Kazy Tauginas

Kazy Tauginas is an actor who had careers as a restaurateur and a Golden Gloves boxer. He grew up outside Chicago and played sports, settling on figure skating before discovering a boxing talent after college; he fought 13 amateur bouts. He attended the New York Film Academy, graduating from its Conservatory Acting for Film. On television he appeared in Blue Bloods and Sneaky Pete, with other credits including The Blacklist, Person of Interest, Blindspot, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Turn: Washington's Spies. His films include John Wick (2014), The Equalizer 2 (2018), Sollers Point (2017), Odd Man Rush (2020), Dolemite is My Name, Lola. Tauginas wrote several short films and starred in more than 20 of them. He wrote Standing Eight, a short about a boxer facing life after retirement, and in spring 2015 he oversaw two Kickstarter campaigns to fund it. The film won fifteen festival awards, including Best Short Film at the Trinity International Film Festival.