- Born
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- Javier Calderon was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and moved from the city of Toa Alta to the United States with his parents and two older sisters when young. Already drawing proficiently at three, he began playing the piano and guitar a few short years later. Aside from a few early lessons on the piano, he never received any formal musical training - singing, playing electric and bass guitars, various percussive instruments, and the piano solely by ear. He received a degree in Philosophy from The University of Texas in San Antonio and, a few years later, moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the arts.
Along with his various artistic pursuits, Javier is also an accomplished pugilist. As an amateur, he competed at the national level of the sport, and, as a professional, he has shared the ring and been in training camps with some of the best boxers that have ever put on a pair of gloves.
He currently lives in Hollywood, California.
- IMDb mini biography by: F.B.
- For his portrayal of Joshua Holden - the intense and obsessive lead character in the film "The God Project" - he gained and then lost an accumulated 106 pound of weight.
Normally weighing about 160lbs, he took approximately six months lifting weights and eating a strict diet of, in his own words, "Everything I could get my hands on," and ballooned up to 208 lbs, only to turn around and - in an even more remarkable feat of method acting - starve himself for two months to lose 60 pounds. To accomplish this, he ate not one single bite of food during the entire two month period, subsisting on only lemon water and juice. This, along with running two miles a day with a plastic sauna suit on dropped him from 208 lbs to 146 lbs. - For the sparring scenes in "The Holy Man", Calderon went head to head with Golden Gloves champion and up and coming professional boxer Zachary "Kid Yamaka" Wolhman. There was no fight choreography for the scenes, and the camera crew was instructed to simply capture as much of the action as possible while Calderon and Wohlman exchanged punch after brutal punch for the entire duration.
- The final fight of the movie, similar to the sparring sessions but ultimately more dangerous because no protective sparring gear was used, involved a heated, unchoreographed boxing match between Calderon and professional world champion boxer Kingsley "Sharp Knuckle" Ikeke.
- The boxing gym scenes in "The Holy Man" were filmed at the world famous Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood California where, among many other world champions, boxing great Manny Pacquiao is trained by boxing great Freddie Roach.
- I guess you could say I'm like an idiot savant - more idiot than savant though.
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