Master Emil Farkas began training in the martial arts at a young age and he earned his black belt in judo at age 17 and his black belt in karate at 18.

His family moved to Los Angeles and Farkas studied at the California State University, Northridge. At age 22, he took a job as a bodyguard for Phil Spector. In 1970, Farkas founded his own dojo, the Beverly Hills Karate Academy where he has been teaching now for over 45 years. Farkas wrote the first script for a ninja movie, but the film was never produced. Farkas later became a stunt and fight coordinator for martial arts movies. Farkas has co-authored and published books on martial arts. One of his ideas for a film sent to Robert Kosberg was used in the book How to Sell Your Idea to Hollywood to illustrate how "the sheer simplicity of an idea can be coupled with fortuitous circumstances-catapult[ed] an outsider into the Hollywood game."

Farkas has been on the cover and featured in many martial arts publications. In 1978, he was on the cover of Inside Kung Fu with the story "Emil Farkas vs. the Amazing Spiderman".

Farkas holds a seventh-degree black belt in karate and is both a fourth-degree black belt in judo and jujitsu. He has been termed "Sensei to the Stars" for his martial arts training with celebrities.

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