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Rayna Vallandingham Is Having a Moment: The Taekwondo Champion Behind Juli in ‘Street Fighter’

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Video game movies live or die on their fight scenes, and few franchises raise the bar as high as ‘Street Fighter’. When Legendary and Paramount set out to bring Capcom’s fighting series to the big screen, the studio leaned on real-life athletes for its ensemble, including wrestlers, a former UFC champion and a taekwondo prodigy. That approach is a big part of why one of the film’s newcomers has become a social media favorite.

Rayna Vallandingham, who plays Juli in the film, has kept a high profile since ‘Street Fighter’ opened on October 16. A new clip credited to her is circulating online and labeled a training session, though the context of the video has not been verified. It has added to the buzz around an actress who has quickly become one of the movie’s most talked-about names.

The attention is easy to understand once her background is on the table. Vallandingham is an American martial artist, actress and social media influencer, and she was revealed as part of the cast at The Game Awards on December 11, 2025. At 23, she is the youngest member of the film’s main cast.

Vallandingham has been training since she was 2 years old, when her parents enrolled her in martial arts classes. She earned her first black belt at 6, won her first world championship in taekwondo at 8 and had 13 world titles by the time she was 15. She was also reportedly the youngest black belt in her organization’s history to reach Master level.

Her acting career grew out of that foundation. She appeared in ‘Underdog Kids’ and later played Zara Malik in the final season of Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’, a role that drew on her martial arts skills. Her mother is of Indian origin and her father is of Dutch descent, and she has said she wants young girls to see someone who makes their ambitions feel possible.

In the video games, Juli is one of M. Bison’s assassins and a member of the Dolls, a brainwashed unit that includes her partner Juni. She first appeared in ‘Street Fighter Alpha 3’, and her look includes a blue military uniform, beret and yellow tie, which were carried over to the film. She is a separate character from Juri Han, who does not appear in the movie.

In the film, Juli wields a bo staff, a weapon Vallandingham has trained with extensively. She has said she took the staff she used to Australia to train. The role calls for authentic martial arts ability rather than choreography learned on set, which is exactly what the production wanted.

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A profile of her routine offers a look at how she prepares. She warms up on the heavy bag with jab-cross and hook combinations, then moves to kicks, finishing a set with a pyramid kick sequence that runs from 1 rep up to 5 and back down to 1. She then works with a training dummy and ends the session with weapons practice.

She has described her ambitions in big terms. In a training profile, she asked whether she could be the female Bruce Lee, calling that a driving force in her life and her North Star. She also called the journey from competition to acting and on-screen fighting one of the best of her life.

‘Street Fighter’, directed by Kitao Sakurai, is set in 1993 and follows Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) as Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament. The cast also includes David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Jason Momoa as Blanka, 50 Cent as Balrog and Roman Reigns as Akuma. The film opened with $31 million domestically and $51.1 million worldwide against an $82 million budget.

Critics and audiences have split on Rotten Tomatoes, which makes the cast’s personal profiles even more important for the campaign. For many viewers, seeing a real champion bring Juli to life is one of the movie’s biggest selling points. Vallandingham has also spoken about wanting to challenge stereotypical portrayals of Indian women on screen, noting that action-heavy roles like hers are rare for South Asian actresses.

If the response so far is any indication, her next move could be a bigger one. A martial artist turned screen fighter with a built-in following is a valuable asset for any franchise, and Vallandingham has made the most of her breakout. For now, fans are watching to see what she does next.

What are you most excited to see from Rayna Vallandingham as Juli in Street Fighter?

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