King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Michael Rooker

American actor

Born
6 April 1955, Jasper
Citizenship
United States
Occupation
actor, film actor, television actor
Films here
2

Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor. He first rose to prominence for portraying the titular role in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), and is best known for starring as Merle Dixon in the AMC series The Walking Dead (2010–2013) and as Yondu Udonta in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and its sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). He is a recurring collaborator of Guardians of the Galaxy director and co-CEO of DC Studios James Gunn, appearing in all of his films to date including Slither (2006), Super (2010) and The Suicide Squad (2021), along with the TV series Peacemaker.

Rooker's other notable roles include Chick Gandil in Eight Men Out (1988), Frank Bailey in Mississippi Burning (1988), Terry Cruger in Sea of Love (1989), Rowdy Burns in Days of Thunder (1990), Bill Broussard in JFK (1991), Hal Tucker in Cliffhanger (1993), Sherman McMaster in Tombstone (1993), Jared Svenning in Mallrats (1995), Detective Howard Cheney in The Bone Collector (1999), and Buddy in F9 (2021).

Filmography (martial arts films)

YearFilmCredit
1988Above the LawCast
2002UndisputedCast

Frequent collaborators

External links

Facts from Wikidata Q525065 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.

Last posts

  1. Best Wooden Swords for Kids Starting Martial Arts Forms
  2. Are Wooden Kung Fu Swords Balanced Like Real Steel Blades
  3. Buying a Wooden Jian for Beginners
  4. Choosing a Bokken with Scabbard for Iaido Beginners
  5. Is a Plastic Saya Worth Adding to a Bokken for Drawing?
  6. Choosing the Best Aikido Bokken for Daily Training
  7. Choosing the Best Heavy Bokken for Suburi Training
  8. Are Bamboo Practice Swords Safer Than Wooden Ones
  9. Choosing the Best Wooden Sword Stand for Your Collection
  10. Why Bokken Crack and Which Woods Handle Impact Best