Jet LI
Jet Li Lianjieis a Chinese martial artist, actor, and philanthropist. With a career spanning more than forty years, he is regarded as one of the most iconic Chinese film stars and one of the greatest martial artists in the history of cinema. His film career in Asia is credited with reviving Hong Kong kungfu films as well as Shaolin Temple.
Li was trained as a wushu athlete at the Beijing Shichahai Sports School and went on to win multiple national championships with the Beijing Wushu Team between 1974 and 1979. After his retirement from the sport in 1979, he made his acting debut with the Hong Kong film Shaolin Temple (1982), a runaway success followed by two sequels in 1984 and 1986. Li established himself as a leading action star with the Once Upon a Time in China series (1991–1993), in which he portrayed Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung, followed by Born to Defence (1988), which is his directorial debut, Swordsman II (1992), Fong Sai-yuk (1993), Fist of Legend (1994), High Risk (1995), Black Mask (1996), and Hitman (1998).
Li made his Hollywood debut as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), followed by his first Hollywood leading role in Romeo Must Die (2000). He went on to star in international productions such as Luc Besson-produced films Kiss of the Dragon (2001) and Unleashed (2005). He returned to Asia with Hero (2002), followed by Fearless (2006) and The Warlords (2007). In 2008, he starred in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and The Forbidden Kingdom, which marked his first collaboration with fellow kungfu star Jackie Chan. From 2010 to 2014, he appeared in the first three of the action film series The Expendables.
As a philanthropist, Li founded One Foundation in 2007, which was registered in 2011 as the first private charitable fundraising organization in China. He also co-founded Taiji Zen, an online health program providing instruction in meditation and tai chi. Li topped Forbes's list of China's richest stars in 2004 and ranked 10th on the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2004, 3rd in 2008, 6th in 2009, 24th in 2010, 8th in 2011, 22nd in 2012, and 41st in 2013. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in 2010.
