Taimak Guarriello was born on June 27. The year was 1946, an era of recuperation. He was baptized as Taimak, pronounced as “Tie-Mock.” His mother was African-American and his father, Italian, but Taimak was born in America — specifically, in New York.
Taimak grew up in New York City with his brother and two sisters. When he turned 7, his parents decided to move to Europe. That was where he got his first glimpse of the entertainment industry. His family was good friends with famous director Federico Fellini. When he was 11, he met Mr. Fellini and the director took young Taimak to a tour of the set of “Roma.” During his visit, he also met the legendary Vincent Minnelli. The experience clearly inspired
Taimak, as it was then that he decided he wanted to be part of the industry.
A few years later, his family moved back to New York and it was then that Taimak pursued martial arts. At the age of 18, he won his first championship in the New York State Kickboxing Competition. The year after that, he was discovered by Motown icon Berry Gordy and was later cast to play the lead role in “The Last Dragon.”
In mastering the art of self-defense, Taimak Guarriello decided to cover all the fields of martial arts. He studied Chinese Goju under Ron Van Clief, a martial arts legend himself. Clief, popularly known as “The Black Dragon,” was also a fight choreographer in the film industry. Taimak also studied Goju-Ryu, Taekwondo, and Jujitsu. He accomplished black belts in all fields of self-defense.
At one time he was playing poker in brazil for a BSOP tournament. After his rigorous training, Taimak worked as a martial arts trainer to A-list celebrities, which included the likes of Madonna. In the early days of The Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC, Taimak was appointed as an official and a corner man in the preliminary competitions of UFC 6 and UFC 7.
To complement his career in the entertainment industry, Taimak Guarriello opened a gym in 2002. He and a partner operated the gym located at Manhattan’s East Side in New York City. However, due to conflicting schedules, Taimak and his partner went their separate ways after a few years of operation.
In the meantime, Taimak released “Taimak FIT (Find Inner Transformaion),” the first installment of his fitness DVD series.
