TV series Warrior, inspired by Bruce Lee, gives its star Andrew Koji a chance to flex his muscles an

“For Warrior, I sort of rediscovered Bruce Lee for the role,” he says. “I knew Bruce Lee wouldn’t have wanted me to do an impersonation.”

Koji’s fight scenes have been seen as highlights of the series, but 14 years ago, at the age of 20, he decided to quit martial arts altogether.

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“I just didn’t want to be a martial arts actor which, ironically, some people will know me as because of Warrior,” he says. “At that point I think I’d trained in martial arts enough that if a role came about I’d always kind of have it there in my back pocket.”

Koji began training in taekwondo at the age of 10, and his father, born in Japan, taught him kyokushin karate. The youngster dabbled in other martial arts, including kung fu, until he tore his gluteus maximus muscle at age 20. After his injury, Koji decided to focus on acting.

“I guess after Warrior, I’ve had these amazing opportunities, and it’s very strange,” he says. “It seems to me that whenever you decide to quit in this industry then some force brings you back.”

He describes landing the role of Ah Sahm as “the highlight of my life”. Critics have generally approved. “Koji, an actor of Japanese and British descent who hasn’t been seen much in America, is effective in the fight scenes, and there’s a sense of humour in his reactions and inflections that grows on you,” a New York Times reviewer wrote in 2019.

Before Warrior came along, Koji worked painting houses. “I wasn’t very good at it; my mind was always off the job,” he says. “It was just a convenient, flexible job so that if I needed to go to an audition, I could do that.

“That was just one of the many odd jobs that I’d done as a struggling actor. I’ve worked in bars, clubs, as a film editor and as an English teacher – I got fired from that.

“Warrior came to me after 10 years of struggle and, you know, guest roles here, and getting a job and working for six months then not for a year,” he adds. “I was kind of thinking it’s a lot of effort and this industry we’re in, I find, is quite superficial and quite materialistic, and I’ve never wanted to contribute that to the world.”

Koji goes on to say that he’d considered other avenues, if acting didn’t work out, such as directing, producing or even entering a monastery. “That was really on the cards – becoming a monk.”

In his early years, Koji landed work in a handful of big productions, including a short, uncredited stint in the action film Fast and Furious 6 as a Hong Kong police officer. A friend had called asking if he wanted to be a stuntman.

“He said it paid well,” Koji recalls. “I did it and it turned out to be Fast and Furious. Then they called me in for another bit and that was the Hong Kong police bit.

“And that’s the first time I saw Justin Lin on set,” he says, adding that he never thought he would work with the Taiwan-born US director of the film series. Also cast in Fast and Furious 6 was Hong Kong’s Jason Tobin. In Warrior, Tobin plays Young Jun, a son of Ah Sahm’s Tong boss.

Back in 2008, Koji had headed East. “I lived in Japan for about two years when I was about 18 or 19, and I tried to marry up with picture films there,” he says.

Koji returned to Japan from Britain for several months last year for a new role, Storm Shadow, in the film Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe, working with British-Malaysian actor Henry Golding. “There was a bunch of people that I knew from 10 years ago who were working on this one,” he says. “It was such a small world.”

He says working with Golding was a little surreal, although he wasn’t star-struck. “Working with Henry was interesting because Crazy Rich Asians came out before Warrior but we were filming it around the same time,” he says.

It was strange that both he and Golding had lead roles as Asian actors at the same time, and roles like that don’t come around often, he adds.

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It took Koji many years to finally succeed as an actor in Warrior. “I couldn’t get anything to work while I was in Japan so I went away, trained, found my passion in acting, trained and worked in whatever, and somehow that brings you back to people,” he says.

“For me it just goes to show, if you follow your heart and follow the signs of what you want to do, you’ll end up there. And not just for me, it’s happened for quite a lot of people.

“Where I stand now, I’m just going to see how it goes for the next couple of years. I know I want to gradually work towards producing and directing and contributing towards the art form and working towards the good in this industry.”

Koji’s ethnicity has been a factor in his acting career, he admits. “Being mixed-race is definitely something that comes into the equation,” he explains. “This industry that we’re in unfortunately caters towards looks a lot, and I guess I’m lucky or blessed that I pass as Asian enough for certain things and not Asian enough for others.”

Being Eurasian, he says, was something he had to learn to accept. “I ran away from it for a long time. I think a lot of Eurasian people have, because they feel like they don’t belong in either culture.”

Japan, he says, now has a big place in his heart, although he once struggled with that part of his identity.

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“Its culture, its people and the food is something I really like. I’ve always felt a strong connection. My heart does feel a lot of peace when I’m there. I loved their cinema, and that got reunited again with the G.I. Joe film, because I was studying samurai cinema and old Japanese cinema.

“I don’t know how that film’s going to turn out, but we did our best. I wanted to do the fans proud with that. I spoke to a lot of the fans and I fought a lot for the corner of trying to make him as interesting and as nuanced as possible.”

Of his role in Bullet Train with Pitt he says: “This Bullet Train one, I feel it’s either going to be one of the greatest action films we’ve ever made or, I have no idea.

“It’s been such a crazy time filming with all this Covid stuff, but Storm Shadow, the character I’m playing [in Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe], I feel very privileged to play. It’ll be a new take on Storm Shadow and a new kind of character we haven’t seen in a Hollywood film, so I’m very happy, very lucky to be playing him.”

Meanwhile, a third season of Warrior is under consideration.

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