Zangief Actor Surprises Fans At Local Street Fighter Tournament

Olivier Richters, the actor who plays Zangief in the 2026 Street Fighter movie, shocked fans when he appeared at a Dutch local event for Street Fighter 6 and Guilty Gear -Strive-.

Of even greater interest is the fact that he played Zangief, the same character he portrays in the movie.

The event, Chip Damage, is a biannual local in the Netherlands. The Street Fighter 6 tournament had 51 entrants, with Richters adopting the moniker TheDutchGiant as his gamertag.

A clip of Richters' gameplay has been circulating online, and it is clear to see that while not at the level of a high-ranked player, he is indeed competent. He uses Modern Controls, and it is another feather in the cap of Capcom's accessibility controls.

Richters would go on to "drown in pools," losing both the winners and losers matches he played, but his presence brought a lot of excitement to proceedings, and people were happy to see an actor engaging with the game.

The tournament was won by Germany's Semy28, with a player called Krackerlack and FGC veteran Ryan Hart taking second and third, respectively.

As reported before, Richters is signed on to do three Street Fighter movies, which suggests that if it does well, the movie will get a sequel. The movie has reportedly grossed about $100 million worldwide on its approximately $81 million budget. Whether this will be enough to greenlight a sequel remains to be seen, but there can be some optimism that the Street Fighter story will continue.