When you're a young boy, it seems totally plausible -- obvious, even -- that a well-trained little kid could regularly beat up whole gangs of adults at a time (see for example: Robin). Enter Ernie Reyes, Jr. -- he's just like Ernie Reyes, Sr., but all over again! Steeped in Muay Thai Kickboxing from an early age, Ernie first broke onto the scene in the 1986 Disney Chanel classic, "The Last Electric Knight." This was a one hour precursor to the series "Sidekicks," in which Ernie plays a young boy who, upon the death of his parents, is brought into the foster care of the next best guardian (?) -- police detective Jake Rizzo. Kind of like "Webster" with more ass-kicking, the plot was always pretty straightforward: Father and son are on some innocuous errand, they witness a crime, tiny little doll-faced Ernie is told to wait in the car, Rizzo gets himself into hot water, Ernie sneaks to his dad's aid and (with strangely emphatic karate yells) jump-kicks two or three armed henchmen into submission. Rizzo gently chastises Ernie for putting himself in danger, and although Ernie swears he won't do it again, the playful twinkle in his eye promises otherwise. Roll credits.

Although "Sidekicks" was his early masterpiece, most people were introduced to Reyes in his break-out role of Keno, the pizza delivery guy, in the delightful "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze." This movie, if you haven't seen it, is BADASS and features a hit soundtrack including Vanilla Ice's "Ninja Rap." Although since the early 90s Ernie Reyes Jr. has faded back to cheesy obscurity, I submit that history will rediscover him as one of the best martial arts actors of our time. He may not be as famous as Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, or Eric Roberts, but little Ernie is a big reason why I'm the ninja I am today. Aaaayaaaa!!!