CLAIM TO FAME

Starred opposite Ryan Gosling as the ultimate bad cop in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Only God Forgives." Confirmed his acting chops in "The Last Executioner," for which he won the acting prize at June's Shanghai Film Festival.

LATE STARTER

The 55-year-old Pansringarm studied and worked for more than a decade in the U.S., helping with his wife's New York dance studio and teaching martial arts before moving back to Bangkok in 1987. He says he owes his film career to cinematographer Wade Muller ("Elephant White"), who met him at a party and cast him in a short, before giving him his first feature role in 2010, as the king in Millennium Films' "Prince" series. The following year, Pansringarm was in French actioner "Largo Winch: The Burma Conspiracy" and appeared as the priest in "Hangover II."

MARTIAL LAW

"Maybe I have a Western style of acting, but it comes with an Eastern mix," Pansringarm says. …