Forged

David No started in the film industry in 1993 while studying Physiotherapy at University. Although he completed his degree, his involvement in the industry never waned. His first attraction was acting, which he has studied for many years at various institutions including the esteemed NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts). Like most actors in Australia, he has had his fair share of guest and walk-on roles in various TV serials, but his niche was his physical ability.

No’s parents both taught martial arts – in fact, David’s father was responsible for establishing taekwondo in Australia as far back as 1965. This was naturally a big part of No’s childhood, and he would go on to represented Australia in Judo in 1992 and taekwondo in 1995. This martial arts ability has seen him work with some of the best in the field on project like: Jackie Chan’s Mr Nice Guy, the Mel Gibson / Jet Li produced Invincible; and The Matrix Reloaded and Enter the Matrix video game.

No (together with long-time collaborator Brent Houghton) started addressing Australia’s lack of Genre filmmaking under their own banner, Furious Films. In 2000, their efforts won them the annual pitching competition at SPAA (Screen Producers Association of Australia) which inturn sparked interest from some of Australia’s more prominent film and distribution companies. Their talents as genre screen writers were quickly commissioned by these companies, and they were launched at the Cannes Film Market.

As well as developing feature films, No started Line-producing for the Korean commercial Industry. Extraordinarily, No’s first commercial was a $4.5mil spot starring Jackie Chan. After this his demand as a facilitator of Korean projects escalated, and he has worked solidly with some of Korea’s top director’s and actor’s on films like Typhoon and Temptation of Wolves; tv drama such as I’m sorry I love you, Which Planet are you from? and Game Queen; and commercials such as the Anymotion & Anyclub campaigns starring Hyori Lee.

During this entire period, No has maintained and cultivated his skills as Actor, Producer, stuntman and Action Director – often fulfilling each of these roles in a single project. Finally in 2005, he decided that he wanted to go back to the story-telling, but this time as a Director. His 2006 film Forged is a culmination of all his various skills and exudes a particular style and perspective refreshing to the genre.