Ed O’Neill, best known for his iconic roles as Al Bundy in Married with Children and Jay Pritchett in Modern Family, is also a BJJ black belt.

Long before BJJ gained popularity among celebrities, O’Neill was one of the first famous faces to take up the sport, starting his training in 1991.
He explained how he was introduced to BJJ by his friend John Milius, a well-known writer and producer:

He was taking lessons here with Rorion (Gracie) and his son was taking here with Royce (Gracie).
He said: “You gotta meet these guys.”

I go in, I walk in and he’s in there with Rorion rolling around.
John was a pretty big guy, they’re rolling around.

I look and think: “Well uh, you know, rolling around on top of each other, place is very clean.”
So they finish and John introduced me to Rorion…

Rorion asked O’Neill to lie down and imagine a bad guy pinning him down.
Confident in his strength advantage, O’Neill, at 230 pounds, attempted to push off the 175-pound Rorion, only to realize he couldn’t move him at all.

Humbled by the experience, he was hooked:

To me it was like the most amazing thing I ever experienced.
The whole techniques and everything…

Of course his dad was coming around in those days, so I got to know Helio (Gracie).
Many classes actually, I probably had about 10 or 12 classes with Helio. All the brothers, or most of them.

So for me it’s been a great experience.
For me they’re kinda like, in a way, family.