(Jet Li) Li Lianjie; born April 26, 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese martial artist, actor, film producer, wushu champion, and international film star who was born in Beijing, and has taken up Singaporean citizenship in 2009.
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 17, 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), but his first Hollywood film leading role was in Romeo Must Die (2000). He has gone on to star in many Hollywood action films, most recently co-starring in The Expendables (2010) with Sylvester Stallone, in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) with Jackie Chan, 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.
Jet Li was Wushu (a martial art) national champion in China several times. He got his first part as a shaolin disciple in the film Shaolin Temple. His first attempt at directing, Born to Defense (1986) (Born to defend), met with failure. It was good film regardless, because it was the first time Li directed and had more realistic fight scenes.
Jet Li started training at the Beijing wushu academy (wushu is China's national sport, largely a performance version of various martial art styles) at age eight. He won five gold medals in the Chinese championships, his first when he was only 11. In his teens, he was already a national coach, and before he was 20 he had starred in his first movie: _Shao Lin tzu (1979)_ (Shaolin Temple), which started the 1980s Kung-Fu boom in mainland China. He relocated to Hong Kong, where he was the biggest star of the early 1990s Kung-Fu boom as well.
Jet Li, 1963 was born on April 26 in Beijing, China, the English name of Jet Li. Famous action star, an international martial arts star , martial artist, philanthropist, "One Foundation" founder , "International Martial Arts Federation", "Chinese Wushu Association," ambassador, "Wu World Fair" image ambassador. Singapore Chinese nationality. Who lives in Beijing, Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore, created the Foundation: One Foundation.