Mark Dacascos On Iron Chef, Fate Of His John Wick 3 Character, And Tackling The Epic Play, The Mongol Khan

Mark Dacascos has two distinctive groups of fans — those who know him as a martial arts champ-turned-action flick idol, whose credits include Crying Freeman and John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, and those who follow him as boisterous and animated The Chairman on Iron Chef America. His latest role, however, is neither in a TV show or movie, but on the stage — in The Mongol Khan, a lavishly epic historical drama set in the royal court of the ancient Hunnu or Xiongnu (or Huns, as they were known in the West) Empire, where the fictional Archug Khan is beset by succession issues. Unbeknownst to him, his two Consorts and his Chancellor, Egereg, are secretly ganging up on him. Cue intrigue music!

The Mongol Khan was written in 1998 by acclaimed Mongolian writer Lkhagvasuren Bavuu, and revived in April 2022 at the Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Drama. It went on to become the first Mongolian play to be performed internationally at the London Coliseum. The production  —  dubbed “a multi-sensory feast” — made its Asia premiere on Oct 17 at the Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands. The Singapore-leg of the tour also marked another first: besides the Mongolian version, audience can also opt for show in English. It’s the latter where Dacascos joins the fray (as Egereg) alongside fellow Hollywood actors Ron Yuan (Archug Khan) and Leonard Wu (Achir Prince). The show ends its run on Nov 3. 

Dacascos, who at 60 (what?!) still cuts a youthful figure, is a big Shakespeare fan, relishes the opportunity to stretch his acting muscles on stage. (Fun fact, he came this close to playing Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus at the Shakespeare in the Park festival a few years ago. Alas, he had to bail when the schedule clashed with his filming of John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum.) Here, just hours before he had to get dressed for the 8pm show, 8DAYS sat down with the Hawaiian native to chat about the play as well as his other memorable roles from his three-decade long career.

‘Egereg’, The Mongol King (2024)

8DAYS: According to a 2003 National Geographic study, 8 per cent of people living in the former Mongol Empire share the same Y chromosomes. So that means 16 million people could be descendants of Genghis Khan.

MARK DACASCOS: That’s amazing.

So hypothetically we could be his descendants. In fact, you and I could be related.

I would love that. It was my first time in Mongolia to prepare for this play. The people were so hospitable and warm and still tough. You could see that. I guess the weather will do that to you (laughs). You have to be tough to survive. We’ve all heard of the legends, the stories of Genghis Khan and his empire. In this modern-day culture, I find that it’s still prevalent. It’s still there and I would be more than proud and honoured and happy to be Mongolian.

Have you taken a DNA test?

Yes, I have, and it’s a rainbow-coloured, multi-coloured pie chart. My mother is half-Caucasian, so Northwestern European and Japanese — Okinawa blood — but also traces of other different Asian ethnicities. Then my father is Austronesian. So, all the way from Madagascar through Hawaii to Southeast Asia. I’m hoping as technology and research advance, I can find traces of Genghis Khan as well.

Do you think working on the play has jumpstarted your dormant Mongolian DNA?

Yes, it did. Very good. I love that. I'm going to go with that.

As research for The Mongol Khan, you and your fellow actors spent six weeks in Mongolia, learning its history and culture. Did any of your previous roles help prepared you to play Egereg, The Chancellor? He’s a grey-area kind of guy. You’d played enough good guys and bad guys to find a middle path. I’m thinking — and please correct me if I’m off target — you drew on the theatricality of The Chairman from Iron Chef…

I agree with you.

… and the scheming triad boss Kong Pak in Warrior.

Seems to me you know my work better than I do, and if I sat here and just nodded my head, you could answer all the correct things.

I have to come prepared (followed by nervous laughter)…

Well, you’ re well prepared. I would also add to that — I haven't performed it — one of my favourite roles to work on is Richard III. I studied Shakespeare with Patsy Rodenburg, and she’s an incredible voice  speech presence. We practiced with Shakespeare as our medium. And I think there's elements of Richard III with Kong Pak and The Chairman. To answer your question, have previous roles prepared me for this? Absolutely. [They have] at least given me a really good foundation from which I can work on. I think everything in my life has helped me get to where I’m at right now. And what I love about this play is that the story is so solid and nuanced and deep. It has that Mongolian sensibility. It’s prevalent; it permeates every scene. It gives me so much to think about every single day — with my career, my life, living all over the world in many different places…

Actors are nomads, too.

I’m a nomad as well. Thank you. You see, we have the Mongolian DNA, you and I! There’s so many things I can organically relate in the story; certainly, my character, as chameleon-like as he may be, I can relate. I absolutely love this story and this project. I love Egereg. I love playing Egereg.

When you’re doing a film or a TV show, if you mess up a scene, you would do another take. But doing it live on stage, if you f*** it up…

You’re still going at it. And that’s the beauty of doing a live show: It slaps you into presence. If you miss something, you don’t have time to go, “Oh, no” — you have to move on. Just like in life. If not, you’re dead in the water. It’s a flowing stream or river or, a moving train, or in this case, our show, It’s like being on a a bullet train — you got to get on and hang on tight.

The best way to understand a culture is through food. As someone who’s been one of the most popular culinary shows on TV, what’s your take on Mongolian food?

I must think about this because when we were in Mongolia, we had a very limited amount of time for research. I had Mongolian food, yeah. Wait, one thing comes to mind. This was so silly.  They have this fried bread [Boortsog] — and I try to stay health conscious — but these little parcels of fried bread were so delightful and delicious and textured that I ate it as much as I could (laughs). The good thing is, I couldn't always find it, or I didn’t have time to go out and get it. Ron Yuan, our English-speaking Khan, and Leonard Wu, they loved it as well. Everybody was trying to be fit and healthy, but we couldn't stop eating it.

‘The Chairman’, Iron Chef America and subsequent revival (2005-present)

The spin-off of the Japanese culinary competition show Iron Chef where rising talents take on a team of resident master chefs. Dacascos plays The Chairman — pitched as the nephew of the original Japanese chairman Takeshi Kaga — who introduces the secret ingredient at the start of each episode. “When my manager said the Iron Chef America people wanted to meet me, I asked her if they knew I kick, not cook,” Dacascos told 8days.sg in 2011. The show premiered on Food Network in 2005 and stayed there for 13 seasons. Following its cancellation, it moved to Netflix, where it launched Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend and Iron Chef: Mexico in 2022.(Photo: Netflix)

When we last spoke in 2011, I asked if you were any good at cooking? You said no, “but I’m good at grilling”. Have things changed since?

No, no. I enjoy food, but I’m really at heart, I suppose, a minimalist. So, one could argue that maybe The Chairman was one of the more difficult roles for me to play because I'm not a fancy schmancy eater — but he is and he loves it. It was really fun to play him, and the food on Iron Chef was incredible. Having said that, I’m happy with real basic food in my everyday life. As a novelty, the [Iron Chef food] is incredible. I could not eat like that every day. I think I would make myself unhealthy.

Do you watch culinary shows in general?

I do. We watch them. I don't even watch a lot of television. Basically, my wife controls the TV. I would argue that she controls everything, and she certainly controls the TV. If she has something on that catches my eye, I'll stay and watch. She likes some shows [like The Great British Bake-Off]. When she has the some of the Iron Chef shows — featuring Shellie Froidevaux and Bobby Flay, they’re our friends — I'll always sit and watch for a little while.

Your Iron Chef journey began almost 20 years ago. How has playing The Chairman changed your life?

Well, I’ll tell you this: it has given me an immense appreciation for how hard chefs work. Oh my gosh. The specificity, the history about their foods, and how physical it is [to cook a meal]. Up until that point, I’d seen people cook, but didn’t really watch and take it in. And then my wife started watching the original Iron Chef from Japan, and she was hooked. She’d have it on a lot, and I’d sit and watch it too. That started me thinking about how much craft and hard work it takes to be that good as a chef. And then doing the show live, in each episode, battle after battle, you realise it takes, as with everything in life, years and years to be that skilled. Again, I did not know how physically demanding it was. All the cutting and shaving, and then putting all ingredients together in just moments and to be able to talk about it culturally, historically. I was just blown away by the chefs’ stories, not just from our Iron Chefs, but our challenger chefs as well. Incredible.

'Zero’, John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum (2019)

Dacascos plays retired assassin Zero, the closest thing to a Big Bad in the gun-fu threequel. Zero is recalled to duty by the Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) and tasked with eliminating reformed hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) and his allies for breaking rules of the Continental in the previous movie. (Photo: Lionsgate)

In John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, your action pedigree and culinary connections collide. It’s the best of both worlds!  Your character, Zero, is an assassin whose day job is a sushi chef. Was that always in the script? This is too obvious a reference to Iron Chef.

It was so funny. Was that in the original script that Zero is a sushi chef? You know, that is in the script that I received. From what I understand, there was at one point, up until I took the job, the role was for another actor, and it's not for me to say, but somebody else was already cast in that role. And that actor is brilliant, and I'm a huge fan of that actor. But things happen [and that actor couldn’t do it]. I literally got the call on a Monday morning, I talked with the director, Chad Stahelski, and then I read the script quickly on that day.  I got the call from the director Monday night. I flew out from Los Angeles to New York. I arrived there Tuesday, shaved my head on Wednesday, and it was in my first scene on Thursday. So, one could argue because of the food and the fighting that it was intentional. And I suppose in my universe, it was. But initially, that was not supposed to be my role.

Zero — spoiler alert! — gets stabbed by Keanu Reeves’ John Wick in the chest at the end of the movie. We’re led to believe he died, but you know what they say: if nobody saw the actual death, it didn’t happen. There’s a John Wick spin-off, Ballerina, due next year and they're also developing another one for Donnie Yen’s Caine from John Wick Chapter 4. If there were a Zero spin-off, what would that entail?

I love that. Thank you. I've heard from, again, no names, but I heard from people higher up the food chain in the world of John Wick that Zero is alive. Now, whether that translates to TV or movie or another script or anything we'll see. But in their minds, from them to me, he's still alive. What would that entail? I would love to investigate, just a little bit of origin story. Who is Zero, when he was younger? And then cut to maybe in the middle [before the events of Chapter 3] and then to him now [post-Chapter 4]. I can imagine this great scene where John Wick is in dire straits and suddenly, a couple of people are going to attack him. But they get dropped one by one, and then Zero appears and basically explains, "Mr Wick, I know you could have killed me, and you chose to not, so, because you gave me the rest of my life, I am your No.1 fan/friend, I will always be there for you." And I can see John Wick going (does a pissed-off John Wick voice), “Oh no.” You know what I mean?

Or a simple ‘Yeah’ would suffice. Do you have a Keanu Reeves story to share?

I do have one, and I love this one because I think he's such a gentleman. He was finishing up his work for the night — because we worked nights — and then I was supposed to come in and start on one of my scenes. And I walked on to the set and our incredibly talented director, Chad Stahelski, who just released Keanu for the day, said, “Keanu, hang on for a second, I think I want to start the fight.” And Keanu went, ‘Oh, okay. Which one?” [Chad] said, “the finale fight”. Keanu asked, “When?”, and Chad said, “now”. This was after Keanu had already been working nine or 10 hours. Keanu just calmly said, “Okay, give me a moment.” He walked to the corner of the stage, faced the corner and shouted out some expletives. And when he got that out of him, he turned around as calm as he could be, and said, “Okay, let's go.” And I just thought that was brilliant. That was brilliant. He worked more than anybody, and it was almost all nights, I think, for him. I had one day and everything else was night. He always was completely present. He always knew his moves and lines, was collaborative and kind. Nothing but good that I have experienced with Keanu.

‘Yo Hinomura/ Freeman’, Crying Freeman (1995)

Adaptation of the Japanese manga, with Dacascos as a tattoo-covered hitman who sheds a tear each time he kills someone. Yes, he's very sensitive. Dacascos and Crying Freeman's French director Christophe Gans got along so well that they reunited a few years later on 2000's French period actioner Brotherhood of the Wolf. (Photo: IMDB)

John Wick 3 was a blockbuster released in thousands of theatres around the world. But you were also in movies that weren’t seen by many. You said you were disappointed with Crying Freeman, not so much with the movie, but the way that it was distributed; the movie wasn’t shown in theatres in the US. Does that still piss you off? What are your memories working on that movie?

Well, you know, I met my wife [Julie Condra] on that. So that's a good memory. And I love what we turned out. I absolutely loved our cast and crew and, and you know, with Christophe, we've done two movies together, and hopefully we'll do one more before it's time to go. Was I pissed off? I don't know if I was pissed off as much as, because by then I'd already kind of understood the business part of it, and it had nothing to do with us. I could have been pissed off but instead, I was a little disappointed. Fortunately, it did well in the countries that it did get a theatrical release, in Europe, and some parts of Asia. We had great reviews and lots of fans like our work. So that made me happy.

Of course, you met your wife. That's the best thing.

Thank you. I appreciate that and I had three kids —  sons Makoa and Kapona, and daughter Noelani — from that, so there you go.

‘Toby Wong’, Drive (1997)

In this hidden gem, directed by make-up artist and creature designer Steve Wang (Predator), Dacascos plays a Hong Kong secret agent with a superpower-enhancing biodevice installed in his body. He plans to defect to the US and sell the device to the highest bidder. But the Chinese authorities (those commie clowns!) have something else in mind. With Kadeem Hardison and Brittany Murphy onboard as Toby’s unwilling road trip companions. The Hong Kong action cinema-inspired fights, choreographed by Koichi Sakamoto, still hold up. (Photo: IMDB)

Drive is another movie that suffered from poor distribution. To be honest, I didn’t know it existed until it came out on a UK specialty label in 2000. It has since become one of my favourite action flicks. It’s an indie movie ahead of its time — American-styled Hong Kong Action Cinema, predating Rush Hour and The Matrix. Clearly, this is an action film made by people who knew how to film and frame action. What do you think, in your book, defines a great action sequence?

I think everything you just said. You need people who know action in their bones. Between the cast, the crew, the director, and the choreographer, they were all at the top of their game and they supported each other and brought each other even higher. At the top, in terms of the artistry, [director] Steve Wang knew what he wanted; he has a flair and a certain sensibility, which I love — serious, but quirky. I love that. And he knows Hong Kong action, and we wanted to pay homage to the greats before us, from Jackie Chan to Bruce Lee to Jet Li.  We wanted to pay homage to Hong Kong action — made in America, inspired by Hong Kong and China.

You shot Drive in six weeks…

We had a heck of a time shooting it, in terms of fun, but also pain. Steve said, even before we started shooting, there will be pain (laughs). And every day I had bruises somewhere because we wanted to make contact, and as long as it wasn't knocking our teeth out, we went for it. We felt like we wanted to pay homage to Hong Kong action and do justice to it. (laughs).

'Eric Draven’, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (1998-1999)

This TV series remake of the 1994 Brandon Lee-starring movie with Dacascos as a murdered rock musician who is resurrected by a mystical spirit crow to seek vengeance on his killers. It lasted one season with 22 episodes aired. (Photo: IMDB)

In the recent Crow remake, starring Bill Skarsgård, you can catch a glimpse of a Crying Freeman poster on an apartment wall. Obviously, there’s an indirect reference to The Crow TV series you did. The 2024 reboot received a lot of flak before and after its release. What kind of push back did you face back in the day, considering Stairway to Heaven came out just four years after the original movie? 

I think we can all agree that Brandon was fantastic in that role. We can all agree that he’s the best Eric Draven. I agree with that. I loved him as that character, and the only reason we even did this series was because he was so good in the role that people love that story. The push back was nobody can be Brandon Lee. I don’t think that was a push back — that’s the truth (laughs). I mean it, seriously, in so many ways. One, nobody else can be Brandon Lee, and two, we’re all unique. Even if you mimic him, it’s still a mimicry of him. So whatever push back there was, I supposed it didn’t affect what I did because I knew Brandon as a great actor, and I also knew him as a person. We were friends when we were kids. I loved everything he did, and I have no problem with how the fans felt.

You were spared the toxic online feedback because there was no social media then.

‘Kong Pak’, Warrior (2023)

In third and final (oh, no!) season of the Max series — based on the writings of Bruce Lee — Dacascos plays a triad boss caught in the continuing feud between the Long Zii and Hop Wei tongs. Kong Pak is the mentor of Long Zii enforcer Li Yong (Joe Taslim), whom he believes is the rightful leader of the gang, not Mai Ling (Dianne Doan). Leadership issues aside, Kong Pak and Li Yong are determined to run rival Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji) into the ground (Photo: HBO Max)

If I draw a Bruce Lee Venn diagram linking The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, The Legend of Bruce Lee, the 2008 Hong Kong biopic series, and Warrior, you’ll be right smack in the middle. Did Warrior executive producer Shannon Lee share stories about her father that you’d never heard before? 

I’ve known Shannon since she was five; I’m four or five years older than her. In terms of stories, I haven’t heard any stories from her about her father that I hadn’t already read about or heard from her in interviews. I’m still a huge Bruce Lee fan. He’s still, in terms of movies, my favourite. I’m sure there are stories I haven’t heard of, but I read everything about him as much as I can.

Sandra Oh once said, while reminiscing her time filming Killing Eve and Grey’s Anatomy, she was used to being the only Asian on set. For you, what was it like to be on the Warrior set, or for that matter, The Mongol Khan, where you weren’t the only Asian on the call sheet?

It was fantastic to see the world open up. It’s fantastic to get to play on mainstream arenas. I think it’s so wonderful. What’s really great about The Mongol Khan, it’s an Asian story written by Asians and acted by Asians. But what's equally as wonderful is that this story is so solid, and the elements of this particular show is it's basically a sensory feast. You could put non-Asians in there, and the story still holds. And one could argue Genghis Khan had people from all over the place. He could have had a lot of different people in his court, and he did have lot of different ethnicities that they conquered and assimilated. So this is a Mongolian origin story, but it it's definitely for everyone, you know, on stage and off.

‘Mylock’, Knights of the Zodiac (2023)

Adaptation of the popular video game and manga about Seiya (Mackenyu, son of Japanese cinema legend Sonny Chiba), a young man who discovers that he is destined to protect Goddess of War Athena, now reborn in the body of a young girl (Madison Iseman). Dacascos plays Seiya’s mentor. Dacascos is no stranger to making movies based on video games: in 1994, he did Double Dragon alongside Scott Wolf, Alyssa Milano and Robert Patrick. (Photo: Sony Pictures)

Both Knights of the Zodiac and Double Dragon were based on video games. What key differences/similarities do these productions share? Looking back, Double Dragon is a goofy movie — you with Scott Wolf, Alyssa Milano and Robert Patrick!

Yes, Double Dragon! The technology has improved and progressed a lot in 30 years, so that’s the major difference with the production of Knights. We had some CGI on Double Dragon, but minimal compared to Knights. Double Dragon was filmed in Cleveland and LA,  whereas we worked on Knights in Budapest.
 

You played Mackenyu’s sifu in this video game adaptation. Did working with him bring back memories of your early days?

Yes, working with Mackenyu, I was reminded of my early days; especially of the time I was working on Double Dragon. Similar story of a young person evolving and finding himself, and my character in Double Dragon had a hairstyle similar to Mackenyu’s.

Who was your Mylock when you started out in showbiz?

I would say the same guy who is now at least, in addition to my parents — I look at Bruce Lee and I look at his writings, I watch his movies. Bruce was so much more than a fighter, and an actor, he was a philosopher, and, and he walked his talk. And that's what I like. I would say Bruce, still.

By the way, what are your children’s favourite Mark Dacascos movie or TV show?

I think of my projects, our three kids like John Wick 3 and Iron Chef America, but Makoa our eldest son, who was the only one able to come visit me here in Singapore, loved The Mongol Khan.

The Mongol Khan ends its run at Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands on Nov 3 (Sun). Tix available here. Show are staged in English (Nov 1, 8pm; Nov 2, 8pm; Nov 3, 6.30pm) and Mongolian (Nov 2, 2pm; Nov 3, 1pm), with English and Chinese subtitles provided for all sessions.

Main Photo: Base Entertainment; collage designed by Douglas Tseng