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| Birth Name(s) : Li Lian Jie |
Date of Birth: April 26, 1963 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
Nina Li Chi |
| Profession:
Actor/Athlete |
Official Site
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Full Jet Li Biography
| Jet Li is a Wu Shu world champion several times over. He got his first feature film role as a Shao Lin disciple in the film of the same name (1979). He has been called the biggest Asian movie star after Jackie Chan. Hollywood film credits include "Leathal Weapon 4" (1998) and "Romeo Must Die" (2000). |
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Additional Jet Li Biography
Jet Li (born April 26, 1963) is a Chinese martial artist, actor, Wushu champion, and international film star. After three years of intensive training, Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. After retiring at age 17, he went on to win great acclaim in China as an actor making his debut with the film Shaolin Temple (1982). He went onto appearing in many critically acclaimed martial arts epic films most notably the Once Upon a Time in China series where he portrayed folk hero Wong Fei Hung. His first role in a Hollywood movie was as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), but his first Hollywood film leading role was in Romeo Must Die (2000). He has gone on to star in many Hollywood films mostly recently starring in the action film War (2007).
Li was born Li Lianjie in Beijing, China. His father died when he was two. His mother took him to the Beijing Amateur Sports School at the age of eight. Li participated in the sport of wushu in the non-sparring event. He began his wushu on the Beijing Wushu team, an athletic group organized to perform martial arts forms during the All China Games. As a member of the team, he received wushu training and went on to win fifteen gold medals and one silver medal in Chinese wushu championships:
- 1974 — Youth National Athletic Competition: broadsword form gold medal, optional empty-hand form gold medal, all-round gold medal;
- 1975 — Third Chinese Wushu Championships: long fist form gold medal, spear form silver medal
- 1977 — National Wushu Competition: long-fist form gold medal, broadsword form gold medal
- 1978 — National Wushu Competition: long-fist form gold medal, optional empty-hand form gold medal, broadsword form gold medal, all-round gold medal;
- 1979 — Fourth Chinese Wushu Championships: long-fist form gold medal, optional empty-hand form gold medal, broadsword form gold medal, sparring form gold medal, all-round gold medal.
All his optional empty-hand form medals were won with a form called fanzi yingzhaoquan (翻子鷹爪拳, Fanzi eagle claw). His success led to the PRC declaring Jet Li to be a "National Treasure".
The fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce. They likened his career to a plane taking off quickly, so they placed the name Jet Li to the movie posters. Soon everybody was calling him by this new name. It was based on the nickname, Jet, given to him as a child, due to his speed, when training with the Beijing Wushu team. He made his debut with the 1982 film Shaolin Temple.
In 1998 he made his Hollywood film debut in Lethal Weapon 4 which also marked the first time he had ever played a villain in a movie. He agreed to do Lethal Weapon 4 after the producer Joel Silver promised to give him the leading role in his next movie, Romeo Must Die (2000) which was a box office hit launching his career as a leading man in Hollywood.
In 2001 he appeared two more Hollywood films: The One (film) opposite Jason Statham and Kiss of the Dragon opposite Bridget Fonda. In July 2001, Li agreed to produce and star in an action movie with Jackie Chan which was to be released in 2002 or 2003, but no further news of their collaboration surfaced until 2006. In 2002, the period martial arts epic film Hero was released in the Chinese market. This film was both a commercial and critical success. In 2003 he reunited with the director of Romeo Must Die for the action thriller film Cradle 2 the Grave where he starred alongside rapper DMX and fellow martial artist Mark Dacascos.
His 2006 release was the martial arts film epic Fearless. Although he will continue to make Martial Arts movies, Fearless is his last Wushu epic. In Fearless, he played Huo Yuanjia, the real-life founder of Chin Woo Athletic Association, who reportedly defeated foreign boxers and Japanese martial artists in publicized events at a time when China's power was seen as eroding. Together with the film Fist of Legend, Li has portrayed both Chen Zhen, the student and avenger of Huo Yuanjia, as well as Huo Yuanjia himself. Fearless was released on September 22, 2006 in the United States where it reached second place in its first weekend.“I stepped into the martial arts movie market when I was only 16. I think I have proved my ability in this field and it won't make sense for me to continue for another five or 10 years. Huo Yuanjia is a conclusion to my life as a martial arts star.”
Jackie Chan and Jet Li are scheduled to begin filming The Forbidden Kingdom together in May 2007. The film will be based on the legend of the Monkey King from the Chinese folk novel Journey to the West.
According to Li, once, as a child, when the Chinese National Wushu Team went to perform for President Richard Nixon in the United States, he was asked by Nixon to be his personal bodyguard. Li replied, "I don't want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!" which earned him much respect in his homeland. |
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Jet Li Quote(s)
| I can feel very brave through all the action scenes in front of the people who are on the set, but when a girl comes close to me my face turns red because I'm so shy. |
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