Jalal Merhi
Biography
Canadian filmmaker and martial artist Jalal Merhi, born in Brazil in 1967, moved to Canada as a young man and studied film and business at Ryerson University and George Brown College. After competing on the tournament circuit from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s, he founded the production company Film One and made his first feature, Black Pearls, which fared poorly until Cineplex Odeon bought it in Canada; that connection helped him secure financing for Tiger Claws (1991), whose distribution through Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment and MCA/Universal Home Video brought a wider audience. Talons of the Eagle (1992) and TC 2000 (1993) followed with Billy Blanks as co-star, and Expect No Mercy (1995) was his biggest budget to that point. Later credits include the 2001 film The Circuit and its sequel, and the reality series Soccer Dreams in 2008. He entered the Canadian Black Belt Hall of Fame in 2019.
Movie Career
- Films
- 4
- Career span
- 4 years1991 to 1995
Every film, newest first
- 1995Expect No MercyIMDb rating 4.7
- 1993TC 2000IMDb rating 4.6
- 1992Talons of the EagleIMDb rating 5.0
- 1991Tiger ClawsIMDb rating 5.5
Genres
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Behind the camera
Merhi started his company Film One in 1988 or 1989, according to different sources. His first two films, including Black Pearls and Tiger Claws, were made without any provincial or national subsidies.
Behind the camera
After Tiger Claws was finished in 1991, Merhi bought the historic Donlands Theatre in East York outright and spent about CDN$2.5 million building his soundstage there. He owned the space for the next eleven years.
A first
Merhi made the 1997 film Crisis. It has been promoted as the first feature whose main shooting location was the city of Saskatoon.
Behind the camera
In 2008 Merhi made the series Soccer Dreams, in which young contestants competed for a place at the Everton F.C. academy. Fox Soccer Channel carried it in the U.S. and it aired internationally.
Jalal Merhi movies on Netflix
Most often with
Billy Blanks appears in three of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Billy Blanks's page
Bolo Yeung's page
Matthias Hues's page
Ho Chow's page
Harry Mok's page
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.