One of the world's biggest action stars, Jet Li Lian Jie was born on April 26, 1963 in the outskirts of Beijing, China in a town named Heibei. At a young age, he developed an interest in wu shu (the dominant martial art in Mainland China, favored by the government because it promotes movement rather than force) and enrolled in an academy. The school's teacher, Wu Ben, took an immediate interest to Li, seeing his natural talent. Over the years, Wu and Li would develop a father/son relationship, which was mad - www.hkfilm.net

Jet Li was Wushu (a martial art) national champion in China several times. He got his first part as a shaolin disciple in the film Shaolin Temple. His first attempt at directing, Born to Defense (1986) (Born to defend), met with failure. It was good film regardless, because it was the first time Li directed and had more realistic fight scenes. IMDb Mini Biography By: Mini Biography - www.imdb.com

Name at birth: Jet Li Lian JieJet Li was a martial arts champion as a child and now he's a martial arts movie star in the U.S. and China. His first Hong Kong action movie, 1979's Shaolin Temple, helped make him a national hero in China, and he appeared in dozens of kung fu movies in the 1980s and '90s, including Tai Chi Master (1993) and Fist of Legend (1994). Later in the 1990s he made the leap to Hollywood, appearing in Lethal Weapon IV (1998, with Mel Gibson), Romeo Must Die (2000, co-starring Aaliyah an - www.answers.com