Li Lian Jie, better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese martial artist, actor, film producer, wushu champion, and international film star.
Li was born Li Lianjie in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Li's father died when he was two years old, leaving the family to struggle on its own, with Li being the youngest of two boys and two girls. 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 of wushu in the non-sparring event.
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.
* Fist of Legend (Chinese title: Jing Wu Ying Xiong), a remake of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury.
* 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.
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 Silver promised to give him the leading role in his next film, Romeo Must Die which was a box office hit.
Li and fellow martial arts veteran Jackie Chan 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.
After an one-year hiatus from filmmaking, Jet Li returned to acting in 2009, portraying a mercenary in the film The Expendables, teaming up with action stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Randy Couture.
Li is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. His master is Lho Kunsang of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of the Kagyu school.
In 1987, Li married Beijing Wushu Team member and Kids from Shaolin co-star Huang Qiuyan,[12] with whom he had two daughters. They divorced in 1990, Since 1999, he has been married to Nina Li Chi (born Li Zhi), a Shanghai-born, Hong Kong-based actress. He has two daughters with her as well, Jane (born 2000) and Jada (born 2002).
Li was in the Maldives when a tsunami hit during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Although it was widely reported at the time that he had died during the disaster, he only suffered a minor foot injury, caused by a piece of floating furniture, while he was guiding his 4-year-old daughter Jane to safety. The two were by the pool and slightly above the beach when the wave came ashore.
In 2009, Li who previously had American citizenship, after years working in the United States, is thought to have renounced his American citizenship and taken up Singaporean citizenship, although no official confirmation has been provided by Singapore authorities. On July 28, 2009, the chairman of One Foundation (the Charity fund of Jet Li) announced that Jet Li had indeed become a Singaporean citizen. He was said to have chosen Singapore for its education system for his two daughters.