JET LI
Li Lianjie ([lì ljǎntɕjɛ̌]; born 26 April 1963), better known by his
English stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film
producer, martial artist, andwushu champion
who was born in Beijing. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen.
After three years of
intensive training with Wu Bin, Li won his first national championship
for the Beijing Wushu Team. After retiring from Wushu at age 19, he went on to
win great acclaim in China as an actor making his debut with the film Shaolin Temple (1982). He went on
to star in many critically acclaimed martial arts epic films, most notably
the Once Upon A Time In China series,
in which he portrayed folk hero Wong Fei-hung.
Li's first role in a
Hollywood film was as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998),
and his first leading role in a Hollywood film was as Han Sing in Romeo Must Die (2000).
He has gone on to star in many Hollywood action films, including Kiss of the Dragon and Unleashed.
He co-starred in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
with Jackie Chan, The Expendables (2010) with Sylvester Stallone, and as the title character
villain in The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (2008)
opposite Brendan Fraser. He also appeared in the Hong
Kong film Ocean Heaven (2010), directed and
written by Xue Xiaolu
Early life and
martial arts career
Li was born in Beijing, China, as the youngest of two boys and two
girls. His father died when he was two years old, leaving the family
struggling.
Li was eight when his talent for wushu was noticed at a summer
course at school, and he began his practice there. Li participated in the sport ofwushu in the non-sparring event. He began his wushu on the Beijing Wushu Team,
an athletic group organized to perform martial arts forms during theAll China Games. He was coached by renowned
wushu coaches Li Junfeng and Wu Bin, who made extra efforts to help the
talented boy develop. Wu Bin even bought food for Li's family because they
could not afford to buy meat, which was essential for the good physical
condition of an athlete. 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, where, despite his young age, he competed against
adults.
My winning first place caused quite a sensation, because I was so
young. I was 12 years old, and the other two medallists were in their mid- to
late twenties. During the awards ceremony, as I stood on the top step of the
podium, I was still shorter than the 2nd and 3rd place medallists. It must have
been quite a sight.
—Jet Li China's Internet Celebrity
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!"
Li is a master of several styles of wushu, especially Changquan (Northern Longfist Style) and Fanziquan (Tumbling fist). He has also studied
other arts including Baguazhang (Eight trigram palm), Taijiquan (Supreme ultimate fist), Xingyiquan (Shape intent fist), Zuiquan (Drunken fist),Yingzhaoquan (Eagle claw fist) and Tanglangquan (Praying mantis fist). He did not learn Nanquan (Southern fist), because his training
focused only in the Northern Shaolin Styles. He has also studied some of
wushu's main weapons, such Sanjiegun (Three section staff), Gun (staff), Dao(Broadsword), Jian (Straight sword) and many more.
It is Jet Li's authentic martial arts prowess that enabled his
rise to domestic and international fame.
Acting career
Chinese films
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 an
aircraft, which likewise "takes-off" as quickly, so they placed the
name Jet Li on the movie posters. Soon everybody was calling him by this new
name, which was also based on the nickname, "Jet," given to him as a
young student, due to his speed and grace when training with the Beijing Wushu
team. He made his debut with the 1982 film Shaolin Temple. 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 legendary Chinese folk hero Master Wong Fei Hung.
·
The Fong Sai Yuk films about another Chinese folk hero.
Li starred in the 1995 film High Risk, where Jet Li plays a Captain who
becomes disillusioned after his wife is murdered by crime lords. Along the way,
he pairs up with a wacky sell-out actor, Frankie (played by Jacky Cheung), and proceeds to engage in a
series of violent battles in a high-rise building. The setting is similar to
that of Die Hard and both their Chinese film titles. This
movie is notable in that director Wong Jing had such a terrible experience working
with Jackie Chan in Jing's previous film City Hunter that he chose to make Cheung's
character a biting satire of Chan. Jet Li would later publicly apologize to
Chan for taking part in it.
Li has two wuxia feature films scheduled for release in
2011, The
Sorcerer and the White Snake and Flying Swords
of Dragon Gate,
the latter is helmed by Tsui Hark.
In order to promote tai chi, in 2012 Jet Li will star in a film
titled Tai Chi and will co-produce the movie with Chen
Kuo-Fu. Li will portray Tai Chi masterYang Lu-ch'an.[10][11]
American films
In 1998, he made his American film debut in Lethal Weapon 4 which also marked the first time he had
ever played a villain in a film. He agreed to do Lethal Weapon 4 after the producer Joel Silverpromised to give him the leading
role in his next film, Romeo Must Die (2000) alongside late singer Aaliyah. The film became a box office hit.
Li turned down Chow Yun-fat's role in Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) because he promised his wife
that he would not make any films during her pregnancy.[12] He also turned down the role of Seraph in The Matrix trilogy, based on his belief that the
role was not one which required his skills and that the films were iconic and
stunning enough without adding his name to the cast list.
In 2001, he appeared in two more Hollywood films: The One, which was the first of his films with Jason Statham, and Kiss of the Dragon opposite Bridget Fonda which did moderately well at the box
office. In July 2001, Li agreed to produce and star in an action film 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 and became the
highest-grossing motion picture in Chinese film history at the time.[13] In 2003 he reunited with producer Joel
Silver for the action thriller film Cradle 2 The Grave where he starred alongside rapper DMX and fellow martial artist Mark Dacascos. In 2004, Li lent his likeness,
voice and provided motion capture work for the video game Jet Li: Rise to Honor.
Li took on a more serious role in the 2005 film, Unleashed (a.k.a. Danny the Dog), where he portrayed an adult with the
mentality of a child who has been raised like an animal. Although his martial
arts skills were utilized extensively, it was a somber film with more depth
than had been previously seen in Li's films, and co-starred dramatic actors Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman.
In 2006, the martial arts film epic Fearless, was released worldwide. Although he
will continue to make martial arts films, 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 Jun, the
student and avenger of Huo Yuanjia (aka Fok Yun Gap), as well as Huo Yuanjia
himself. Fearless was released on January 26, 2006 in
Hong Kong, followed by a September 22, 2006 release 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.
Li has stated in an interview with the Shenzhen Daily newspaper that this will be his last
martial arts epic, which is also stated in the film's television promotions.
However, he plans to continue his film career in other genres. Specifically, he
plans to continue acting in action and martial arts films; epic films deal more
with religious and philosophical issues.
Li's 2007 Hollywood film, War, was released in August of that year, and re-teamed him with
actor Jason Statham, who previously starred with him
in The One, and action choreographer Corey Yuen. War raked in a disappointing
$23 million at the box office, becoming one of Li's lowest grossers in
America; however, it was a hit on video, accumulating nearly $52 million
in rental revenue, more than doubling its box office take. With the exception of Romeo Must Die and the worldwide release of Hero, most of Li's American films have been only modest hits like Kiss Of The Dragon, The One, Unleashed, Cradle 2 the Grave, and the worldwide release of Fearless.
He has a very good control of the strength of every fist and kick.
In the past, he used too much strength, those that get hit would be in great
pain. He's the archetype of power. [...] Yes, he's still the best.
—Yuen Woo-ping martial arts choreographer
In late 2007, Li returned again to China to participate in the
China/Hong Kong co-production of the period war film The Warlords with Andy Lau andTakeshi Kaneshiro. This film with its focus on
dramatics rather than martial arts netted Li the Hong
Kong Film Award for Best Actor.
Li and fellow martial arts veteran Jackie Chan finally appeared together onscreen for
the first time in The Forbidden Kingdom, which began filming in May 2007 and
was released to critical and commercial success on April 18, 2008. The film was
based on the legend of the Monkey King from the Chinese folk novel Journey to the West. Li also starred as the lead villain in
the fantasy action film The
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with actors Brendan Fraser, Isabella Leong and Michelle Yeoh.
After a one-year hiatus from filmmaking, Jet Li returned to acting
in 2010, portraying a mercenary in the film The Expendables, teaming up with action stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Randy Couture. It was the third time he had
teamed up with Statham. In 2012, he reprised his role briefly in the sequel The Expendables 2 and will return for the third film The Expendables 3.
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