The principal actor, Uwais, was born in Jakarta on February 12th, 1983. Iko was introduced to pencak silat through his uncle, the master of the Tiga Berantai Silat School (a Jakarta/Betawi style silat). Iko took an immediate interest, starting pencak silat when he was 5 years old and continuing to practice until he became a professional athlete. In 2003, he came in 3rd place among pencak silat schools within Jakarta. Two years later, in 2005, he was rated the Best Single Performer at Pencak Silat Festival. After, he travelled from Indonesia to the UK, Russia and Aljerbaizan (as a member of the silat team) to introduce martial arts. In 2007 and 2008 he continued travelling, reaching Cambodia and France.
In 2007, Iko met Gareth through a documentary film that Gareth and Maya were working on at the time—Gareth was shooting the documentary film in Iko’s silat school. In 2008, after getting to know Iko better, they met up again to discuss Iko starring in Evans’ first feature debut, MERANTAU—a drama/action movie featuring West Sumartra’s distinct pencak silat style “silat harimau” (Tiger style silat). It was not only Iko’s debut in a feature movie as an actor, but as a member of the choreography team. After the movie’s successful local theatrical release in 2009, Iko became Merantau Films’ in-house choreographer and talent. He continued to work at the company to develop the company’s productions, including the very recent feature THE RAID 2: BERANDAL.