Few actors can boast they’ve worked for both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Fast franchise, but Andrew Koji balances between two worlds. Zooming in from London, the 35-year-old Englishman, with a healthy playoff beard and Buddhist prayer beads looped around his wrist, describes a remarkably varied career. A classically trained martial artist, his taekwondo and kung fu background made stunt work straightforward. But by his mid-20s, searching for more, he’d abandoned action, instead half-starving as a British stage actor (and booking the odd TV gig). The big break came when Koji auditioned for and landed the lead in Warrior, which combined his pedigree for punching dudes in the face with the lean acting chops. With season three’s debut on Max on June 29, he’s grown comfortable with the contrasts.

While the theater may be a workout for the acting chops, it did little for Koji’s body, and as he tells GQ, it took an overhaul of his entire lifestyle, from diet to workouts, to get into shape. He added high-intensity interval training. He cut sugar. And after weighing whether to give the whole acting thing up, he’s found both a robust role and a vision for the future of action movies.

For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you. 

GQ: Your mother is English and your father is Japanese. So, growing up, which culture’s food did you favor?

Andrew Koji: I grew up with my mum, so I grew up eating English food. My dad I’d see every now and again. On the weekends, we’d have fish and chips, and occasionally Indian food and Chinese. I wasn’t exposed to Japanese food that much until I went to Japan later in my life. 

Health food is actually quite new for me. When I went out for Warrior, season one, being in South Africa, they’ve got a huge health food culture there, and that was completely foreign to me.

You were training in martial arts at a young age, though. Were food and diet not part of that culture?

I remember when I went to Thailand—I was 19, 20, 21—and I was training with high-level people. Some of the guys, they were going to McDonald’s all the time, drinking sugary drinks. Even back then, it wasn’t that healthy. I think that they thought if you’re training hard enough, when you’re that young, you can get away with just enjoying life.

What got you into martial arts?

I really liked the kicks of taekwondo because of Hwoarang from Tekken—he was my favorite character. But I had a huge injury—I tore my ass in half, my gluteus maximus, minimus, and my hamstring. For six months I couldn’t walk, and then for two years I had to go through physiotherapy. That’s when I found kung fu. It was gentler on the kicks, more circular.

So if it wasn’t martial arts that made you change your diet, what was it?

It was literally season one of Warrior. I was in a dark place in my life before getting cast. My only goal was to survive as an actor, and I was barely surviving. I was in the red all the time, and I was drinking, partying, eating terribly. I wasn’t taking care of myself. But when Warrior came about, that’s when I was, like, “If I’m doing this, I’ve got to commit for the character.” I just went full-on with the training and studied more scientifically, rather than pure grit.

What were the first changes you made?

I’d always had a rough gym routine two, three times a week. I upped that to five times a week, and I upped cardio. I was training martial arts at the same time. I found some great trainers here, and they gave me a rough diet plan, just cutting all the bad stuff out first. It was a bit of a shock to the system, when you do that. I was training inconsistently for six months, but then I ramped it up three months before. I think if you want to get in shape-shape, from a normal, sedentary lifestyle, you need at least three months, six months preferable. So season one was me just figuring it all out, as much as I could. Season two, I was a bit more ripped, more to what I wanted [Warrior main character] Ah Sahm to be.

What was the most challenging thing you had to cut out of your former life?

The most challenging thing to cut was sugar. And taking out all the sauces—I like dipping sauces, and those calories add up. It’s going to suck for a bit, but after the first couple of weeks, a month, something switches, and I no longer crave it.

What are staples of diet currently?

Whole-wheat pasta. I can take or leave pretty much every other carb. But if I’m trying to cut, then it will just be vegetables and a little bit of brown rice. And it’s chicken or salmon, and maybe once a week I’ll have a steak. I can basically eat that on repeat and have an occasional cheat meal, and I think I’ll be happy.

Some actors just have to be jacked. But with your role and the fight choreography, you have to have mobility and athleticism. How do those balance in your training?

Yeah, if you look at all these UFC guys, some of them aren’t that ripped. Their focus is function.

HIIT’s a big part of the training, and functional exercises like ropes or bodyweight stuff. I tried [dehydration] for one time on Warrior—I can’t do it, because we’re actually doing eight to 10 hours of filming, take after take after take. I need water. It’s a very hard line to follow, because a lot of actors may have the physique, but they get their double to do [the stunts].

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Warrior came from a concept and treatment from Bruce Lee. It’s kind of fitting that you, a martial artist, would move into acting and land this role. What inspiration did you draw from Lee’s life?

I think I’ll always be connected to him. I’ve read all his books. For me, it was the idea of self-cultivation. You see him on screen, and he’s a guy with a searing presence. But then to know the man behind, what it took for him to get there, more three-dimensional than the characters he played, he was years ahead of his time. Sometimes technology can make us not think for ourselves, but he thought for himself. He always said to use what is useful, discard what is not, and add what is your own. And that’s a big thing for any journey, if it’s fitness, spiritual, or whatever. I’ll take that with me.

Few have worked in Fast franchise as well as performed Shakespeare. How did you end up with this career?

During my 20s, if I hadn’t gone into the craft of acting, I think I wouldn’t have acquired the tools to be part of a quality production. I love independent films, films with a different take, a different voice. I’m not much of a commercial, mainstream guy. I’ve lost a lot of respect for Hollywood, to be honest.

What, you don’t want to be in a Marvel movie?

Fuck it, they haven’t hired me yet! [Laughs.] I saw Guardians 3 [Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3], and I thought it was really well done. But I really want to do is something else. I think we haven’t had someone who can do both for action and acting for while. Imagine Korean cinema—Oldboy or The Man from Nowhere: action, but there’s also good character work and story.

So with three seasons of such a muscular role under your belt, how do you understand the interplay of diet and exercise now?

I’ve tried a few different things over the seasons, and intermittent fasting works for me. I’ll normally start eating around 3 or 4, and then I’ll stop after dinnertime. And I’ll always train fasted, because I feel lighter. But there’s line, where you’ve fasted too long, and you just haven’t got the energy to push through. I’m trying to get more sensitive to feeling that out. At first you count the calories, but I think it’s more just knowing the fundamentals of what’s bad for you, what’s good for you.

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