After signing a five-year contract with Gareth Evans and his production company, Uwais resigned from his daytime job as an operational driver at Esia, an Indonesian telecom company. Uwais's natural charisma and great camera presence encouraged Evans to cast him as the leading role for his first martial art movie, Merantau.
In 2007, Uwais was discovered by director Gareth Evans, who was filming a documentary about silat a form of martial arts in Uwais's training hall.
Achmad Bunawar, was a silat master and founded a silat school. Uwais was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is the son of Maisyaroh and Mustapha Kamaluddin.
