JET LI is the rare international film star who is also a world-renowned martial arts master.
U.S. audiences most recently saw him starring in Zhang Yimou’s critically hailed hit movie Hero, produced by Bill Kong, which was a blockbuster internationally (via Focus Features) and was an Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign-Language Film.
Born Lian Jie Li in Beijing, Mr. Li began studying the art of Wushu (the general Chinese-language term for martial arts) and was enrolled in the Beijing Amateur Sports School at the age of 8. After three years of extensive training, he won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu team. As part of a world tour in 1974, he had the honor of performing in a two-man fight for President Nixon on the White House lawn. For the next four years, he remained the All-Around National Wushu Champion of China.
Shortly after retiring from the sport at the age of 17, he was offered many film starring roles. He embarked on a movie career with a starring role in Chang Hsin Yen’s Shaolin Temple. The release of the film propelled him into instant screen stardom and also spawned two sequels.
Mr. Li went on to make over two dozen films in Hong Kong and China. These included such critical and commercial successes as the Once Upon a Time in China movies (directed by Tsui Hark and, on the last series entry [Once Upon a Time in China and America], Sammo Hung), in which he made the role of iconic folk hero Wong Fei Hung his own and scored his biggest hit until Hero; [Corey] Yuen Kwai’s two Fong Sai Yuk movies, Bodyguard from Beijing, and My Father is a Hero; Born to Defence (which he also directed); Tai Chi Master (directed by Unleashed martial arts choreographer Yuen Wo Ping, who has also worked with the actor on martial arts choreography for many other films); Gordon Chan’s Fist of Legend; and Daniel Lee’s Black Mask. His unbeatable combination of jaw-dropping fighting skills, movie-star charisma, and forceful physical presence in these and other movies captivated audiences worldwide.
In 1998, he came to America to make his first English-language film appearance in a pivotal role in Lethal Weapon 4, the final film in the blockbuster series directed by Richard Donner, produced by Joel Silver, and starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. He subsequently reteamed with Mel Gibson to produce the telefilm Invincible, directed by Jefery Levy and Tony Ching.
A four-time MTV Movie Award nominee, Mr. Li has also starred in Romeo Must Die (opposite the late actress/singer Aaliyah) and Cradle 2 the Grave, both for director Andrzej Bartkowiak and producer Joel Silver; James Wong’s The One (in a dual role); and Chris Nahon’s Kiss of the Dragon (starring with Bridget Fonda, Tcheky Karyo, and Burt Kwouk), which marked his first teaming with Unleashed writer/producer Luc Besson.
Mr. Li next stars as real-life martial arts legend Fok Yuanjia in Ronny Yu’s Fearless, reteaming the actor with Bill Kong, Yuen Wo Ping, and Focus Features (which is handling international sales, excluding Asia, on the film).
In 2003, he starred (and fought) in the motion-captured computer game Rise to Honor.
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