Chris Evangelou: After a bad hand injury I was forced to take a long time out of boxing. I found myself going back to my first love of acting. I quickly started to book roles and landed an agent. I realised that this was still a passion of mine and decided this is what I want to do.

Budomate: What titles and ranks did you achieve in your boxing career, and how did it all start?

Chris Evangelou:

• X6 international Gold Medals
• 2006ABAs
• Professional International welter-weight masters title

I had n argument outside my college. I wasn’t was confident as I would have liked to be so I decided to start boxing to gain confidence. That’s really how it all started.

Budomate: Which boxing legends have you met throughout your travels, and who’s your idol?

Chris Evangelou: Mike Tyson was always a boxing idol of mine, I did get to meet him in Vegas when I was training at The Mayweather camp. That same week I got to meet Mayweather too. I’m friends with Freddie Roach, as I trained with him and Jesse Reid Sr just before I turned pro.

Budomate: Shifting to your film career, how did you land your first acting role?

Chris Evangelou: I joined websites that posted acting roles, which I could apply for without an agent. My first big role was a Samsung commercial. It’s very hard at the start of acting career, but you have to keep persistent and not lose hope.

Budomate: You played a boxer Primetime in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen. What was it like working with a legend like Guy Ritchie?

Chris Evangelou: It was one of the best experiences of my life. Working with one of my favourite directors felt like a dream. As Lock stock and Snatch are two of my favourite films, it was a honour to be a part of Guy Ritchie’s collection of gangster films. Loved playing Primetime!

Budomate: Could you tell us about Shadow Boxer, the short film you wrote and produced? What’s the story behind it, and why should people watch it?

Chris Evangelou: Shadow Boxer was a story that I wrote, which was inspired by my experiences in my career and life. It was a way of me showing the world that a boxer, whose tough, durable, strong and disciplined can still suffer with mental health problems and anxiety. It’s a great one shot film that I think people would understand and some might reside with.

Budomate: In 2020, you worked on the TV show Devils for Sky Originals. Can you tell us a bit about that experience?

Chris Evangelou: I played a Hitman on Devils, it was a great experience to be on a show like that. It was fast paced and I had to run a lot!

Budomate: You also appeared on BBC’s EastEnders—can you share more about your role there?

Chris Evangelou: I played a boxer called Troy, I actually really enjoyed playing this role. I would have loved to have seen more of Troy in Eastenders, maybe that will happen one day. Working on such an iconic soap was a great experience, especially speaking with actors that Ive watched growing up.

Budomate: Recently, you played Harry Felix in the TV series La Máquina. Can you talk about that character and the show?

Chris Evangelou: I play the world champion boxer from London, Harry Felix. What an experience that was. 2 months of my life in Mexico, dedicated to the show. I prepared as if I was in a training camp, it was very intense. Attending the Hollywood and Mexican Premieres was really aa dream come true.

Budomate: If you could star in a remake of any famous martial arts film, which one would you choose?

Chris Evangelou: One of my favourite martial art films growing up is The Drunken Master with Jackie Chan. Id definitely love to remake that.

Budomate: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

Chris Evangelou: I train a lot, almost everyday. I love going out to eat but my favourite thing to do to relax is go to the cinema. I can just switch off for a couple hours.

Budomate: And finally, what are three recent movies you’d recommend people to watch?

Chris Evangelou: ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, ‘A quiet place 3’, but the first one is the best. My last one isn’t too recent but ‘Upgrade’ is a really good film with a great story.

The action-packed Western is directed by Joe Cornet (A Prayer for the Damned). Script is written by Craig Hamann (Showdown in Manila).

International action star and three-time Mr. Universe Alexander Nevsky (Gunfight at Rio Bravo) and Sumo Champions Hiroki Sumi (John Wick: Chapter 4) and Ichi (Ballerina) are starring in THE WIDE WEST. Nick Baillie (Malicious), Tatiana Neva (Prey of Wrath), Kaz Kobayashi (Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai) and Joe Cornet are co-starring.

Storyline: 1907. The first-ever sumo delegation from Japan, led by Sumo Legends, travels through the United States to Washington D.C. to meet with President Theodore Roosevelt. When the train is stopped for track repairs, they have to stop in a dangerous Western town, where trouble awaits.

Sumo expert Andrew Freund created the story (based on actual 1907 events) and produced the film alongside Nevsky. Nick Baillie and Bryan Boches served as co-producers. Eric Brenner (Crazy Heart) executive produced through his ETA Films production shingle.

THE WIDE WEST is currently in post-production and will be released internationally in 2025.

Synopsis: Black Creek is a dark, gritty, dystopian, western action martial arts drama featuring a strong ‘no-holds-barred’ female protagonist portrayed by action film star Cynthia Rothrock. The plot centers around a sheriff’s sister who seeks revenge against the terrifying leader of a group of outlaws after discovering he brutally murdered her brother, his wife, and other family members in a gritty southwestern town.

Action choreography has done by Mike Moller. The movie features an ensemble cast of cult stars including Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Richard Norton, Billy Blanks, Olivier Gruner, Keith Cooke, Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, and Keith Vitali 

Watch the trailer below.

Synopsis: When a terrorist group led by the villainous Jacob Pearce attacks a high-profile event, with the French Minister of Defence as their target, protection officer Vincent Taleb finds himself working with street-smart MI6 operative Zara Taylor to save the day. But when events take a dark turn, Vincent and Zara soon realize that the plan extends beyond just one politician. When they suspect that one of their colleagues in the security services is feeding information to Jacob, Vincent and Zara find themselves needing to rely only on each other. Increasingly isolated and with Jacob always one step ahead, can this unlikely pair stop Paris from falling to a man hell-bent on vengeance?

Watch the trailer below.

Synopsis: In this action-packed thriller from a producer of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and starring Mark Strange, world champion martial artist Caitlin Dechelle, and three-time Wushu/Kung Fu world champion Jade Xu, a group of renowned but notorious fighters find themselves ensnared in a deadly martial arts game show orchestrated by a powerful magnate with a thirst for violence. Armed only with their elite hand-to-hand combat skills, each battle pits the contestants in a brutal broadcasted fight for survival, where advancing means eliminating the competition in a kill or be killed showdown. 

Watch the trailer below.

Synopsis: In this action-packed thriller from a producer of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Caity Lotz and Leo Howard star as siblings Charlie and Jack, who are trapped in Myanmar’s toughest prison and accused of a crime they didn’t commit. Forced into televised fights where inmates battle for the chance to escape death row, they face off against the deadliest opponents where each match could be their last. Charlie and Jack must work together, their bond tested in a high-stakes game where only the strongest can win their way out.

Watch the trailer below.

Synopsis: Frank Grillo, Robert Patrick and Rhona Mitra star in Hounds of War about the best military mercenaries money can buy. Known as ‘The Hounds’, they are sent on a final mission by their creator: a carefully planned trap set up to destroy them.

Watch the trailer below.

Synopsis: Evans plays John Lawlor, a DEA agent who only lives for his job. He pulls out all the stops to capture bad guys, but there may be a reason why he buried himself in work – 15 years before, he fell in love with a woman who was forced to break apart from him due to some pretty dark crime and corruption-related events. Now, however, John is reunited with Joey Kang as they meet by chance during a job in Taipei, where he also meets her son.

Watch the trailer below.

When top hitman Joe Flood is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he decides to take matters into his own hands – by taking a hit out on himself. But when the very hitmen he hired also target his ex-girlfriend, he must fend off an army of assassin colleagues and win back the love of his life before it’s too late.

Watch the trailer below.

In this high-stakes suspense thriller, Academy Award nominee Mark Wahlberg plays a pilot transporting an Air Marshal accompanying a fugitive to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem. 

Watch the trailer below.