Kely McClung was born in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky and grew up in Sarasota, Florida and near Cincinnati, Ohio. His love of martial arts began at an extremely early age and he was able to train under Dr. Fred Wu, Paul Keller, Dave Shifley, Steve Buckner, and many others. He avidly pursued art, specializing in pen and ink, and drew the portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi that hangs at the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Change in Atlanta, Georgia. Kely taught and operated martial arts schools in Ohio, Georgia, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpor and worked with police agencies and military personnel throughout the world. Though most of his studies were in traditional kung fu, Kely was introduced to the Filipino art of Kali by Dan Inosanto, then won the middleweight division of the International Full Contact Stick Fighting Championships. Discovered by Mike Stone, Kely was originally brought to LA to replace Jean-Claude Van Damme. Though that contract fell through, Kely was signed by Mike and then spent time in Africa and the Philippines working on films and learning how to apply his martial arts techniques to the screen. Kely has completed 23 screenplays, and was signed to a multi picture deal to star and write for Menahem Golan, working under the direction of BJ Davis. Kely was later Head of Production for Pan Am Pictures and helped to complete four films for Sam Lupowitz before moving back to Atlanta and starting his own production company, Media Arts International Film Corporation.As a film director, his first feature Blood Ties (2007) was filmed in Thailand, Cambodia, Washington DC, Miami, and Atlanta and won the 2007 Action on Film Festival's "Action Film Of The Year".Indie Fest USA's "Best of Festival" and "Best Visual Fx", Big Bang's "Best Director" (Audience Award), Ricon Int'l's "Best International Film", and End of the Pier's "Best Int'l Feature". Show less «