Joey Ansah

Early life

Joey Ansah was born in London, England, of mixed ethnicity, the second son of celebrated Ghanaian fashion designer Kofi Ansah and his Devon-born wife Nicola. His brother is musician Ryan Ansah, and film director, Kwaw Ansah is his uncle.

Ansah lived in London for the first 10 years of his life before emigrating with his family to Ghana. While in Ghana, he studied the martial art of Taekwondo for four years and took up hip-hop dance and motorbike racing. At 15 he returned to England, settling with his mother and young sister in Plymouth. While studying for his GCSEs and A-levels at Devonport High School for Boys, he began training in the martial art of Ninpo Taijutsu. This would include a period of training with Bujinkan Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi. Later, while studying for his degree in Human Biology at Oxford Brookes University, he began training in the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira. He also worked as a model and extra at this time.

Career

His first important role as an actor was in the UK indie film Love Struck (2005). Notable appearances on British TV followed in episodes of BBC productions Spooks (2005) and Timewatch (2006).

Ansah went on to play a minor role as one of the Shadow Warriors in Batman Begins (2005). However, his most noteworthy role to date came in 2007, when he appeared in The Bourne Ultimatum as Desh Bouksani, an assassin tracking down Jason Bourne. Ansah's performance was notable for an extended set-piece fight scene between himself and Matt Damon, regarded by one reviewer as one of the best ever filmed, in which Ansah performed all of his own stunts. In 2008 he was nominated for an MTV Film Award in the "Best Fight" category.

Ansah has also acted in British independent martial arts films, such as Left for Dead and Underground.

Ansah choreographed, co-wrote and directed the short film Street Fighter: Legacy. A self-proclaimed fan of the video game series, Ansah wanted the short to be the most accurate depiction of the series, different from the two theatrically released films. He and collaborator Christian Howard whom he worked with on SFL, worked on the live-action Street Fighter series Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist and they are developing a second season titled Street Fighter: World Warrior and Street Fighter: Resurrection.