Honestly, if you grew up in the late nineties, Saturday nights usually meant one thing: flipping to TNT to see a dude in a straw hat kick people in the face. Mortal Kombat: Conquest was a wild ride. It was weird, it was low-budget, and it had a theme song that went way harder than it had any right to. But the show vanished after just one season on a cliffhanger that still haunts my dreams. Everyone died. Literally everyone.
But what about the people behind the masks? The Mortal Kombat Conquest actors didn't just disappear into the Netherrealm. Some of them actually used the show as a weird, martial-arts-heavy springboard into massive Hollywood careers. Others kind of moved into the "where are they now?" category of TV trivia.
The Great Kung Lao Himself: Paolo Montalbán
Paolo Montalbán was an interesting choice for Kung Lao. Most people knew him as the Prince from the 1997 Cinderella movie with Brandy and Whitney Houston. Going from singing about love to snapped necks in a desert was a huge pivot.
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He played the Great Kung Lao with a lot of heart. He wasn't just a fighter; he was a guy trying to build a life while being hunted by a shapeshifting sorcerer. Since the show ended, Paolo hasn't stopped. He’s been a staple on Broadway, which makes sense given that voice. You might have seen him in guest spots on Law & Order: SVU or Madam Secretary. He even reprised his role as King Christopher in Descendants: The Rise of Red recently. Talk about a full-circle moment.
The Muscle and the Thief: Daniel Bernhardt and Kristanna Loken
Then you had the "original" characters. Siro and Taja.
Daniel Bernhardt (Siro) was already an action veteran, having taken over the Bloodsport franchise from Jean-Claude Van Damme. The guy is a legitimate martial arts machine. After Conquest, his career didn't just continue; it exploded. If you've seen a major action movie in the last twenty years, you've seen Daniel. He was Agent Johnson in The Matrix Reloaded. He fought Keanu Reeves again in John Wick as Kirill. He’s become one of the most respected stunt coordinators and character actors in the business.
Then there’s Kristanna Loken. She played Taja, the street-smart thief.
She was young when she did the show, and it was clear she was headed for bigger things. A few years later, she was staring down Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-X in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. That’s a hell of a jump. She stayed in the genre for a while, starring in the BloodRayne movie and the Painkiller Jane series. She’s still acting today, recently appearing in the 2024 film Darkness of Man.
The Dual Threat: Jeffrey Meek
We have to talk about Jeffrey Meek. This man carried the show on his back.
He played both Raiden and Shao Kahn.
Think about that. He had to play the wise, slightly snarky protector of Earthrealm and the screaming, skull-masked tyrant of Outworld. He basically had to have chemistry with himself. Meek’s Raiden was way more "human" than the version we saw in the movies. He hung out in bars, wore a trench coat, and seemed genuinely stressed out by the gods' rules.
Meek is still very much in the industry. He teaches acting and has popped up in shows like The West Wing and Criminal Minds. He’s also a writer and producer. He’s one of those actors who brings a level of gravitas to everything, even when he's wearing a giant plastic chest plate.
The Villains and Guest Stars
The show was basically a rotating door for talent.
- Bruce Locke gave us a very different Shang Tsung. He was more like a frustrated middle-manager who kept getting yelled at by Shao Kahn. He’s since appeared in NCIS and The Man in the High Castle.
- Tracy Douglas played Vorpax. She was easily the most interesting villain because she was always plotting to backstab everyone. She did some more TV work after the show but eventually transitioned more into writing and producing.
- Adoni Maropis was the definitive Quan Chi for a lot of people. He later appeared in 24 as Abu Fayed.
The guest list for this show was actually insane. You had Jaime Pressly and Eva Mendes showing up before they were household names. It’s wild to go back and watch an episode and realize a future Oscar-level talent is playing a random assassin or a love interest in a loincloth.
Why the Show Actually Mattered
Look, Conquest was cheesy. The CGI looked like it was rendered on a calculator. But the fight choreography was legit. Christopher Leps, a stuntman on the show, once talked about how it was essentially a "training ground." They would film for 12 hours a day, just fighting.
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The actors weren't just reciting lines; they were doing the work.
The show was cancelled not because of bad ratings—it was actually doing great—but because of budget disputes between the production company and the studio. It’s a shame, because the "final" episode ended with Shao Kahn killing every single hero. We never got the redemption arc.
What to do next
If you're feeling nostalgic, here is how to dive back in:
- Check the Archives: Most episodes are floating around on YouTube or through various streaming services if you look hard enough. It's worth it just to see the choreography.
- Follow the Stunt Teams: If you like the action from Conquest, look up Daniel Bernhardt’s stunt work in the John Wick series. It’s the spiritual successor to that high-intensity training.
- Support the OGs: Many of these actors attend conventions. Jeffrey Meek and Paolo Montalbán are famously great with fans and have shared some incredible behind-the-scenes stories about the Florida heat and the literal blood, sweat, and tears that went into the production.
The show might be dead, but the impact those actors had on the Mortal Kombat mythos is still there. They gave us a version of the universe that was gritty, weird, and surprisingly human.
Next Steps: You can look up the "Mortal Kombat: Conquest" DVD sets which often include rare behind-the-scenes featurettes, or follow Paolo Montalbán on social media for updates on his latest stage performances.