Long before the famous actor Ed O’Neill became a respected Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, he wanted nothing to do with the sport.

It was legendary screenwriter John Milius who first tried convincing him to train, repeatedly encouraging him to visit the Gracie Academy in Torrance, California.
O’Neill resisted for nearly a year:

I said, the guys with the pajamas, right? No, no, it’s not for me.

Eventually, curiosity won.
When he first looked through the academy window, his initial impression wasn’t about fighting or martial arts at all:

It’s clean though. The place is clean. That’s what I was thinking. It’s very clean.

That visit quickly turned into a lesson he never forgot.
Rorion Gracie mounted O’Neill on the mat and gave him a simple scenario: imagine an intruder breaking into the house while his children were down the hall.

O’Neill recounted the experience:

I said, I’d get him off me.

He could not, however.

That experience immediately changed O’Neill’s perspective. He returned the very next morning – and kept coming back.

Years later, he earned his black belt under Rorion himself.
Another major influence was Helio Gracie, whose approach to technique left a lasting impression.

During one training session, Helio demonstrated a great lesson about defense and timing.
As well as about love for the sport:

You don’t defend the attack. You defend the preparation for the attack…

That old man loved jiu-jitsu more than anybody.
He wanted to get on the mat with every single person he ever saw.

O’Neill came to understand and respect the calmness of BJJ practitioners along the way as well:

The guys that were good were the guys that could relax. They just, you know, you knew that they weren’t afraid. And they weren’t nervous.
Or if they were nervous, they were the other kind of nervous. Like everybody’s heightened. But different than feeling anxiety.

He also shared his opinion on why some people do not get black belts:

People don’t get black belts because they don’t keep going to class.

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