Jet Li

Biography

Jet Li (Li Lianjie) is a Chinese martial arts star and actor born in Beijing on April 26, 1963. He entered Beijing's Shichahai Sports School in 1971 and specialized in wushu, winning second place in the specified weapons and boxing events at the Third National Games of China in 1975, followed by five consecutive national wushu championships. His film career took off in 1982 when he starred in "Shaolin Temple" directed by Zhang Xinyan, sparking a massive Shaolin martial arts craze. He collaborated with director Tsui Hark on the Wong Fei-hung series and "Swordsman II," earning a Golden Horse Best Actor nomination in 1992. He achieved great success with films like "Fong Sai-yuk" and "Legend of the Fist," then moved to Hollywood and appeared in numerous international films. His career peaked with "Hero" in 2002, which broke Chinese box office records, and he won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor in 2008 for "The Warlords," becoming the first mainland Chinese actor to receive the honor. He founded the One Foundation charity after surviving the 2004 tsunami, and in 2013 was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, which affected his health.