[1] After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do.

He is a New York Times bestselling author, having penned books on martial arts, exercise, philosophy, politics, Christianity, Western fiction, and biographies.

The phenomenon resulted in six books some of them New York Times bestsellers, two video games, and several appearances on talk shows, such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, in which he read the facts or participated in sketches.

It was there that Norris acquired the nickname "Chuck" and began his training in Tang Soo Do (tangsudo), an interest that led to black belts in that art and the founding of the Chun Kuk Do ("Universal Way") form.

[12] On June 24, Norris was declared champion at the S. Henry Cho's All-American Karate Championship at the Madison Square Garden, taking the title from Julio LaSalle and defeating Joe Lewis.

[23] In 1974, actor Steve McQueen, who was his martial art student and friend at the time, saw his potential and encouraged him to begin acting classes at MGM.

[50] Norris later dedicated these films to his younger brother Wieland, who was a private in the 101st Airborne Division, and had been killed in June 1970 in Vietnam while on patrol in the defense of Firebase Ripcord.

Norris continued making films with Aaron, who directed him in Delta Force 2,[79] The Hitman,[80] Sidekicks (1993),[81] Hellbound (1994), Top Dog (1995),[82] and Forest Warrior (1996).

The television show is centered on Sergeant Cordell Walker (Norris), a member of the Texas Rangers, a state-level bureau of investigation, and is about his adventures fighting criminals with his partner James Trivette.

The same year, also playing the role of Walker, Norris acted in a crossover episode of the Sammo Hung's TV show Martial Law.

[85] At the 1994 edition of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s Survivor Series event, Norris was the special outside enforcer for the Casket Match between The Undertaker and Yokozuna.

[88] Since 1997, Norris has appeared with Christie Brinkley in a long-running series of cable TV infomercials promoting Total Gym home fitness equipment.

[89] On November 1, 1998, CBS premiered Michael Preece's television film Logan's War: Bound by Honor, starring Norris and Eddie Cibrian.

In 2005, Norris founded the World Combat League (WCL), a full-contact, team-based martial arts competition, of which part of the proceeds are given to his Kickstart Kids program.

Norris has written his own response to the parody on his website, stating that he does not feel offended by them and finds some of them funny,[98] claiming that his personal favorite is that they wanted to add his face to Mount Rushmore, but the granite is not hard enough for his beard.

[104] Norris subsequently filed suit in December against Penguin USA claiming "trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and privacy rights".

[109] In 2008, he published the political non-fiction book Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America, which reached number 14 on The New York Times best seller list in September 2008.

[113] Throughout the 2010s, Norris appeared in advertisements for T-Mobile,[114] World of Warcraft,[115] BZ WBK,[116] the French TV show "Pieds dans le plat",[117] Hoegaarden,[118] United Healthcare,[119] Hesburger,[120][121][122][123] Cerveza Poker,[124] Toyota,[125] and in the 2020s, QuikTrip.

During his competitive fighting career, Norris began to evolve the style to make it more effective and well-rounded by studying other systems such as Shōtōkan, Gōjū-ryū, Shitō-ryū, Enshin kaikan, Kyokushin, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Arnis, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Hapkido and American Kenpo.

[144] Each summer the United Fighting Arts Federation (UFAF) holds a training conference and the Chun Kuk Do world championship tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.

They are:[146] Like most traditional martial arts, Chuck Norris System includes the practice of forms (Korean hyung and Japanese kata).

[159] On September 22, 2004, Norris told Entertainment Tonight's Mary Hart that he did not meet his illegitimate daughter from a past relationship until she was 26, although she learned that he was her father when she was 16.

[168][169][170] In an interview following the release of the 1984 film Missing in Action, Norris stated that "I am a conservative, a real flag waver, a big Ronald Reagan fan.

In his letter, released at WorldNetDaily, Norris deemed then-President Obama's refusal to disclose his birth certificate suspicious and implored him to put an end to the conspiracy theories.

[182][183] On June 26, 2012, Norris published an article on Ammoland.com, in which he accused the Obama administration of paying Jim Turley, one of the national board members of the Boy Scouts of America at the time, to reverse the organization's policy that excluded gay youths from joining.

[186] On the eve of the election, he and his wife Gena made a video warning that if evangelicals did not show up at the polls and vote out President Obama, "...our country as we know it may be lost forever...".

The deal was met with criticism from some members of the public and some of his fans, who felt it was in bad timing due to the increase in school shootings in the United States.

[197] In 2021, Norris announced his support of the 2021 gubernatorial election to recall incumbent Governor Gavin Newsom and endorsed radio talk show host Larry Elder to replace him.

As a significant part of his philanthropic contributions, the organization was formed to develop self-esteem and focus in at-risk children as a tactic to keep them away from drug-related pressure by training them in martial arts.

Through his donations, he has helped the foundation support Paediatric HIV/AIDS homes in Delhi, a blind school in Karnataka, and a mission that cares for HIV/AIDS-infected adults, as well as mentally ill patients in Cochin.