Jeeja Yanin’s graceful, acrobatic but realistic fights
have seen her crowned the queen of Thai action films.
And it probably won’t be long until she joins the ranks of
the few internationally famous female action stars like
Michelle Yeoh.
Few know that this 24-year-old woman had a formal
training in ballet. As a young child, Jeeja was meek and
sickly. She was frequently chosen as the “pretty face” to
represent her school because of her lovely looks. The
turning point came in middle school when she decided to
learn taekwondo to overcome her poor health. Jeeja
stopped being just a pretty face and started “tough”
activities like volleyball and athletics. It only took a few
years for her to become a taekwondo instructor - at just
14 years old. Her combined skills of ballet and taekwondo
helped her win an award for choreography at the
1999 Thailand Taekwondo Championship.“I like taekwondo.
It makes me feel free - free to run around, free to
move. Most importantly, it makes me feel that women are
just as capable as men”, she says.
Her career as an instructor took a different path when
she auditioned for Panna Rittikrai’s action film Born To
Fight(2004). She was chosen for a role but on the first
day of filming she was told that she would no longer be
in the movie. “I was very disappointed. But later I found
out that Panna saw something in me. He made a demo
tape of me and talked with Prachya Pinkaew (director of
Ong Bak and Tom-Yum-Goong) and Somsak
Techarattanaprasert (executive director and founder of
film studio Sahamongkol Film) to have me star as leading
actress for another movie. And so the Chocolate
(2008) project was born”.
In Chocolate, Jeeja plays an autistic kid with fighting talent
who mimics Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Tony Jaa.
Even though she had a Taekwondo background, she still
had to undergo four years of training in Muay Thai and
gymnastics. “I had to assume the characteristics of popular
action heroes. For example, I watched Bruce Lee
movies all day to prepare for the ice factory scene (which
was a tribute to the Bruce Lee film The Big Boss)”, she
says. “I tried to incorporate a gracefulness into Muay
Thai, Samurai sword fighting, and gymnastics. Female
action stars are distinguished by their acrobatics and
delicateness”.
Her action hero is none other than Tony Jaa. She
admires him for his perseverance and dedication: “He
came to see me sometimes, and taught me martial arts
tricks. He is very friendly”.
For a petite girl like Jeeja, eliminating the fear of risky
stunt work is not easy. “I had to perform at the height of
50 feet without safety equipment and minimal standing
space. It was scary. But I had to endure it. I had to get
used to it”.
Having overcoming her fears, Jeeja is shooting a new
film (currently known only as Jeeja’s Project). Rashan
Limtrakul will direct the film. He worked at Thai music
studio RS Promotion before joining Prachya Pinkaew’s
Baa-Ram-Ewe production house to edit Chocolate and
direct the Kisssegment in the 4 Romances(2008) collection
of short films.
Roger Garcia