Li Lianjie was born on April 26, 1963; The world would come to know him as Jet Li. He acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce. They likened his career to an aircraft, which likewise "takes-off" as quickly, so they placed the name Jet Li on the movie posters.
Li is regarded by many as one of the most iconic Chinese film stars and one of the most renowned martial arts stars of his generation; but how did it all really begin? (and curiously, how did it end)?
At the age of 2, Li lost his father and the family ended up living in poverty as a result. By the age of 8, due partly to the Chinese government’s involvement, Li started training at the Beijing wushu academy. It didn’t take long for the coaches to realize that Li was different, that he had the physical capacity and interest to perform “admirably” for the glory of China.
After just 3 years of rigorous training with acclaimed Wushu teacher Wu Bin, Li built his coordination, balance, speed, strength power and technique to such a high degree that he won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team at the age of 11.
His prize was a trip to Washington D.C. to meet then president Richard Moe Nixon, at least I think that’s what the M stands for anyway.
Between 1974 and 1979, Li would win the title of Men’s all around national Wushu champion 5 times, beating out all of the adults during his pre-teen and teenage years.
After retiring from competitive Wushu at the age of 18, Li went on to great acclaim as an actor in China and made his debut with the film Shaolin Temple. The film instantly catapult him to stardom in East Asia and helped start the 1980s Kung-Fu boom in Mainland China.
There would be several more films in China during the 80s before he relocated to Hong Kong, where he became the biggest star of the early 1990s Kung Fu Boom there. He went on to star in many critically acclaimed films, most notably the 3 films in the Once Upon a Time in China series from 1991-1993 and then 1994’s Fist of Legend, which was a remake of Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury.
Jet Li’s movie career in China and Hong Kong is credited with reviving Wushu in Hong Kong martial arts films in the 1990s, as well as revitalizing the Shaolin Temple. The films also made a notable contribution to the international popularity of newer Wuxia films.
Wuxia literally means “martial heroes”, and is a genre of Chinese Fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China.
Wuxia films first began in the 1920s; however, the popularity of the genre came to an abrupt halt in 1931when the Chinese government banned them as they were deemed responsible for brewing anti-government sentiment.
Jet Li was inspired by the success Jackie Chan was getting abroad and decided to pursue Hollywood as well. The opportunities in America were certainly there and he was offered the part of Deacon Frost in Blade (1998), but opted to do Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) instead. This ended up being a wise choice as that film wound up grossing $285 million. Interestingly, that film would be the first time Jet Li would play a villain.
It wouldn’t be long before Li returned to playing a Hero, which he did in 2000’s Romeo Must Die. In this modern Kung Fu take on Romeo and Juliet, Li played the lead role opposite the late Aalyiah. The film was produced by Joel Silver, who was getting tired of American Action films at the time and was looking to do something fresh. Jet Li’s fans weren’t too happy with the overuse of wirework in a modern setting.
Next came Kiss of the Dragon, which really captured the hard-hitting tone Li fans were looking for. The film received mixed reviews, with some critics feeling the violence was a bit too much; let me know in the comments below what you think about that related to Kiss of the Dragon.
Li would reappear in 2014’s 3rd installment of the Expendables; however, his appearance was pretty much limited to 5 minutes of screentime in the watered down pg-13 rated film that primarily focused on a younger team of Expendables.
Around the time of The Expendables 3, jet li went public and announced that he was suffering with Hyperthyroidism and a photo of him appeared that shocked and concerned the public as it looked like he aged about 20 or 30 years.
When summarizing the film career of Jet Li, it’s important to remember that he achieved everything he set out to do. According to Li, everything he has ever wanted to tell the world can be found in three of his films: the message of Hero (2002) is that the suffering of one person can never be as significant as the suffering of a nation; Unleashed (2005) shows that violence is never a solution; and Fearless (2006) tells that the biggest enemy of a person is himself. Li thinks that the greatest weapon is a smile and the largest power is love.