You’ve probably seen the memes. Raul Julia, thin and pale but radiating pure, unadulterated menace, tells Ming-Na Wen that the day he burned her village was the most important day of her life. Then comes the kicker: "But for me, it was Tuesday."
It is one of the greatest lines in cinema history. It also happens to be in a movie where Jean-Claude Van Damme plays an American Colonel with a thick Belgian accent and a tattoo of the American flag on his arm.
Honestly, the street fighter movie cast has always been a bit of a chaotic fever dream. Since the first live-action attempt in 1994, Hollywood has been trying to figure out how to take a bunch of colorful pixels and turn them into believable human beings. Sometimes they hit a home run (Raul Julia), and sometimes they strike out so hard they fall over (sorry, Chris Klein).
With a brand-new 2026 reboot on the horizon directed by Kitao Sakurai, everyone is looking at the roster again. Can a professional wrestler really play Guile? Is Noah Centineo actually Ken? Let's get into the weird, messy history of these casting choices.
The 1994 Chaos: Muscles, Cocaine, and a Legend’s Last Stand
The 1994 Street Fighter movie shouldn't work. By most objective standards of filmmaking, it doesn't. But the cast is so fascinatingly bizarre that you can't look away.
Jean-Claude Van Damme was the biggest action star on the planet when he was cast as Colonel Guile. He was also, as director Steven de Souza famously revealed years later, "coked out of his mind" during production. The studio reportedly spent a massive chunk of the budget just to get him, leaving almost nothing for fight training for the rest of the actors. Van Damme would show up late, skip days to "pump his muscles," and apparently had an affair with Kylie Minogue (who played Cammy) while filming in Thailand.
It was a mess. A beautiful, $10,000-a-week-in-cocaine mess.
Then there’s Raul Julia. If you want to talk about "human-quality" acting in a goofy movie, this is it. Julia was dying of stomach cancer during the shoot. He took the role of M. Bison because his kids loved the game and he wanted to make something they could watch. Despite being frail and in pain, he gave a performance so theatrical and committed that it single-handedly saved the movie from obscurity.
He didn't just play a villain; he played a Shakespearean dictator who happened to wear red spandex.
- Jean-Claude Van Damme (Guile): Peak 90s action ego.
- Raul Julia (M. Bison): A masterclass in "chewing the scenery."
- Ming-Na Wen (Chun-Li): One of the few who actually looked like they could fight.
- Byron Mann (Ryu) & Damian Chapa (Ken): Mostly relegated to being sidekick con-men.
The 2009 Identity Crisis: The Legend of Chun-Li
Fast forward to 2009. We got Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. If the 1994 film was a vibrant cartoon, this was a drab, joyless police procedural that felt like it was filmed in a parking garage.
✨ Don't miss: Don't Mess with the Zohan: Why Adam Sandler’s Absurd Hairdresser Movie Still Hits Different
Kristin Kreuk, fresh off Smallville, played Chun-Li. She’s a great actress, but the script gave her almost nothing to do except look sad and do some mediocre wire-work. The real "what were they thinking?" moment came with the rest of the street fighter movie cast. Neal McDonough played M. Bison as a corporate businessman in a suit. Michael Clarke Duncan was Balrog, which sounds good on paper, but he was given zero personality.
And then there’s Chris Klein as Charlie Nash.
If you haven't seen his performance, it’s hard to describe. He plays a hardened Interpol agent like he’s in a high school play trying to sound "tough." It’s become a cult favorite for all the wrong reasons. The movie tried to be grounded and realistic, but nobody wants a "grounded" version of a guy who shoots blue fire out of his hands.
The 2026 Reboot: Can Wrestlers and YouTubers Save Shadaloo?
We are currently looking at the most ambitious—and weirdest—street fighter movie cast yet. The 2026 film is leaning hard into the "spectacle" side of things.
The casting of Cody Rhodes as Guile is actually sort of brilliant. Guile is a character defined by his hair and his "all-American" bravado. Who better to play that than a literal WWE superstar who has spent his life performing for arenas? He’s already been teasing the flat-top hair on social media.
But the real wildcards are everywhere else. You've got Andrew Koji as Ryu, which is a massive win because the guy can actually fight (see: Warrior). Then you have Noah Centineo as Ken. A lot of fans were skeptical—he’s the "Netflix rom-com guy"—but he’s bulked up significantly, calling himself a "road brawler" in recent gym selfies.
The New Roster (So Far)
- Andrew Koji (Ryu): Finally, a Ryu who looks like he’s stepped out of a dojo.
- Cody Rhodes (Guile): The American Nightmare meets the Sonic Boom.
- Callina Liang (Chun-Li): The "First Lady of Fighting Games" gets a fresh start.
- David Dastmalchian (M. Bison): A pivot from the muscle-bound Bison to something potentially much creepier.
- Jason Momoa (Blanka/Producer): He’s apparently playing the green beast, which... yeah, that fits.
- Roman Reigns (Akuma): The "Tribal Chief" playing the ultimate demon of the franchise is a match made in heaven.
Why Casting This Game Is a Nightmare
The problem with a street fighter movie cast is that the characters are silhouettes. They aren't "real" people; they are icons.
📖 Related: Linda Ronstadt with Aaron Neville: The Story Behind the Music’s Most Unlikely Match
In the game, Zangief is a 7-foot-tall Russian who wrestles bears. E. Honda is a thousand-pound sumo wrestler. How do you cast that without it looking like a Halloween party? 1994 went full "G.I. Joe" camp. 2009 tried to make them "gritty" and failed.
The 2026 film seems to be trying a third way: the "MCU" approach. They are casting people with specific physicalities (wrestlers, martial artists) and mixing them with character actors (Dastmalchian, Goggins). They’re also reportedly setting it in 1993, which is a smart move. It leans into the nostalgia of the arcade era rather than trying to make Street Fighter "modern."
What We Learned from Decades of Bad Movies
If you're following the development of the new film, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, don't judge a cast by their previous roles. Everyone laughed when the guy from 10 Things I Hate About You was cast as the Joker. Second, fighting matters. If the actors can't move, the movie is dead on arrival.
The inclusion of people like Alexander Volkanovski (UFC) and Rayna Vallandingham (martial arts influencer) suggests that the choreography will be a priority this time. That was the biggest sin of the previous films—the fights were boring.
Practical Next Steps for Fans:
- Watch the 1994 movie again: Not as a "good" film, but as a time capsule. Look at how Raul Julia commands the screen compared to everyone else.
- Follow the 2026 production: Check out Cody Rhodes' and Noah Centineo's training updates. The physical transformation is usually the first sign of how serious a production is.
- Lower your "realism" expectations: This is a franchise about people who jump ten feet in the air. If the cast looks a little "costumy," that’s probably a good thing.
Street Fighter works best when it’s loud, colorful, and just a little bit ridiculous. We don't need a deep psychological study of Ken Masters. We just need a guy who looks good in a red gi and can land a convincing Shoryuken.