The transcript below is from the video “Jet Li || 15 Things You Need To Know About Jet Li” by Beautiful Program.

Beautiful Program:

Jet Li is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion. He was born on April 26, 1963, in Beijing, China, and was the youngest of two boys and two girls. Li was 8 when his talent for Wushu was noticed as he practiced at a school summer course. He then attended a non-sparring wushu event, followed by joining the Beijing Wushu Team which did a martial art display at the All China Games.

Beautiful Program:

After 3 years of training with acclaimed Wushu teacher Wu Bin, Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. After retiring from competitive Wushu at age 19, he went on to win great acclaim in China as an actor, making his debut with the film Shaolin Temple.

In 1987, Li married Beijing Wushu Team member and Kids from Shaolin co-star Huang Qiuyan, with whom he has two daughters, Si and Taimi. They divorced in 1990. In 1999, Li married Nina Li Chi, a Shanghai-born, Hong Kong-based actress. He has two daughters with her, Jane and Jada.

Beautiful Program:

In 2009, Li, who previously had US citizenship after years working in the United States, renounced his US citizenship.

Li was cast as the Emperor of China for the 2020 live-action movie, Mulan. In 2012, he reprised his role briefly in the sequel The Expendables 2 and returned for the third film The Expendables 3 in 2014. In 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 and Takeshi Kaneshiro. This film, with its focus on dramatics rather than martial arts, netted Li the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor.

Beautiful Program:

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 18 April 2008. The film was based on the legend of the Monkey King from the Chinese folk novel Journey to the West.

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 publicised events at a time when China’s power was seen as eroding.

Beautiful Program:

Li was presented the Visionary Award by East West Players, the oldest Asian American theatre in the United States, in 2002 by contemporary John Woo. The award recognizes “artists who have raised the visibility of the Asian Pacific American community through theater, film and television.”

In 1998, he made his international film debut in Lethal Weapon 4 which also marked the first time he had ever played a villain in a film. In 2001, he appeared in two more 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 2002, the period martial arts epic film Hero was released in the Chinese market.

Beautiful Program:

This film was both a commercial and critical success and became the highest-grossing motion picture in Chinese film history at the time. 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 had two wuxia feature films released in 2011, The Sorcerer and the White Snake and Flying Swords of Dragon Gate; the latter was helmed by Tsui Hark.

To promote tai chi, in 2012, Li starred in a film titled Tai Chi and co-produced the movie with Chen Kuo-Fu. Li portrayed Tai Chi master Yang Luchan.