Nick Messersmith

Nick was born in Seongnam, South Korea on July 24, 1985. He was adopted and came to the United States on July 1, 1986, just shy of his first birthday. His parents, wanting him to keep part of his culture, enrolled him into Taekwondo at the age of 5 years old. He began his training with Master Keith Romp who was directly under Grandmaster Yong Chin Pak. At the age of 16 Nick decided to get into serious competition sparring. In the fall of 2006 Nick enrolled at Iowa State University and joined the Iowa State University Taekwondo team where Nick would take 2nd place in the 2007 Collegiate Nationals. It was that summer that Nick's Grandmaster gave him the opportunity to go to Korea and train in a special training program for Korean Adoptees. Nick humbly accepted and spent 3 weeks in Korea training at such places like Kukkiwon (The World Taekwondo Headquarters) and Korea National Sports University. When Nick returned he transferred from Iowa State University to The University of Iowa. Once again Nick joined The University of Iowa National Collegiate Taekwondo Team in the Fall of 2007. That year he took 3rd place at the 2008 collegiate nationals. In 2009 Nick graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Film. While in college Nick was a regular cast member of a University TV show called "Fallout" where Nick played the role of Zach Chang. The show ran for 3 years and is considered one of the best shows in the history of the University. It was at this time Nick realized how fun acting was and began acting. In the Summer of 2010 Nick was offered to do Fight Choreography and a small role in the movie "Kung Fu Graffiti" in which Nick accepted. In 2011 Nick began directing his first full length Action film entitled A "Brief" Case. Nick Wrote and also played a role in this film as well.