Jet Li

Jet Li Profile

Name: Li Lianjie, Jet
DOB: April 26, 1963
Place of birth: Beijing, China
Height: 170cm
Family members: 2 elder brothers and 2 elder sisters; wife (Nina Li) and 4 daughters (2 from previous marriage)
Profession: Martial art master and actor

(Also credited as Jet Lee, Li Lian Jie, Li Lin Kit, Lee Lianjie, Lee Lian Jie, Lee Lin Kit)

Jet Li Biography

Jet Li is a real martial art master that makes international fame as an action star. Jet Li is arguably one of the most famous Chinese in the world.

Li’s father died when he was just 2, and his mother sent him to a Wushu (Chinese martial art) academy when he was 8.

Jet Li is a talented Wushu artist, and after years of training he represented Beijing Wushu team in various performances and competitions .

Throughout his martial arts career, Jet won 15 gold medals and a silver medal in Chinese wushu championships (mostly in non-sparring events); a remarkable achievement by any standard. Jet eventually retired from wushu competitions because of long term injuries.

Jet Li already started acting when he was still an active martial artist. His debut movie was Shaolin Temple in 1982, followed by 2 sequels which made him a national action star.

After retiring from wushu competitions, Jet started focusing on his acting career, and made international (Asia mostly) fame in 1990 with movie Once Upon a Time in China, portraying the legendary wushu master Wong Feihung.

Jet Li continued to star in numerous popular action movies, including another 3 sequels as Wong Feihung. Jet Li normally portrayed as Chinese heroes in his movies, and people were comparing him to the legendary Chinese action star Bruce Lee quite often.

1998 was another breakthrough year for Jet as he moved into Hollywood, making his appearance in Lethal Weapons 4 as the bad guy. In 2000 Jet made his first leading role in a Western movie with Romeo Must Die, and gained fast recognitions from worldwide fans.

Jet Li continued to star in Asia and Western movies; although his wushu and action are highly praised in the West, Jet’s movie didn’t fair consistently in terms of box-office. Jet’s popularity in Asia however has never been faded and remains ever popular.

Jet’s latest project is a Chinese movie The Blood Brothers, starring alongside Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro.

Jet is also expected to join hands with another international Chinese action star, Jackie Chan in a movie based on the epic novel Journey To The West. The project was initiated since 2001 but only comes to realization in 2007.

Jet Li Trivia

Jet Li turned down Chow Yun Fat’s role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon because he promised his wife that he would not make any movies during her pregnancy.

Jet Li has his own PlayStation 2 video game based on his movies’ characters, namely Jet Li’s Rise To Honor.