THE name Ray Park might sound alien to some. But to action movie and sci-fi fans, he might be a familiar face, known for his martial arts and kick-butt stunts.

Apart from being a stunt double in many action movies, Park's movie roles often had him in disguise, whether in masks or heavy and feature-altering make up.

He is the Satan look-alike, red-and-black horned creature known as the Sith Lord, Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

He played Toad in X-Men, his first real speaking role in movies (though mostly grunts and snortles). And he potrayed Snake-Eyes in G.I. Joe. Not exactly showing his true colours, to say the least.

Tonight, however, you'll see Park as you would in real life. He'll be playing yet another baddy, the villain Edgar, a deadly Speedster with a talent for knives, in the new season of Heroes on Star World (Astro 711) at 10pm — with new episodes every Friday.

Edgar works at the Sullivan Bros. Carnival, comprising a travelling band of outsiders with powerful abilities led by a charismatic and powerful leader, Samuel (Robert Knepper), whose superpower is the ability to manipulate earth (as in soil and minerals, not the planet).

Samuel, Edgar and the Carnival will be the biggest challenge the heroes will face. Crossing paths with each of the heroes, Samuel entices them to join his family in order to fulfill his dark and sinister plans, with Edgar doing most of Samuel's dirty work.

Park, however, doesn't see Edgar as a bad guy. "He was asked to go and do certain things but it was something he didn't really want to do. He did stuff for the sake of the Carnival. And listening to Samuel, he has to do these things. This is something you don't want to do but you have to do it and you're good at doing it."

Getting the part, according to Park, was strangely simple. "I spoke to Dennis Hammer, one of the executive producer, and he said 'we wrote this character (Edgar) but wouldn't it be great to have someone like Ray Park play this part'. And I started laughing because I'm so used to going and having a meeting and auditions where they said 'oh we want someone like Jet Li, we want someone like Jackie Chan'. You know, you get sick of hearing about the other guys. So it was really nice to be referenced.

"And when I was asked to come in I got really excited and of course I was 'all right, here comes the audition'. I was like 'I would love to come in and read because I really want to be a part of this; I want to do this'.

"And you know, it just so happened, I was asked to come in, meet with the producers and here we are. No auditions."

But not everything was easy for Park. For one, he had to learn to play with knives. "I don't use knives at all," he said.

"You know, I don't like knives. I've been cut a few times by a knife by other people. But because of the Carnival, and I always loved the circus as a kid and so I've used the martial arts background and performance background (the acrobatic shows performed in most Carnivals) to bring it into the character."

This is the first TV show role for Park, and getting a role in Heroes is like a dream come true, being such a huge fan of the show.

"The first time I actually saw Heroes was two years ago, on DVD," said Park. "I sat over the holidays watching it and staying up until three in the morning. And I remember sitting on my bed and thinking, 'wow, this would be the TV show that I'd like to work on'. And as luck would have it two years later I'm here. So it's like — I'm having a lot of fun right now!

"The first day of rehearsal for one of my scenes, I was like 'wow this is Danko's apartment, oh this is where - this is the hospital'. I'm just sort of living the dream."

And talking about dreams, what is Ray Park's dream super-ability? "It'd be nice to be able to read people’s minds or move objects with my mind."

Meanwhile...

As last season concluded, Nathan (played by Adrian Pasdar) paid the price for his misdeeds.

Murdered by Sylar (Zachary Quinto), Matt (Greg Grunberg) used his mind control ability to repair the damage — forcing Sylar to shape shift into Nathan, while erasing Sylar’s own memories.

In Season 4, Volume 5: Redemption, it begins with the heroes putting their lives back together.

Claire (Hayden Pannettiere) struggles to make new friends as she begins college while Hiro (Masi Oka) goes back to his old life in Japan only to discover that his health is deteriorating.

Elsewhere, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) returns to work as an ordinary New York City EMT, seeking redemption by saving as many lives as possible.

Meanwhile, Matt returns to life as an ordinary family man, but is mentally tormented by Sylar as he forces Matt to restore him to his own body.