Goran Stjepanovic

Goran Stjepanovic was born in former Yugoslavia. His father is a PhD, scientist and university professor, his mother a health nurse, and older brother a professional musician.They each had significant influence into Goran's life. Since a young age, Goran showed great interest in sport, which his parents immediately recognized as a great choice for a proper upbringing, so they enrolled him in those activities. From the age of 7, he actively pursued sport: Tennis (1 year), Basketball (5 years), Chess (5 years), Olympic Weightlifting (5 years), Water polo (13 years) and Martial Arts (30 years). His talent came to the forefront in Volleyball, Handball, Soccer and Running.During his childhood in the city of Osijek, a healthy competition existed in all these sports. Athletes seriously devote themselves to practices, discipline, and skill development in order to reach the best results. Goran realized there is only one way to success, and that was to be extraordinary in his dedication. The strong will to become better allowed him to quick progress and earning respect in all sports he participated in. Because of that, he complemented martial arts with another team sports, showing results that were definitely noticed in the "sport world".Goran's enormous passion for martial arts brought some roughhousing times in his teenage years. As a way of proving himself and in order to build a reputation, he got into many street fights, all the while showing great results in school and an active athlete. He always said "Those were times of strong friendships, worry free living and happiness - it was perfect life".Although, that lifestyle was exciting, it was short lived. The city of Osijek became a war zone. Tough times came and everyone had to quickly find their own way. Friendships fell apart, life values changed, and the general view of life was different. Therefore, there wasn't much choice, changes were necessary and imminent. Although life habits were difficult to adjust, with the help of smart and successful people Goran surrounding himself with, he gained a new perspective on life, continued education and graduated university (Master Degree).His long term commitment to sport gave him the discipline and mental strength. In 1993 Goran opened his own school of martial arts which was active all the way to his ultimate move to North Americs in 2005. As an active competitor and coach of martial arts, he enrolled in Olympic weightlifting training for skill augmentation. Training every day, sometimes multiple times per day then competitions opened the doors to the National Kickboxing Team as a fighter. He was winner of National Kickboxing Championship (1997) and International Kickboxing Cup (1998). Three years later he was elected as a coach of CRO Kickboxing National Team (2000 - 2005). Together with the kick boxing team, Goran went to ten World and European Kickboxing Championship events (Portugal, France, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Montenegro, etc.). In 2002, he becomes a certified International Kickboxing Referee. Due to his painstaking dedication following his passion for Taekwondo he became a black belt (5th DAN) and a certified international instructor for military and police (CISM - Olympic Committee for Military and Police).In 2005, Goran decides on a new life challenge, moving to North America. In order to continue investing in himself and developing his skills, Goran takes advantage of his new location and enlists the help of some of the finest instructors in the world, located in Toronto, Miami and Los Angeles. He begins coaching the USA Taekwondo National Team and prepare them for the World Taekwondo Championship (Saint Petersburg - Russia).A few years later he joins the film industry as a stunt performer and actor playing in Pompeii, Nikita, Covert Affairs, Warehouse 13, Regression, Fifth Estate, Murdoch Mysteries, Gangland Undercover, Lost Girl etc. He's still an active trainer in a couple of schools, and after a long development effort, he perfected his training system which is consistently and effectively used with his students, actors and stunt performers.Goran relatives are Yugoslavian actresses Ljiljana Stjepanovic and Ksenija Repic. Show less «