Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an
American martial artist,
action star and
television and
film actor who is known for action roles such as Cordell Walker on
Walker, Texas Ranger and for his iconically tough image and
roundhouse kick. As of recently, he is known for his political endorsement of
Mike Huckabee, and rumors of a
White House run in
2012.
Biography
Early life
Norris was born in
Ryan, Oklahoma, the son of Wilma (
née Scarberry) and Ray Norris, who was a
mechanic,
bus driver, and
truck driver.
Norris' paternal grandfather (an immigrant) and maternal grandmother were of
Irish descent, while his paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather were
Cherokee Native Americans.
Norris was named after Carlos Berry, his father's
minister.
He has two younger brothers, Wieland (deceased) and Aaron (a Hollywood producer). When Norris was sixteen, his parents divorced,
and he later relocated to
Prairie Village,
Kansas and then
Torrance,
California, with his mother and brothers.
Norris describes his childhood as downbeat. He was nonathletic, shy, and scholastically mediocre. Other children taunted him about his mixed ethnicity, and Norris daydreamed about beating up his tormentors. Norris mentioned in his
autobiography that his father had a very serious problem with drinking and "wasn't there" a lot for him growing up. Norris admitted that he loved his father but did not like him. However, he professed that he only felt pity for the man because "that was just how he was, and he missed so much."
