Philip Sahagun has lived one of the most amazing martial arts careers of anyone I know. Born into the martial arts, his father, Joaquin Sahagun, is an accomplished master specializing in the arts of Kenpo Karate, Kickboxing and Western Boxing. Together with Philip’s mother Gina, they ran the South Coast Martial Arts in Costa Mesa, California. Philip was essentially raised in the dojo and went on to become a 7-time National Weapons Champion and a 3-Time International Martial Arts Council Grand Champion himself.

But Philip’s martial path took a unique turn after he became a contestant in some reality shows like America’s Got Talent and China’s two top martial arts competition shows, K-Star and Jackie Chan’s Disciple. From there, he went joined Tina Turner’s 50^th Anniversary Tour as one of her ‘Ninjas.’ Philip also founded the group Kung Fu Heroes, an international martial arts team whose mission is to unite individuals seeking to become "Heroes" and positive role models in local and worldwide communities. And if that isn’t enough, he began working as a martial arts choreographer for Cirque Du Soleil. Through Cirque, Philip met his wife, Ulziibayar Chimed, who is a master of Mongolian contortion. Together they founded their school for martial arts and contortion, the K-STAR Training Academy in Las Vegas. Recently both Philip and Ulziibayar organized contortion casting for Netflix’s Day Shift starring Jamie Foxx. And that’s not all, far from it, but it’s enough to introduce Philip to those who don’t know him.

Now Philip is taking on a new venture. He is leading a tour to China for a very special opportunity to train at the JC Stunt Camp. That’s JC as in Jackie Chan. This is Jackie’s personal stunt team, some of the best stunt people in the business, responsible for some of the most spectacular athletic feats and action captured on film including Rush Hour, Police Story, and many others.

We caught up with Philip to learn more about this unprecedented trip.

GC: How did you get involved with Jackie Chan?

PS: I first got involved with the Jackie Chan company and brand by appearing on a reality TV show called the Jackie Chan’s Disciple in 2007, which was on Beijing Television. It was called "Descendants of the Dragon" in Chinese - a reality show in which contestants faced various elimination rounds until one was crowned Jackie Chan's disciple. I made it to the top 16 and was the only Caucasian invited to participate in the show.

GC: What inspired you to set up this JC stunt camp tour?

PS: I was inspired to develop a Training Camp with the Jackie Chan stunt team after visiting and training with the team at their action center in Tianjin. The energy around the team was fantastic and I learned they had a long-term goal of sharing their knowledge of action design and stunt performance with artists and athletes outside of China. At the time, I was still with Cirque Du Soleil and moved from being an artist with the company into the position as a temporary casting advisor. Doing that work, I learned there really isn't a lot of resources for practitioners to bridge the gap between their passion and a viable career. So basically, we have people who need to learn and we found some amazing teachers, the Jackie Chan Stunt Team.          

As you know, a viable career path following a successful competitive career in the sport of Wushu and Kung Fu is severely lacking. As a former Artist, Coach and casting advisor for Cirque Du Soleil, I have seen a lot of confusion on how athletes can transfer their competitive skills to a career in the performing arts. The JC Stunt Camp represents a chance for continuing education for athletes who love Wushu and the martial arts who wish to continue developing themselves as professional artists.

GC: Are you confident that you can lead a tour to China? I co-led one and it ended up in a disastrous car crash near Chen Village.

PS: To date I've taken around 80 people to train Shaolin Kung Fu in China.

GC: To the best of your knowledge, has anything like this JC camp been done before?

PS: Our participants are very lucky, as this will be the first time that the JC Stunt Team will be comprehensively sharing their extensive knowledge of action design and stunt work with nonmembers of their team.

GC: What might attendees expect from the JC camp?

PS: We are keeping the exact training content under wraps until CAMP 1 is finished, however I can saw that the JC Stunt Team will be leading daily physical training sessions and classroom style lectures on the art of stunt performing and action filming. Furthermore, we've designed a few challenges in the camp schedule for our participants culminating to our final day. After the training part of our camp concludes we will also visit two famous historical sites, the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City.

In this camp, participants will be mentored on how to break into the film industry and train alongside the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. As an added bonus, the JC Stunt Camp is a direct scouting opportunity for the JC Stunt Team to discover new talent. Aspiring stunt performers will have the chance to showcase their skills and potentially be considered for future projects.

GC: Jackie is a busy guy – do you think attendees will actually get a chance to work with him?

PS: There is no guarantee that Jackie himself will attend the camp. However, participants will learn from members of Jackie's world-renowned Stunt Team and Creative directors who have trained and performed stunts on some of Jackie's biggest films.