She was born on November 6, 1966, and from the moment she walked into a dojo, Christine Bannon-Rodrigues understood something most people never learn: power doesn’t come from size, or swagger, or intimidation. It comes from discipline. From repetition. From refusing to quit when your lungs scream and your muscles burn. She took that truth and built a career out of it—fighter, champion, stunt performer, teacher, choreographer, and one of the most decorated martial artists of her era.
She trained under Don Rodrigues—one of the greats—and eventually married the man, matching his intensity with her own. Together they built a legacy. Together they raised the bar for martial arts in America. And Christine didn’t just learn the art. She devoured it. She became a 9th degree black belt, a rank that takes decades of sweat and precision to earn. She was a point fighter, a semi-contact kickboxer, a weapons master, a forms champion—the rare kind of martial artist who excelled in every arena, who could outfight, outshine, and outlast nearly anyone who stood in front of her.
By 1989, the world had taken notice. Black Belt Magazine named her Female Competitor of the Year—a title given only to warriors who make the sport bend around them. But Christine wasn’t done. Not even close.
The World Association of Kickboxing Organizations—W.A.K.O.—is where the legends battle. Christine racked up nineworld championships. Nine. Most fighters never get close to one. She won three consecutive world titles at the W.A.K.O. Games. She earned medals in semi-contact kickboxing, musical forms, soft-style weapons, lightweight fighting—switching disciplines the way other athletes switch water bottles.
1990: Bronze in semi-contact kickboxing, gold in musical forms.
1991: Triple gold—semi-contact kickboxing, soft styles, weapons.
1993: Another triple gold—again dominating every division she touched.
1995: W.A.K.O. Pro World Champion, lightweight division.
1999: Again, W.A.K.O. Lightweight World Champion.
She didn’t just win. She redefined what winning looked like.
Hollywood, of course, came calling. Because when directors need someone to do the things their stars physically can’t—or absolutely shouldn’t—they call martial artists like Christine. She doubled Hilary Swank in The Next Karate Kid. She doubled Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl in Batman & Robin, the kind of stunt job that requires fearlessness and iron precision. She worked stunts on Underdog. She appeared in sci-fi films like Sci-Fighter and mainstream hits like 27 Dresses,because she could slip into any blend of physical role and make it look easy.
Television grabbed her too. She became Lady Lightning on WMAC Masters, turning martial arts into a kind of live-action mythology. She worked on Mortal Kombat: Conquest, doubling Kitana—because of course she did. No one else could wield that combination of grace and danger.
By 2012 she was choreographing full-scale martial arts sequences for films like Champions of the Deep. Her career kept expanding—like a fighter who refuses to stay in a single weight class.
In 2025 she was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame—an honor that isn’t handed out lightly, reserved for the few whose careers alter the landscape itself.
She teaches now at Don Rodrigues Karate Academy, where she is co-owner. But she doesn’t just instruct. She shapes fighters. She creates champions. She stands at the center of a lineage that spans decades of bruised knuckles, snapped kicks, and steel-sharp discipline.
Christine Bannon-Rodrigues is more than a martial artist.
More than a stunt performer.
More than a champion.
She is a force.
A blueprint for excellence.
A reminder that the body, when trained ruthlessly and loved fiercely, becomes its own kind of weapon—and its own kind of truth.
