The following article is courtesy of Martial Arts Illustrated and was published in November 2008. To view the original source please click here.

Martial Arts Illustrated editor Bob Sykes interviews the one time MAI forms competitor of the year Mark Noyce.

When did you first get into film?

I was a martial arts competitor from the age of 6 but retired in the mid 90’s to focus on performing. I started with live Martial arts events and Theatre but eventually made the transition into stunt work and fight choreography for film and TV. In 2009 I was set to begin working as a stunt fighter on a feature film when one of the actors became ill and they had to look at recasting the role.  The opportunity to be considered came up and after reading the script and working closely with the director and producer I was offered the part.
The film was shot over a 4 month period and I had a great experience, after that I made the decision to focus on auditioning for speaking roles.

What is your favourite genre of film?

Within reason I’ll watch pretty much anything but my favourite is definitely horror and comedy. My film collection is made up mostly of comedies and I love some of the old 80’s stuff. I think I drive my Wife mad sometimes as I’ll often watch a film over and over again. I’m a huge ‘Tales from the Crypt fan’ and own every single episode on DVD. At home I have a life-size ornament of the crypt keeper coming through the wall. Guests hate it when they stay over; I’ve positioned it so it’s overlooking them. Whenever I’ve been over to the US I always come back with some ‘Tales from the Crypt’ merchandise, I really wish they’d make another series

Mark, when and why did you originally get involved in Martial arts?

I started training when I was 6 years old. My father took me to a local Lau Gar Kung fu club with the intention of building up my self confidence. I was hooked instantly.

What were your first impressions of the American All-Star team?

They were great, I remember doing some bits with them in the early ‘80s and they were so much fun to both train, and spend time with. They had really clean and crisp execution of their martial arts techniques but what really gave them the edge over the other competitors of that time was their charisma.

It would have also been around this time that I performed my first musical kata and I can remember warming up with Charlie Lee and John Chung at an event. They both had such huge personalities and they knew how to make martial arts entertaining.

Your instructor Jeff  Nash, is a very well respected and open minded Karateka. How much of an influence did Jeff have on the Mark Noyce we know today?

Jeff has been a huge inspiration to me and many other martial artists. I went to him in the early ‘90s trying to get some help with my musical kata. Basically I felt like I had come to a standstill and wasn’t improving as much as I should have been. With Jeff’s reputation as a world class traditional I thought I would go and see him. He advised me that I needed to work on my technique and go back to basics so I had 6 months off competing and he coached me everyday for that duration. It was extremely exciting to be learning new things again and with every technique we practised he would explain its application. Understanding how you would use a technique certainly helps executing it correctly during kata and this is something I feel a lot of modern competitors now lack.

What other training routes have you taken over the years?

I’ve been extremely fortunate and have had the opportunity to train with some great people over the years. My first instructor was Sifu Nigel Thompson and we used to make regular visits to train with Master Jeremy Yau. At the time the whole competition scene was huge and going to competitions with the Lau Gar team was a fantastic experience.

I later moved on to study Iwa Kai Karate with the legendary Sensei Bill Holmes. I had done Kung Fu for around 7 years and my father thought it would be good for me to try another style. Looking back it was a good move for me but at the time I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it. I had gone from being a black belt in Kung Fu to a white belt in Karate and it was a huge bruise to my ego.

Several years later I was approached by Ian Pauly about a sponsorship deal, I had known Ian for many years as our clubs used to be fierce rivals in the ‘80s. He had a fantastic training facility and was a highly respected trainer so I joined his stables and trained with his fighters.

How hard do you train today?

Very hard! Currently I’m in the gym everyday and my training sessions are broken down into four categories. Traditional martial arts, stretching and kicking, gymnastics and body conditioning.

How have you managed to retain your flexibility?

From a very early age I was in a routine of stretching daily and its something I’ve continued to do.

What do you think makes your hometown of Peterborough such a martial arts hot spot?

When I first started training Peterborough had a couple of huge Martial arts clubs. Ian Pauly and Nigel Thompson were both full time instructors and had literally hundreds of students. A lot of the instructors in Peterborough today started as students from one of these clubs. The training was very ‘old school’ with no messing about and discipline was instilled from day one. I think both Ian and Nigel can take some credit for the quality of Martial arts in the area. I still remember Clifton Findley’s first lesson, he arrived late and was made to stand in horse stance at the back and I thought to myself “he’ll never stick it”.

Do you currently teach?

I have my own Martial Arts gym but it’s used more as a place for me to train than it is to run classes. It’s an invitation only gym and I have a handful of people I’m helping coach.

Why have you made the decision to start competing again?

I think the time is right for a change. I genuinely believe this country can start to make some serious noise and drive musical forms forward rather than being overly influenced by what the Americans are doing. Pretty much everyone looks the same at the moment and is following the XMA route. I’ve had a break from competitions before and when I returned with my “robot kata” which was completely different to anything else at the time. I’m planning to do the same again.

What’s your view on today’s opposition?

Although I’ve spent the last several years doing live shows and theatre work instead of competing I’ve always kept an eye on what the opposition is doing. There have certainly been some dramatic changes since the last time I competed.

While a lot of competitors today have some impressive “tricks” I feel they are neglecting the martial arts content and it is becoming very rare that you will see a well executed kick combined with solid basics. Most of the modern stuff actually looks very sloppy to me. I was among the first in this country to incorporate gymnastics with Martial arts but I never lost focus of the importance of maintaining good Martial arts technique.

I think the best competitor on the scene at the moment is Emma Elmes. She manages to combine great kicking, gymnastics and good basics. I think the difference is she has a good strong traditional foundation to work with and because of this she is arguably one of the best forms competitor this country has ever produced.

Do you have any expectations regarding your own performance?

I can be my hardest critic so have extremely high expectations when I perform. I’m fully aware that I have a hard task ahead of me but I believe I’m fully prepared to put in some great performances again.

When you’re not training, how do you relax?

A relaxing night for me would normally consist of taking my dog for a long walk in the fields near my house then back home for a couple of DVDs

What are your plans for the future?

It’s looking like it could be a busy couple of years for me at the moment. I’m taking my return to the scene very seriously and also have a few film/TV bits scheduled. I turned down quite a bit of film work several years ago as it didn’t really appeal to me at the time but I’ve recently finished working on a film called Nativity which stars Martin Freeman (The Office, Love Actually) and Ashley Jenson (The Extra’s, Ugly Betty) and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so I have decided to do a few more.