Jet Li

Jet Li was born on April 26, 1963 in Beijing, Heibei. He won the championship in Chinese National Martial Arts Contest from 1974 to 1979 (5 consecutive years). He has also participated in some drama performances. His first movie was "Shaolin Temple", this made him famous as it was China's first modern Kung Fu movie. This introduced Shaolin's Wu Shu to the world. There were hundreds of youngsters who visited the remains of the original Shaolin temple, hoping to train in the same manner as Li's character in the movie. His second movie, "Kids from Shaolin", was as good as the "Shaolin Temple". He also likes the color white. Jet Li's favourite films that he made were the "Shaolin Temple" series because it introduced him to the film industry, and "Once Upon A Time in China" because it brought him fame as an actor and martial artist.

Jet Li is a shy and timid person. He is very conservative, eats healthy meals, and workouts everyday to stay in shape. Jet Li is also very private about his life, and for this not many questions are asked of his private life.

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. After his success in Hong Kong, Jet Li established a presence in American films, beginning with his portrayal of a villain in Lethal Weapon 4. His first lead role in a Hollywood movie was in Romeo Must Die. Some of his more famous Chinese films include: the Shaolin Temple series (1, 2 and 3), which are considered to be the films which sparked the rebirth of the real Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, China. the Once Upon a Time in China series (Chinese title: Wong Fei Hung), about the semi-legendary Chinese folk hero; Fist of Legend, which, contrary to popular belief, was not a remake of Bruce Lee's The Big Boss (also known as Fists of Fury), but rather of Bruce Lee's Chinese Connection, (Fist of Fury in Chinese); and the Fong Sai-Yuk films, about another Chinese folk hero. As one might expect from a martial artist of his caliber, he performs most of his own stunts.


Jet Li starred in the 1995 movie, Shu dan long wei, known in English as "Courage of a Mouse and Power of a Dragon". The movie, known in the US as either High Risk or Meltdown, portrays Jet Li as a cop who becomes disillusioned after his wife is murdered by crimelords. Along the way, he pairs up with wacky sell-out actor, Frankie (played by Jacky Cheung), and proceeds to engage in a series of extremely violent battles in a high-rise building. In July 2001, Jet Li and Jackie Chan agreed to produce and star in an action movie which was to be released in 2002 or 2003, but there has since been no news of their collaboration. In 2002, the film Hero was released in the US market. This film was both a critical and commercial success. Li took a big risk with the 2005 action drama, Unleashed (a.k.a. Danny the Dog) where he portrays an adult with the mentality of a child who has been raised like an animal. A sombre film with more depth than had been previously seen in Li's films, it co-starred dramatic actors, Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman. According to Shenzhen Daily newspaper, Jet Li has announced his retirement from Martial Art movies after the upcoming feature movie "Fearless" ( Huo Yuanjia in Chinese) (based on the real legendary martial artist who defeated a Russian boxer). "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," - Jet Li