Jet Li

Jet Li Lianjie is a Chinese martial artist, actor, and philanthropist whose career spans over four decades. Born in Beijing as the youngest of four children, he lost his father at two years old and grew up in poverty. At eight, his martial arts talent was noticed during a school summer course, leading to intensive training under coaches Li Junfeng and Wu Bin at the Beijing Sports and Exercise School.

Li joined the Chinese national wushu team at eleven, participating in international demonstration tours across North America and Hong Kong. In late 1974, he joined the newly formed Beijing Wushu Team and earned four national all-around championship titles between 1975 and 1979. He mastered numerous competitive martial arts styles, including changquan and fanziquan, as well as various traditional weapons. A knee injury forced his retirement from competitive wushu at age eighteen, after which he spent several years as an assistant coach.

Li transitioned to acting, adopting his professional name Jet Li in 1982 while working in the Philippines. He made his cinematic debut in Shaolin Temple (1982), a record-breaking box-office success that spawned two sequels and helped revitalize Chinese kung fu cinema. He established himself as a prominent Asian action star through the Once Upon a Time in China film series, portraying folk hero Wong Fei-hung. He also directed Born to Defence (1988) and starred in notable productions including Swordsman II, Fong Sai-yuk, Fist of Legend, High Risk, Black Mask, and Hitman.

In 1998, Li made his international debut playing a villain in Lethal Weapon 4, which led to his first Western starring role in Romeo Must Die (2000). His global filmography expanded through European-produced action titles like Kiss of the Dragon (2001) and Unleashed (2005), as well as American projects including The One (2001), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), and War (2007). Concurrently, he returned to Asian historical productions, starring in Hero (2002), Fearless (2006)—conceived as his final traditional wushu epic—and The Warlords (2007).

In 2008, Li starred in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and shared the screen with Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom. Between 2010 and 2014, he played a mercenary in the first three films of action ensemble franchise The Expendables. His later acting credits included wuxia features such as Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011), co-producing and starring in Tai Chi (2012), and playing the Emperor of China in the 2020 live-action feature Mulan.

Beyond film, Li established the One Foundation in 2007, which became China's first registered private charitable fundraising organization in 2011, and co-founded the Taiji Zen online health program. In 2009, he created the Wuji physical fitness regimen in collaboration with Adidas. His accolades include the East West Players Visionary Award in 2002, the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor, and a 2023 induction into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame. He was also repeatedly listed among Forbes's top Chinese celebrities and named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2010.