Jet Li
Li Lianjie, better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese-born Singaporean martial artist and actor. Jet began studying martial arts at the age of eight and won his first national championship three years later. As part of a world tour in 1974, he had the honor of performing a two-man fight for President Nixon on the White House lawn. For five years, he successfully defended his All-Around National title.
Shortly after retiring from the sport at the age of 17, he was offered many starring roles and subsequently began on his film career in Asia, completing 25 films before embarking on the next phase of his career in Hollywood where is made his first appearance in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) and went on to star in Romeo Must Die, Hero, Fearless, Unleashed, The Warlords, The Mummy 3 and Ocean Heaven.
Beyond his acting career, Jet founded the One Foundation in 2005, after a near death experience surviving the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. His dedication to philanthropy and his cultural impact through martial arts and cinema have solidified his legacy as a global icon. Since 1997, Jet has been a student of Tibetan Buddhism, a practice that led him to study under renown masters.
His debut mind, body, spirit, book BEYOND LIFE AND DEATH is forthcoming from TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Random House.