Steven Seagal: a timeline from film star to Russian citizenship – in pictures

Martial-arts actor and blues guitarist Steven Seagal has been given Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin – but how did he get here? We trace Seagal’s evolution

Main image: 2016 World Nomad Games Open In Kyrgyzstan
CHOLPON-ATA, KYRGYZSTAN - SEPTEMBER 4, 2016: Hollywood actor Steven Seagal (C back) and people in traditional dress in a specially built village setting, Kyrchin, at the 2016 World Nomad Games. PHOTOGRAPH BY TASS / Barcroft Images London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com - New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com - New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftimages.com Photograph: TASS / Barcroft Images

  • In 1986 Seagal was a successful student of Japanese martial art aikido with aspirations to a career in showbusiness. While married to his second wife, Adrienne La Russa, he began an affair with The Woman in Red star Kelly LeBrock; they married a year later.
    1986: Steven Seagal and wife actress Kelly LeBrock

  • Seagal broke into movies in 1987 with Above the Law (also known as Nico), reportedly after putting on an aikido demonstration for studio executives.
    1988: As Nico in Above The Law - 1988

  • Seagal was asked to host an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1991 (he’s seen here with Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon doing a Pumping Up With Hans & Franz sketch). Producer Lorne Michaels later referred to him as “the biggest jerk who’s ever been on the show”.
    1991: Saturday Night Live Steven Seagal, Dana Carvey as Hans, Kevin Nealon as Franz during the ‘Pumping Up WIth Hans & Franz’ skit

  • Seagal achieved his biggest hit with 1992’s Under Siege, in which he played an ex-Navy Seal who takes on a bunch of mercenaries who have taken over a battleship. It received two Oscar nominations (neither for Seagal).
    1992: STEVEN SEAGAL UNDER SIEGE

  • Seagal turned director in 1994 with On Deadly Ground, an eco-thriller in which he persuaded Michael Caine to appear. No Oscar nominations this time; Seagal did pick up a Razzie for worst director, though.
    1994: On Deadly GroundSTEVEN SEAGAL & JOAN CHEN Directed By STEVEN SEAGAL

  • One of Seagal’s better films – though one he had little hand in creating – was Executive Decision, in 1996. Seagal played a special ops soldier who – remarkably in his oeuvre – is killed off halfway through.
    1996: Executive Decision, Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal

  • In the 2000s Seagal lost ground in Hollywood, with most of his films failing to achieve a cinema release. Belly of the Beast, from 2003, was one – Seagal plays a CIA hombre on the trail of his kidnapped daughter. It was directed by A Chinese Ghost Story maestro Ching Siu-tung, but that didn’t help.
    2003: Belly of the Beast Directed By CHING SIU TUNG

  • In 2005 Seagal turned to his other love, music, and released an album of blues and country workouts called Songs from the Crystal Cave. Reviews were, er, mixed. Here Seagal plays at the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons concert in Tokyo, Japan, later the same year.
    2005: Steven Seagal attends the abolition of nuclear weapons concert in Japan.

  • Seagal and Putin apparently met in 2003, when Seagal attended the Moscow film festival. Seagal has vigorously proclaimed his admiration of and respect for the Russian president, while Putin has been keen to associate himself with martial-arts figures as part of his hard-man image. Here they are in 2013, visiting Sambo-70, a Russian martial art and combat sport school in Moscow.
    2013: Steven Seagal and Russian President Vladimir Putin are seen visiting Sambo-70, a Russian martial art and combat sport school in Moscow

  • In 2015 Seagal accompanied Putin on a visit to Russky island in Russia’s far east. Seagal is seen here at the Amur Tiger Centre at the Far Eastern Federal University.
    2015: Steven Seagal views an exhibition stand of the Amur Tiger Center at Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island

  • In 2016, the second World Nomad Games took place in Cholpon-Ata in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. Seagal showed up and rode a horse at the opening ceremony.
    2016: Steven Seagal riding a horse at the opening ceremony of the 2016 World Nomad Games
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