Jet Li

Martial artist, actor, and philanthropist who revived Hong Kong kungfu cinema.

He is a martial artist, actor, and philanthropist whose career spans more than forty years.^[1][2] According to Wikipedia, Li is considered by many to be among the most significant Chinese film stars and martial artists cinema has ever produced, with a career exceeding four decades.^[2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Li Lianjie
Born: 26 April 1963
Birthplace: Beijing, China

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Li established himself as a leading action star with the Once Upon a Time in China series from 1991 to 1993.^[3] At the Beijing Sports and Exercise School, now called Beijing Sport University, Li's wushu abilities were first spotted during a summer course when he was eight years old.^[4] In 1974, when he was eleven, Li joined the Chinese national wushu team that traveled to the United States and performed for President Richard Nixon.^[5] Between 1975 and 1979, Li secured the national all-around championship on four separate occasions.^[6]

Because of a knee injury, Li stopped competing in wushu at eighteen, and afterward he served as an assistant coach for the Beijing Wushu team for a number of years.^[7] Li's first movie appearance was in the 1982 film Shaolin Temple, which set box-office records in China.^[8] The year 1998 marked Li's first international film role, playing a villain for the first time in Lethal Weapon 4.^[9]

What the cited sources add

In September 2010, Li posted online that he signed a deal with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to become its first goodwill ambassador.^[10] A 2016 press release confirmed that Donnie Yen replaced Jet Li in the film XXX: The Return of Xander Cage.^[11] In 1982, a publicity company in the Philippines gave Li the screen name "Jet" because they considered his actual name too difficult to pronounce.^[12] According to The Manila Times, the name "Jet" was derived from a childhood nickname he received as a young student, reflecting his speed and grace.^[12]

References

Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Biography.com" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lines, "The Shaolin Temple Movies: The Series That Launched Jet Li's Career", Den of Geek, 6 June 2018; Jr, "Jet Li Walked Away From 3 of the Biggest Movies in History", Showbiz Cheat Sheet, 5 February 2023; "The silver screen's greatest martial arts stars", Stars Insider, 26 August 2024; "What is wushu, which Jet Li studied and made famous in Hong Kong martial arts movies?", South China Morning Post, 22 November 2020; "12 of the best Jet Li movies that redefined martial arts", 24 April 2023; "How Jet Li turned the Shaolin Temple into a kung fu en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "3 Jet Li action movies fusing guns and kung fu – before he went to Hollywood", 3 March 2024 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tsai, "Jet Li unleashes his talent", Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 8 May 2005; Li, "Life Essay: Part 2", Essays; "Jet Li Biography", TalkTalk (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Minami, "People's Diplomacy: How Americans and Chinese Transformed US-China Relations during the Cold War", Cornell University Press, 2024, p. 167; Minami, "People's Diplomacy: How Americans and Chinese Transformed US-China Relations during the Cold War", Cornell University Press, 2024, p. 167 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Li, "Life Essay: Part 9", Essays; "IWUF Ambassadors", IWUF (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: SCMP.com, "Fans of martial arts legend Jet Li were shocked by his recent appearance - here's what's wrong with him", Business Insider Australia, 23 May 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "35年过去了，82版《少林寺》6大主演现状令人吃惊", Sina News, 7 July 2017; 王伟杰, "冲突与引导：文化资源开发中的价值选择", Social Sciences Literature Press, January 2018, p. 299; "回望中国电影20年从5亿人看《少林寺》到票房1日破亿", China Daily, 29 December 2014; "中国电影年鉴", 中国电影出版社 (China Film Press), 1985, p. 46 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: O'Sullivan, "Another Day, Another 'Lethal Weapon'", The Washington Post, 10 July 1998; Schwarzbaum, "Lethal Weapon 4", Time Inc., 17 July 1998 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies", alivenotdead.com. facts only, no text reused. alivenotdead.com
"Donnie Yen Takes Over Jet Li's XXX: The Return of Xander Cage Role", 12 February 2016. facts only, no text reused. joblo.com
Wikipedia, "Jet Li" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "7 Questions For Jet Li", The Manila Times, 14 August 2007, p. C1 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Jet Li (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.