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Tatchakorn Yeerum (Thai: ทัชชกร ยีรัมย์; or formerly Panom Yeerum (Thai: พนม ยีรัมย์; IPA: [pʰanom...

Tatchakorn Yeerum (Thai: ทัชชกร ยีรัมย์; or formerly Panom Yeerum (Thai: พนม ยีรัมย์; IPA: [pʰanom jiːrɑm]) (born February 5, 1976 in Surin province, Isaan, Thailand), better known in the West as Tony Jaa,in Thailand as Jaa Panom is a Thai martial art film actor, choreographer and director. His films include Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, Tom-Yum-Goong (also called Warrior King or The Protector) and Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning. Tony Jaa was raised in a rural area and as he grew up he watched films by Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li at temple fairs, which was his inspiration to learn martial arts. He was so inspired by them that while he was doing chores or playing with friends, he would imitate the martial arts moves that he had seen, practicing in his father's rice paddy. Also, he would give baths to the family's elephants and somersault off their backs into the river. "What they did was so beautiful, so heroic that I wanted to do it too," Jaa told Time in a 2004 interview. "I practiced until I could do the move exactly as I had seen the masters do it." At age 15 he requested to become a protege of stuntman and action-film director Panna Rittikrai. Panna had instructed Jaa to attend