Jet Li

Born 26 April 1963, Li Lianjie trained at the Beijing Shichahai Sports School and swept national wushu championships from 1974 to 1979. He retired from competition that year and three years later made his film debut in Shaolin Temple (1982), a hit that spawned two sequels and pulled Hong Kong kungfu cinema back from the brink. The Once Upon a Time in China series (1991-1993) locked him in as the face of folk hero Wong Fei-hung, followed by a string of Asia-based action leads through the mid-nineties. In 1998 he entered Hollywood as the villain in Lethal Weapon 4, then took the lead in Romeo Must Die (2000) and Luc Besson's Kiss of the Dragon (2001) and Unleashed (2005). He split the next decade between prestige Asian work - Hero (2002), Fearless (2006), The Warlords (2007) - and big ensemble franchises, including The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Forbidden Kingdom (his first film opposite Jackie Chan), and the first three Expendables entries. Off-screen he founded One Foundation in 2007, China's first registered private charitable fundraiser, and co-launched Taiji Zen; Time named him one of the hundred most influential people in 2010.