Jet Li
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Jet Li

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Jet Li
Jet Li
The latest news on Jet Li, Chinese-born Singaporean martial artist and actor, including celebrity news and updates.<br />
Born
26 Apr 1963
Industry
Entertainment, Film
Job Title
Actor
Bella Yuen tattoos a client at her Hong Kong studio. The artist, who is greatly influenced by Chinese calligraphy and painting, is one of a group in the city taking inspiration from traditional elements to create something new. Photo: Nic Tse
SCMP Highlights

Women tattoo artists, history behind viral Adidas jacket: 7 Lifestyle highlights

From the Hong Kong women tattoo artists making their mark to the “frog buttons” in Adidas’ viral jacket, here are five stories from SCMP’s recent reporting.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Why Jet Li and Wong Jing’s The New Legend of Shaolin is underrated

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Hong Kong society

Yuen Cheung-yan, veteran Hong Kong actor and action choreographer, dies at 69

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How Stephen Chow and Donnie Yen reinvented Bruce Lee’s classic Chen Zhen

Fist of Fury 1991 with Stephen Chow and TV series Fist of Fury with Donnie Yen saw two different versions of Bruce Lee’s famous character.

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Donnie Yen in a still from the television drama series Fist of Fury (1995).
Trending in China

China martial arts icon Jet Li goes shirtless to dispel heart transplant rumours

After Shaolin monk Qiufeng’s body was reported to have suture marks, rumours began to swirl, especially since Li was hospitalised during same month.

European cinema

Why Jet Li’s action thriller Kiss of the Dragon was banned in China

Kiss of the Dragon was a box office success in 2001, but its racial stereotyping, violence and sexual frankness caused it problems in China.

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Hong Kong

How Girls with Guns movies made stars of Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung

The armed-and-dangerous women genre of the 1980s and 90s was a rollicking roller-coaster during Hong Kong’s silver screen heyday.

Michelle Yeoh, one of the Girls with Guns genre’s early stars, in 1985 film Yes, Madam. Photo: D&B
History

Truth behind a martial arts legend played by Jet Li and Jackie Chan

It has been 100 years since the death of kung fu master Wong Fei-hung who was little known during his lifetime.

From our archives

Recap | Sammo Hung honoured, Bruce Lee’s legacy, Jackie Chan’s breakthrough and more

Explore the legacies of martial arts legends Sammo Hung, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and their impact on Hollywood and Hong Kong cinema.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Was remaking classics like Police Story, A Better Tomorrow a good idea?

We look at four remakes of classic Hong Kong films, from a Jackie Chan-led Police Story from the 2000s to a riff on Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury.

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Ekin Cheng in a still from Return to a Better Tomorrow.
John Lee policy address 2024

Opinion | Hong Kong must own its martial arts and action film cultural heritage

The cultural heritage of Hong Kong related to Chinese martial arts has not been fully tapped to attract tourists and action film buffs.

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People take selfies with a statue of Bruce Lee at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin on July 20, the 51st anniversary of his death. Photo: Eugene Lee
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

All 10 Once Upon a Time in China movies and rip-offs rated

Tsui Hark’s film series that originally starred Jet Li as martial arts legend Wong Fei-hung spawned several knock-offs, such as Kickboxer.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

3 Jet Li action movies fusing guns and kung fu – before he went to Hollywood

Jet Li reinvented himself in the 1990s from a period kung fu movie star to a modern action hero. We look at three of his gun fu films fusing firearms and fighting, before he left Hong Kong for the US.

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American cinema

Why Jet Li’s Danny the dog role in Unleashed didn’t help him crack Hollywood

Jet Li received praise for his role as Danny the dog in Luc Besson’s gritty 2005 action movie. While he shone among co-stars such as Morgan Freeman, it didn’t help the martial arts actor crack Hollywood.

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Jet Li as Danny in a still from Unleashed. The Chinese actor received critical acclaim for his performance alongside heavyweights including Morgan Freeman in the 2005 action film, but it didn’t make him a Hollywood staple. Photo: Universal Pictures
From our archives

Hello Kitty murder, Jet Li’s manager shot: archive stories most read in 2023

Crime, crime and more crime: these were the stories from Post archives that most interested readers in 2023, from the grisly Hello Kitty murder case to the underworld assassination of Jet Li’s manager.

The murder and dismemberment in Hong Kong of a woman kidnapped and tortured for weeks, and whose head was found stuffed in a Hello Kitty soft toy (above), was among the most read stories from the Post’s archives that we presented in 2023. Photo: SCMP
Hong Kong

Opinion | Happy day for Hong Kong cinemas could have been showcase of local films

The offer of HK$30 movie tickets will boost the cinema business, but the campaign should have done more for the local film industry. Not only are classic Hong Kong films far from forgotten, recent releases depicting local issues show that the industry is worthy of support.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Explainer | From Jet Li to Wong Kar-wai, the 1990s: last golden age of Hong Kong cinema

The 1990s was the last golden age of Hong Kong cinema, with a slew of groundbreaking films that produced new stars such as martial arts actor Jet Li and art-house darling Wong Kar-wai.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

The stellar movie career of Michelle Reis, ‘nice girl who can play nasty’

The Julia Roberts of Hong Kong was the Post’s early verdict on Michelle Reis, who had no acting training but excelled opposite Jet Li, Leon Lai and Stephen Chow in a string of 1990s hits.

Michelle Reis poses during an interview with the Post in October 1993. The model and beauty pageant winner turned actress was ever-present on Hong Kong screens in the 1990s. Photo: SCMP
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Explainer | King Hu, Chang Cheh, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan: a martial arts cinema history

From the film that changed everything to fighting with fists instead of swords, girl power and the birth of a legend, milestones in the development of Hong Kong martial arts cinema.

American cinema

How Jackie Chan’s The Forbidden Kingdom became a ‘Crouching Tiger for kids’

With Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Li Bingbing in the cast, and a crew including legendary fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, The Forbidden Kingdom should have been a better film.

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American cinema

How the China-set second sequel to The Mummy buried the popular franchise

Despite co-starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, and having some stunning locations, this US-China film fell totally flat, with one-dimensional characters, awful dialogue and terrible CGI.

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Jet Li in a still from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
American cinema

How 2012’s The Expendables 2 short-changed Chinese viewers

The Expendables 2 had been planned as a China-US co-production and was meant to star Donnie Yen Ji-dan alongside Sylvester Stallone. Hasty changes had to be made to the script when that fell through.

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Sylvester Stallone in a still from The Expendables 2.
Asian cinema

The 25 best Asian martial arts movies of the 21st century ranked

Asia is famous for its martial arts films, and here is our pick of the 25 best from the past two decades, for their slick fight choreography and drama.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Maggie Cheung had ‘no interest’ in martial arts films – but did them anyway

The In the Mood for Love actress didn’t go looking for roles in martial arts films, but when she did take them she excelled, notably in Hero with Jet Li and Tony Leung Chiu-wai and in Wong Kar-wai’s Ashes of Time.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Jet Li’s The One, Jackie Chan’s Police Story: favourite martial arts tales

From Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Zhang Ziyi in Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster to Jackie Chan in Police Story and Gordon Liu in Dirty Ho, a look back at some of the great Hong Kong martial arts movies.

Jet Li in The One. Photo: F.Masi/Columbia Studios/ZUMA Press/courtesy of Revolution/Columbia Studios
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Why Hollywood didn’t get the best out of martial arts star Jet Li at first

In Lethal Weapon 4 and Romeo Must Die, Jet Li got his Hollywood career off to a steady start. But neither film fully showcased the Chinese martial arts star’s unique talents.

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In his first major Hollywood movie, Jet Li played an evil villain in director Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon 4.
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

They risked their lives so stars like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan didn’t have to

Featuring interviews with stars including Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung, new film Kung Fu Stuntmen is a tribute to the brave, unsung heroes of Hong Kong action movies.

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Fame and celebrity

Which celebrities renounced their Chinese citizenships?

Mulan star Liu Yifei moved to the US with her mother at the age of 10, becoming a naturalised American citizen, while Jet Li and Gong Li both adopted Singaporean passports

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