Are your ready for some action?

Among all the remarkable action/martial arts movie stars over the last 20 years or so, several of them truly stand out such as Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, probably Jean-Claude Van Damme.

(Maybe you have your own favorites that haven’t been mentioned here. Let me know by sending in your comments.)

There are movie performers most people remember and who are quite frankly household names.

One such martial artist and movie performer I am always impressed with is Li Lianjie.

“Who the heck is that?”, you ask.

I admit I also only knew him by his stage name, Jet Li.

For many years, Jet Li has worked extremely hard to get where he is now in his career.

And obviously his hard work and determination have paid off for him and his family.

Especially if you consider that his mother had to somehow pull him, his bother and two sisters through as a widow in Beijing during the Sixties.

As a teenager, Jet Li rigorously trained in Wushu for several years, winning countless titles and national gold medals.

Jet Li became a member of the high-acclaimed national Wushu team that even performed for then-U.S. President Nixon in the United States.

In those days it was an extraordinary honor and opportunity for Chinese to be able to travel overseas and even more so to perform in front of “the leader of the free world”. Jet Li was still just a teenager at the time!

His abilities and achievements as a Wushu forms practitioner paved the way for Jet Li’s acting in martial arts movies that started in China, then Hong Kong and ultimately the United States. He has become a global superstar throughout the years.

You might have seen him in some of his movies such as:

Shaolin Temple

Once Upon A Time In China

Lethal Weapon 4(This was the first time I had ever seen Jet Li and I was impressed!)

Romeo Must Die

Hero

Cradle 2 The Grave

Fearless

War (with Jason Statham)

The Forbidden Kingdom (with fellow superstar Jackie Chan)

I have learned that Jet Li is a cast member along with Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Staham, Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in  “The Expendables” which is scheduled to be released in 2010. More on that at a later date.

But there is also another side to Jet Li such as his charitable activities, notably after his near-death experience in 2004 in the Maldives during a tsunami.

Reportedly, Jet Li’s “The One Foundation” supports international disaster relief efforts with the Red Cross and other efforts, such as recovery in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Jet Li continues to impress on and off the big screen.

If you enjoy watching Jet Li either at age 14 performing Wushu form for his first championship or as the bad guy in Lethal Weapon 4, stop by TheMartialArtsReporter.com

 

By: The Martial Arts Reporter

There is plenty of overpriced artwork hanging on some peoples walls, but I’m not one of those people. Posters, provide a great affordable, alternative to original or limited edition prints. Not everyone can afford to have an original Vincent van Gogh in their house, but most can afford some nice framed posters of his original work. I like to change the art on my walls regularly. Moving the frames around from room to room, can help keep the price down, and still make your el-cheapo posters look like original works of art. Not to mention, it’s a whole lot cheaper just buying new posters, instead of original or limited edition prints.

Why is it that kids are always decorating their walls with rock stars, sports stars, and movie stars? I do have a poster of Captain Jack from Pirates Of The Caribbean on my office door. Movie posters use to be for promotional purposes only, but not anymore.

I really like posters from the movie Pulp Fiction here. It is cool, and Travolta’s character was cool in the movie, even he professionally cashed in his cool bank account with a flop called Battlefield Earth.