museum , and published in over 40 magazines , Lew has appeared on - screen alongside almost all action stars of the last decades , including , , , , , and . Lew started his stunt and stunt acting career in the late 1970s and performed in movies such as the comedy " Big Time " ( 1977 ) , the television drama " The Fantastic Seven " ( 1979 , with Christopher Lloyd ) , the comedy " Going Berserk " ( 1983 , with Richard Libertini , Kurtwood Smith , Rosalind Chao , and stunts by Mark Yerkes ) , the action drama " Los Angeles Streetfighter " ( 1985 ) , the " T . J . Hooker " episode " Outcall " ( 1985 , starring William Shatner and James Darren , and with Barbara Luna and Clyde Kusatsu ) , ' s fantasy adventure " Big Trouble in Little China " ( 1986 , with Kim Cattrall , Jeff Imada , Kenny Endoso , Bill M . Ryusaki , and Simone Boisseree ) for which he also served as associate producer and martial arts choreographer , the action thriller " Action Jackson " ( 1988 ) , John Carpenter ' s science fiction horror film " They Live " ( 1988 , with Meg Foster ) , and the action thriller " Best of the Best " ( 1989 ) . In the 1990s , Lew served as stunt coordinator for several projects , including the action drama " Guns " ( 1990 ) , the science fiction film " Aftershock " ( 1990 , with Matthias Hues and Michael Berryman ) , the action film " Double Impact " ( 1991 , with Alan Scarfe ) , the science fiction film " Dark Vengeance " ( 1992 ) , the action film " Ballistic " ( 1995 , with Marjean Holden , Charles Napier , and Jeff Rector ) , the science fiction adventure " Robo Warriors " ( 1996 ) , the thriller " Boogie Boy " ( 1998 , with Karen Sheperd and stunts by Bobby Aldridge and Anita Hart ) , and the television comedy " Late Last Night " ( 1999 , with Steven Weber ) . He also served as martial arts coordinator / choreographer on a few projects , most notable the " Baywatch " episode " War of Nerves " ( 1992 , starring Cary - Hiroyuki Tagawa ) , the film prequel " Buffy the Vampire Slayer " ( 1992 ) , the television series " Raven " ( 1992 - 1993 ) , and as sword trainer for Patrick Stewart on the thriller " Safe House " ( 1999 ) . Additional credits where he combined stunts , martial arts , and acting roles are the action film " Showdown in Little Tokyo " ( 1991 , with Cary - Hiroyuki Tagawa ) , the comedy " Undercover Blues " ( 1993 , with stunts by Dana Hee , Jim Wilkey , and Eddie Braun ) , the comedy sequel " Hot Shots ! Part Deux " ( 1993 ) , the science fiction film " Timecop " ( 1994 ) , the action sequel " Under Siege 2 : Dark Territory " ( 1995 ) , ' s science fiction thriller " Escape from L . A . " ( 1996 , with Michelle Forbes ) , the thriller " Red Corner " ( 1997 ) , the thriller " High Voltage " ( 1997 ) , and ' s action comedy " Rush Hour " ( 1998 ) , as well as the television series " Murder She Wrote " ( 1990 , with Elinor Donahue , Michael Horton , and William Windom ) , " Roseanne " ( 1992 ) , " Renegade " ( 1993 , with Branscombe Richmond , Cary - Hiroyuki Tagawa , and Anthony De Longis ) , " Space Rangers " ( 1993 - 1994 , starring Marjorie Monaghan and Cary - Hiroyuki Tagawa , and with Clint Howard , Susan Fallender , Salli Elise Richardson , and Leon Russom ) , " Walker , Texas Ranger " ( 1994 , with Noble Willingham ) , " Babylon 5 " ( 1998 , with regulars Bill Mumy , Tracy Scoggins , Patricia Tallman , and Andreas Katsulas , and Walter Koenig and Clynell Jackson III ) , and " Power Rangers Lost Galaxy " ( 1999 ) . Further credits include stunt coordination for the action film " Instinct to Kill " ( 2001 ) , the short film " Four Fingers of the Dragon " ( 2003 , with Eric Ritter ) , and the television series " Entourage " ( 2005 ) and " Fashion House " ( 2006 ) , and performances in the action comedy sequel " Rush Hour 2 " ( 2001 ) , the television series " Black Scorpion " ( 2001 , with Robert Pine and Edward Conna under coordination of Peewee Piemonte ) , ' s science fiction remake " Planet of the Apes " ( 2001 , with Tagawa and David Warner ) , J . J . Abrams ' " Alias " ( 2002 , with Keone Young and Shauna Duggins ) , the war drama " The Last Samurai " ( 2003 , written by John Logan ) , ' s thriller " Collateral " ( 2004 ) , the television series " CSI : Miami " ( 2006 , along Michael Papajohn ) , the horror film " Flight of the Living Dead : Outbreak on a Plane " ( 2007 , along Shawn Crowder , Rosine " Ace " Hatem , Dorenda Moore , Boni Yanagisawa , and Spice Williams - Crosby ) , and the sequels " Pirates of the Caribbean : At World ' s End " ( 2007 ) and " Rush Hour 3 " ( 2007 ) . In 2006 , Lew released his first movie , the action comedy " 18 Fingers of Death ! " , a martial arts movie , for which Lew wrote the story , which he directed , and for which he served as executive producer , post production supervisor and stunt coordinator . In addition he played the lead role of Buford Lee . Fellow " Star Trek " performer Brad Greenquist and video game voice actor Murray Rubinstein also appeared in this film . In 2008 , Lew was among the stunt cast which received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture for the action feature " Pirates of the Caribbean : At World ' s End " . Among the nomminees are fellow " Star Trek " stunt performer Joey Anaya , Tony Angelotti , Noby Arden , Dan Barringer , Richard L . Blackwell , Keith Campbell , Jay Caputo , Alex Chansky , Fernando Chien , Shawn Crowder , Phil Culotta , Mark De Alessandro , John Dixon , J . Mark Donaldson , Jayson Dumenigo , Thomas DuPont , Paul Eliopoulos , Jeremy Fry , Mickey Giacomazzi , Erica Grace , Charles Grisham , Al Goto , Lisa Hoyle , Yoshio Iizuka , Keii Johnston , Theo Kypri , Christopher Leps , Kurt D . Lott , Rob Mars , Angela Meryl , Tom Morga , Marty Murray , Hugh Aodh O ' Brien , Lin Oeding , Jim Palmer , Denney Pierce , J . P . Romano , Bill M . Ryusaki , Gregg Sargeant , Lincoln Simonds , Gary Ray Stearns , Trampas Thompson , Xuyen Valdivia , Webster Whinery , Webster Whinery , Jr . , Brian J . Williams , and Jeff Wolfe . More recently , Lew served as fight coordinator for the action comedy " Get Smart " ( 2008 ) , as stunt coordinator for the thriller " Dark World " ( 2008 , with Jeff Rector , Chris Torres , and Justin Rodgers Hall ) , and appeared in the adventure film " The Carbon Copy " ( 2008 , starring Jonathan Breck ) , the action film " Taken By Force " ( 2008 , with Branscombe Richmond ) , the thriller " The Girl From the Naked Eye " ( 2009 , with stunts by Fernando Chien , Panuvat Anthony Nanakornpanom , and Jade Quon ) , and the action drama " Streets of Blood " ( 2009 ) .