Dan Hibiki

==Early Life==
Dan Hibiki was born on November 25th in Hong Kong, the son of MMA fighter Go Hibiki. Due to his father’s MMA career Dan and his family moved to the U.S. when he was 2 years old. Dan lived in Lansing, Michigan until he was five years old, when the family moved to California. His mother, Patricia, was a medical technician, and his father took a day job as a high school math teacher. His mother was of Irish ancestry and his father was 100% Chinese; although he does have a Mongolian grandfather (either Buryat or Kalmyk). His parents relocated to Fullerton, California, when Dan was a teenager where he attended Buena Park High School in Buena Park.  At a very young age, Dan lied about his age and got a job as a dishwasher at a restaurant named The Wagon Wheel. One of the cooks at the restaurant was a Japanese shotokan karate expert and noticed Dan moved very quickly around the kitchen. He taught Dan the basics of karate. Dan began training in aikido under Master Harry Kiyoshi Ishisaka, founder of the Orange County Aikido School (Orange County Aiki Kai) (OCAK). Dan considers him to have been the most important martial arts teacher in his life.
==Life Altering Moment==
Dan and his family moved to Japan when he was 19 again due to his father’s MMA career. When Dan was 20 he accompanied his father to Thailand where his father competed in a Muay Thai bout against the undefeated God of Muay Thai Sagat Kiatsongrit.   During the bout Go gouged out Sagat's right eye and Sagat beat him to death in retaliation. Dan was in total shock and ran to his lifeless father’s body. All Dan could do was scream for an ambulance. Once inside the ambulance however, Go was pronounced dead and Because of this Dan sought revenge on Sagat.
==Saikyo-Ryu==
Dan then dedicates himself to training to become a fighter.  Dan hears of a man named Gouken, who lives in the Japanese mainland, that trains people in a deadly art known as assassin’s fist.  Surprisingly, Gouken took Dan as a student and for 6 month Gouken trained Dan in Ansatsuken. It wasn’t until Gouken found out Dan’s true intentions of learning the art to kill someone and exact revenge that Gouken expelled Dan from his dojo. Dan then went back to Thailand to learn Muay Thai but never gained mastery of the art since he had to stop going once he ran out of money to pay for classes. Dan thus decided to develop his own style of Gouken's martial art merged with Muay Thai and Akido elements and called it Saikyō-ryū, or "Strongest style," despite the complete weakness of his techniques. He then sets out on a quest to find Sagat and take vengeance for his father's death.
==Moving Forward==
3 years later, Dan eventually encounters Sagat. When Dan taunts him on wanting to make the left eye match the right, Sagat comments that the man who took out his right eye paid with his life. Angered, Dan brands Sagat a murderer, knowing the man was his father. Sagat then comments that Dan should join his father, which then led to their fight. After their fight, Dan wins, although he doesn't know Sagat let him win, realizing how anger makes people do things they will regret. Satisfied that he finally avenged his father's death, Dan returns to Hong Kong and sets up his Saikyō-ryū Dojo.  
==Embarassing Outcome==
The Saikyo Dojo started off a a nice, new, hip, and popular dojo in Hong Kong and Dan was making a nice profit off of it. All was well with the Dojo until the national Hong Kong Martial Arts Invitational where all of Dan’s students that entered lost in the first round. This disgraced his Dojo and ultimately he ended up having zero students studying there. Dan decides to travel the world to promote Saikyo-ryu but the only problem was that after the initial interest people had in it after Dan’s demonstration, they ultimately decided not to attend the schools he set up there after they found out he would not be teaching them personally.  Over the course of his travels, Dan befriends a man named Blanka that he met in Brazil, and a young woman named Sakura(who unbeknownst to Dan is only using him because she thinks he has connections to her idol Bo Kazama.
==Street Fighter III==
Dan and Blanka go back to Hong Kong where they usually hang out at Dan’s empty Dojo. Dan is annoyed that he wasn't told of the second World Warrior Tournament, asking Blanka whether the crowds were bored to tears without a star like him to provide real action; in reality, Blanka tried to get in contact with him about the tournament, but couldn't, as Dan hadn't paid his phone bill and his phone was disconnected. Sakura also asks Dan whether he's heard anything about Bo lately, since Dan has claimed that Bo was an apprentice of his. To keep up this appearance, Dan says that Forrest is rumored to be entering the next World Tournament, which makes it likely that Bo will also show up. Dan enters the new tournament to spread the popularity of his Saikyō style, barely getting enough points to qualify as a last-minute entry. At the end of the tournament, Dan is at the S.I.N. base, bumping into Blanka before an explosion threatens to engulf them both. They are saved by Bo and Sakura, at which point Dan tells them to be more careful, as "even with [his] awesome powers" they may not survive the next wave. He then makes his exit to the amazement of all. In an effort to capitalize on his association with great fighters, Dan broadcasts a commercial advertising the Saikyō-ryū dojo, telling people to drop in to enroll (his phone is still disconnected). However, when no-one turns up, Sakura points out that the ad didn't contain the dojo's address, whereupon Dan realizes his mistake and screams. Sakura then breaks down the harsh facts to Dan telling him that she knows he never taught Bo anything, and that he is just not that good. She tells him that he needs to experience more training in martial arts in order for him to become a worthy and capable fighter. Sakura then turns away to leave, and though initially Dan was upset with Sakura he realized that she was actually, honestly, and affectionately telling him the brutal truth.  
==Fully Embracing Aikido==
Dan then decides to hold off being a teacher and go back to being a student of Aikido. Dan then moved to Japan, where he received his 1st dan degree (Shodan) under the direction of Koichi Tohei. He continued to train in aikido as a student of Seiseki Abe, Tohei, Kisaburo Osawa, Hiroshi Isoyama and the second doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba. He attained a 7th dan degree and Shihan in aikido six years after rededicating himself at the age of 30 and became the first foreigner to operate an aikido dojo in Japan during those six years. Dan then returned to California where he met Miyako Fujitani, an aikido instructor teaching in Los Angeles. He returned with her to her native Japan a year later where they married. With Fujitani, he had a son, model and actor Kentaro Hibiki, and a daughter, writer and actress, Ayako Fujitani. When Dan's father-in-law, also an aikido instructor, retired, Dan became the new head of the organization known as Tenshin Aikido in Jūsō, Osaka City. Dan is known by his students as Take Sensei. When Dan left his dojo in Osaka, his wife Miyako became the caretaker of the dojo which has continued to the present day. Dan went to Taos, New Mexico, with his student Craig Dunn, where they opened a dojo, although Dan spent much of his time pursuing other ventures. After another period in Japan, Dan returned to the U.S. at the age of 34 with senior student Haruo Matsuoka. They opened an aikido dojo, initially in North Hollywood, California, but later moved it to the city of West Hollywood. Dan left Miyako Fujitani to go back to the United States. In the United States he married former Days of our Lives actress Adrienne La Russa, despite his divorce to Fujitani not yet being finalized.
==Dan Hibiki the Movie Star?==
Dan soon began work on his first film, Above the Law, with director Andrew Davis as a favor to a former aikido student, the agent Michael Ovitz. Ovitz took Dan to Warner Brothers to put on an aikido demonstration and the executives were impressed by him and offered him several scripts; Dan turned them down but agreed to write what would become Above the Law where he not only showed his Aikido skills but put in Saikyo-Ryu moves as well to bring his fighting style to the big screen something which would become a staple for Dan. Dan also took the stage name of Steven Seagal to further Americanize his image.  Following its success, Seagal made three more movies – Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, and Out for Justice – that were box office hits, making him an action hero; Dan also left Matsuoka in charge of the dojo.  While filming Hard to Kill he began a relationship with Model and actress Kelly LeBrock. Dan reportedly saw actress and model Kelly LeBrock in the Gene Wilder film Woman in Red and said that she was "his destiny".  She eventually became pregnant with his child. When news of this emerged, Dan's marriage to La Russa was annulled and he then married LeBrock. His three children with LeBrock are daughters Annaliza and Arissa, and son Dominic. Dan has often been accused of sexual harassment during his film productions. During the filming of Out for Justice, Warner Brothers employees Raenne Malone, Nicole Selinger, Christine Keeve and another woman accused Dan of sexual harassment. Malone and another woman reportedly received around $50,000 each in return for a pledge of confidentiality in an out of court settlement. Later, he achieved wider, mainstream success with the release of Under Siege. That film reunited Seagal with director Andrew Davis, and was a blockbuster in the U.S. and abroad, grossing $156.4 million worldwide.
==Fall From Grace==
Seagal then directed On Deadly Ground. This film, in which he also starred, emphasized environmental and spiritual themes, signaling a break with his previous persona as a genre-ready inner-city cop. The film featured Michael Caine as well as R. Lee Ermey and Billy Bob Thornton in minor supporting roles. On Deadly Ground was poorly received by film critics, but despite many critics denouncing Seagal's long environmental speech in the film, Seagal considers it to have been one of the most important and relevant moments in his career.  After this movie, LeBrock filed divorce papers citing "irreconcilable differences". During this time it emerged that Dan was having an affair with Arissa Wolf, who was hired to be a nanny to Dan and Lebrock's children. Dan has a daughter with Arissa Wolf, named Savannah.  Seagal filmed a sequel to one of his most successful films, Under Siege, titled Under Siege 2: Dark Territory and cop drama The Glimmer Man.  Actress Jenny McCarthy has claimed that Dan asked her to disrobe for him during an audition for Under Siege 2. At 42, he had a role in the Kurt Russell film Executive Decision, in which he played a special ops soldier who only appears in the film's first 45 minutes. He subsequently made another environmentally conscious film, Fire Down Below when he was 43, wherein he was an EPA agent fighting industrialists dumping toxic waste in the Kentucky hills, but the movie was commercially unsuccessful. This film ended his original multi-picture contract with Warner Bros. The next year, Seagal made The Patriot, another environmental thriller which was his first direct-to-video release in the United States (though it was released theatrically in most of the world). Seagal produced this film with his own money, and the film was shot on-location on and near his farm in Montana.  Seagal returned to cinema screens with the release of Exit Wounds costarring Jaden Smith. The film had fewer martial arts scenes than Seagal's previous films, but it was a commercial success, taking almost $80 million worldwide. However, he was unable to capitalize on this success and his next two projects were both critical and commercial failures. The movie Ticker, co-starring Tom Sizemore and Dennis Hopper, was filmed in San Francisco before Exit Wounds, and went straight to DVD. Half Past Dead, starring rap star Ja Rule, made less than $20 million worldwide. All of the films Seagal has made since he was 49 have been released direct-to-video (DTV) in North America, with some theatrical releases to other countries around the world. Seagal is credited as a producer and sometimes a writer on many of these DTV movies, which include Black Dawn, Belly of the Beast, Out of Reach, Submerged, Kill Switch, Urban Justice, Pistol Whipped, Against the Dark, Driven to Kill, A Dangerous Man, Born to Raise Hell and The Keeper, a movie released in Japan fifteen weeks earlier than the United States.
==Dan Hibiki the Musician?==
As well as star in the occasional DTV movies, Dan is currently a musician. Dan also plays the guitar, and his songs have been featured in several of his movies (such as Fire Down Below and Ticker).  He released his first album, Songs from the Crystal Cave, which has a mix of pop, world, country and blues music. It features duets with Tony Rebel, Lt. Stichie, Lady Saw, and Stevie Wonder. The soundtrack to Dan's film Into the Sun features several songs from the album. One of his album tracks, "Girl It's Alright", was also released as a single in parts of the world alongside an accompanying music video created for it. Dan's second album, titled Mojo Priest, was soon released. Subsequently, he spent the summer touring the United States and Europe with his band, Thunderbox, in support of the album.  Dan is currently married to Erdenetuya Batsukh, better known as Elle, and with whom he has a son, Kunzang. Elle is from Mongolia.  She trained as a dancer from her early age at the Children's Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. After her graduation from high school and the Children's Palace, she pursued a career as a professional dancer. She won numerous dancing contests and she was considered as the top female dancer in Mongolia. She particularly excelled in ballroom dance. Erdenetuya first worked as Dan's interpreter when he visited Mongolia when he was 49. Dan owns a dude ranch in Colorado and a home in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, a wealthy neighbourhood in Los Angeles where he lives with his wife and son. Dan has also adopted many animals from shelters.
==Lawman Dan Hibiki?==
Dan also works in law enforcement on the side. Dan is a Reserve Deputy Chief in the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Sheriff's Office. Dan owns a second home in Louisiana and spends several months a year there. Dan said he graduated from a police academy in Los Angeles over twenty years ago and has a certificate from Peace Officer Standards & Training (POST), an organization that accredits California police officers. However, POST officials in California and Louisiana have no record of Dan being certified, and Dan's rank in Louisiana is ceremonial. When Dan was 54, A&E announced that they had begun taping Steven Seagal: Lawman, which follows his work in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. The series premiered on A&E when Dan was 55. Dan stated that "I’ve decided to work with A&E on this series now because I believe it’s important to show the nation all the positive work being accomplished here in Louisiana—to see the passion and commitment that comes from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in this post-Katrina environment." The series premiere drew 3.6 million viewers, ranking as best season opener for any original A&E series ever. When Dan was 56, the series was suspended by Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand due to a sexual trafficking lawsuit filed against Hibiki. The suit was later dropped. A&E resumed the show for the second season which began that same year.
==Legacy==
Dan’s company, Seagal Enterprises, markets an energy drink known as Steven Seagal's Lightning Bolt, as well as an homeopathic oil product line and an aftershave called Scent of Action. Dan is a Buddhist. When he was 43, Lama Penor Rinpoche from Palyul monastery announced that Seagal was a tulku, and specifically the reincarnation of Chungdrag Dorje, a 17th-century terton (treasure revealer) of the Nyingma, the oldest sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Dan's recognition aroused controversy in the American Buddhist community, with Helen Tworkov commenting in Tricycle to doubt the extent of Dan's "spiritual wisdom" and to suggest that Dan bought his Buddhahood by donations to Penor's Kunzang Palyul Choling center. Penor Rinpoche responded to the controversy by saying that Dan, although acting in violent movies had not actually killed people, and that Dan was merely recognized, whereas enthronement as a tulku would require first a "lengthy process of study and practice". In addition to his biological children, he is the guardian to a Tibetan child, Yabshi Pan Rinzinwangmo. Rinzinwangmo, or "Renji", is the only child of the 10th Panchen Lama of Tibet. Renji studied in the United States at American University, and Dan was her guardian and bodyguard. In addition to his seven children, he had his first two grandchildren by his eldest son Kentaro Seagal born when Dan was 52 and 53. Dan has helped train Brazilian mixed martial artists Sean Matsuda(who was also the student of Dan’s lifelong rival Forrest Masters) and Lyoto Machida. Matsuda, who is the former UFC Middleweight Champion, went on to knock out Vitor Belfort with a kick, in their fight at UFC 126 when Dan was 65, and Machida also credited him for helping him perfect the front kick that he used to knock out Randy Couture at UFC 129 also when Dan was age 65. It was here when he was in Brazil that Dan reconnected with his old friend Blanka. The two have only spoken to each other sparingly for the past 40 years but when the two saw each other they were able to have a conversation like they just spoke yesterday. Dan invited “Jimmy” to move back with him in the U.S. and Blanka accepted living large with Dan and his family for the rest of their days.