Dan Inosanto
American martial arts instructor
Dan Inosanto (born July 24, 1936) is a Filipino American martial arts instructor and actor. Inosanto holds instructor or black belt level ranks in several martial arts. He has studied traditional Karate, Judo, Jujutsu, Kung Fu, Shooto, Muay Thai, Tai Chi, Arnis, and Jeet Kune Do. He was one of three people who were appointed to teach at one of the three Jun Fan Gung Fu institutes under Bruce Lee, the other two being Taky Kimura and James Yimm Lee. After Bruce Lee's death, Inosanto became the principal spokesperson and historian for Jeet Kune Do.
Inosanto is credited for training martial arts to a number of Hollywood actors including Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and others. He has had minor roles in a number of films, including Lee's uncompleted last film Game of Death (1972), and Steven Seagal's Out for Justice (1991).
Early life and education
Inosanto was born on July 24, 1936 in Stockton, California.
He began training in martial arts at the age of 11 receiving instruction from his uncle who first taught him traditional Okinawan Karate and later also Judo and Jujutsu. He was a student of Ed Parker, from whom he received a shodan rank in American Kenpo.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q550492. VIAF identifies the subject as 23949746. The Library of Congress control number is n2001096085. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1936, 1972 and 1991.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dan Inosanto” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.