Jet Li Biography

Born in Beijing on 26 April 1963, Jet Li started training in traditional Chinese martial arts when he was just eight years old. By age 11, he had won a national championship and by 19, he had already starred in his first movie called the 'Shaolin Temple' in 1982.

He went on to direct 'Born to Defend', which had realistic fight scenes but it was met with failure. Li then appeared in sequels of 'Shaolin Temple' before playing the folk hero Wong Fei-Hung in 'Once Upon A Time in China' in 1991, which had four sequels in 1992, two in 1993 and one in 1997.

With just a handful of roles under his belt, Li moved to Hong Kong where he became the hottest martial arts star in Asia's booming film industry. Li then portrayed another Chinese hero in the 1993 film 'The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk', with the sequel to this being in the same year.

Li then remade Bruce Lee's 'Fist of Fury' in 1994 in a film entitled 'Fist of Legend'. American audiences first came to know him when he starred as the gang overlord in 'Lethal Weapon 4' in 1998.

Since then he has gone on to appear in a range of Hollywood and Asian films including 'Romeo Must Die' (2000), 'Kiss of the Dragon' (2001), 'Hero' (2002), 'War' (2007) and 'Forbidden Kingdom' with Jackie Chan in 2008. Li also played the emperor in 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' the same year.

In 2010, he played Ying Yang in 'The Expendables' - a role he is reprising in the 2012 film 'The Expendables 2'.

He has been married twice. In 1987, he wed one of his co-stars Huang Qiuyan and they had daughters Si and Taimi before divorcing in 1990. Since 1999 he has been married to actress Nina Li Chi, with whom he has daughters Jane (born 2000) and Jada (born 2002).

Li was the star of a real life disaster in December 2004, when he dragged his young daughter Jane to safety after a deadly tsunami wave crashed through the lobby of their hotel in the Maldives. It was widely reported at the time that he had been killed in the disaster but he only suffered a minor foot injury.