This article was actually written for the magazine several years before Black Belt put it on their site, originally appearing in the magazine quite a few years before they even launched a website.
Cynthia Rothrock: Best advice for beginners in the martial arts
She was a pretty big star in the martial arts world at the time of the interview and I remember her being friendly and very gracious with her time.
She was in, and continues to make, quite a lot of movies, many of which are action or martial/arts action flicks. They are usually fun B-grade movies but have a dedicated following, primarily among martial artists.
I think they key to interviewing for an article such as this is to allow the interview to be a conversation and allow it to progress naturally. Not so with Rothrock, but with other martial artists, this naturally flowing conversation led to admissions of disappointments with how attempts at television and movie careers turned out.
Not so with Rothrock. She had a lot of success in martial arts and movies, but seemed to understand her success wasn’t broad mainstream. Despite this, she seemed happy.
For a period of several years, I wrote a number of “celebrity pieces” for Black Belt and its sister publications. Most of these celebrity martial artists were very nice, but Rothrock stands out.
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