Jet Li Biography

MARITAL STATUS
Professions Actor , Producer , Executive Producer more
Nationality Chinese
Birth April 26, 1963 (Beijing – China)

BIOGRAPHY
From a very young age, Jet Li devoted himself to the practice of martial arts. After winning the title of Wu Shu world champion several times, he moved away from the tatami mats to establish himself in the cinema.

It was in 1979, when he was only 17, that he made his debut in The Temple of Shaolin . He then became a real star of action films in Asia, notably starring in Once Upon a Time in China , directed by Tsui Hark . After having evolved in three sequels to this cult saga (including two again directed by Tsui Hark), Jet Li established himself in 1994 in Fist of legend – The new fury to defeat , a remake of Fureur to conquer by Gordon Chan , in which he follows in the footsteps of his role model Bruce Lee .

After appearing in 25 films in Hong Kong and China, Jet Li made his Hollywood debut in 2000 in Lethal Weapon 4 . Since then, he has been in great demand in the United States: we see him exercising his talents in Romeo Must Die , The One , and On Reprieve . However, in 2003 he made his return in a traditional wu xia pian (cloak and dagger film) under the direction of Zhang Yimou , with the main role of Hero . For the occasion, a host of Hong Kong stars accompany him in the credits of this vast epic about the unification of China in medieval times: Maggie Cheung , Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi .

Continuing his international career, in 2004 he reunited with Luc Besson , the boss of Europacorp with whom he had already collaborated on The Dragon’s Deadly Kiss , for Danny the Dog , the awakening to the life of a man trained to kill. Finally, in 2006, he filmed Le Maître d’armes under the direction of Ronny Yu , the opportunity to work once again with the famous choreographer Yuen Woo Ping .

Six years after The One , Jet Li and Jason Statham meet again in Philip Atwell ‘s final showdown Rogue . Then it was alongside the flagship actor of The Mummy franchise , Brendan Fraser , that the actor donned the costume of an emperor in the third part of the saga. Jet Li is in great demand by American cinema,, where he shared the bill for the first time with an indisputable master of martial arts, Jackie Chan .

In 2009, he returned to Chinese cinema and joined Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro – who we had seen in The Secret of the Flying Daggers – in The Lords of War by Peter Chan Lung . This trio, formed by a soldier, a man of honor and an idealist, will fight to obtain power. The following year and then in 2012, the actor starred in the explosive Expendables: Special Forces and its sequel , where he rubbed shoulders with several key stars of American action cinema, including Jason Statham , with whom he had already played in two times.

Unfortunately, since 2010, the actor has suffered from hyperthyroidism, weakening him considerably and preventing him from actively pursuing his career. This is evidenced by his short appearance in Expendables 3 (2014) and the very small number of roles he played during the years that followed. However, he will be starring in Mulan scheduled for 2020 alongside Donnie Yen and Li Gong , which is a new live-action version of the Disney cartoon.