Jet Li Lianjie is a martial artist, actor, and philanthropist. With a career spanning more than forty years, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest Chinese film stars and most influential martial artists in cinema history. Li's early work in Asia during the 1980s is credited with introducing the Shaolin Temple to a global audience. During the 1990s, his collaborations with filmmaker Tsui Hark spearheaded wushu representation in Hong Kong action cinema, establishing him as its most prominent practitioner. He simultaneously popularised the wuxia genre before transitioning to Hollywood in the late 1990s. In the decade that followed, his crossover success brought global recognition and solidified his place alongside Jackie Chan as one of the two biggest names in contemporary martial arts films. Born April 26, 1963; 63 today. Alive at the same time as Barack Obama, Pope Francis, Neil Armstrong, Gabriel García Márquez, and Stephen Hawking. Wiki link