Jason Statham (pronounced /ˈsteɪθəm/; born on 12 September 1972) is an English actor and martial artist, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Revolver; and Snatch. Statham appeared in supporting roles in several American films, such as The Italian Job, as well as playing the lead role in The Transporter, Crank, The Bank Job, War (opposite martial arts star Jet Li), and Death Race. Statham solidified his status as an action hero by appearing alongside the old-school action film actors Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren in The Expendables. He normally performs his own fight scenes and stunts.

Early life

Statham was born in Sydenham, South London, the son of a lounge singer and dressmaker-turned-dancer. He moved to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where he chose not to follow his father's career working on the local market stalls and decided to pursue the arts. He also played football for the local grammar school (1978–83), but his real passion was diving. He would practice daily with Daniel T. Johnson in perfecting his diving techniques, - in particular, he finished 12th in the World Championships in 1992. He was also a member of Britain's National Diving Squad for twelve years.

Statham's life in media began when he was spotted by a talent agent specialising in athletes while training at London's Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Afterwards, he became a model for the clothing brand Tommy Hilfiger.

Career

While working for French Connection, he was introduced to fledgling British director Guy Ritchie who was developing a film project and needed to fill the role of a street-wise con artist. After learning about Statham's past, Ritchie cast him to play the role of "Bacon" in Ritchie's breakout 1998 hit, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The movie was well received by both critics and audiences, which helped catapult Statham into the public eye. Statham's second collaboration with Ritchie came in the 2000 film Snatch.[10] Cast alongside popular actors Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina and Benicio del Toro, and with the movie earning more than $80 million in box-office revenues, Statham was able to break into Hollywood and appeared in two movies in 2001: Ghosts of Mars and The One.

Statham was offered more film roles and in 2002 was cast as the lead role of driver Frank Martin in the action movie The Transporter, in which his background in martial arts enabled him to do most of his own stunts. The film spawned two sequels, Transporter 2, in 2005[10] and third Transporter film in 2008. He also played in supporting roles in The Italian Job (2003) (in which he played Handsome Rob) Cellular (2004) where he played the lead villain[10] and had a cameo in Collateral (2004). In 2005, Statham was once again cast by Ritchie to star in his new project, Revolver which was a critical and box office failure. He also played a dramatic role in London that same year. In 2006 he played the lead role in Crank. Statham compares his role in Crank to his real life in the September 2006 issue of Maxim. He subsequently starred in the critical and box office failures War (2007) and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2008). That same year he starred in the British crime thriller The Bank Job which was both a critical and box office success. Recently he reprised his role from 2006's Crank in Crank 2: High Voltage which did not do very well either critically or commercially.

Statham in 2006

In 2008, American film critic Armond White hailed Statham's ascension as the leading international action film star. On the occasion of Death Race, White championed Statham's "best track record of any contemporary movie star." Later in 2008, White praised Statham's Transporter 3 as a great example of kinetic pop art.
In 2009, he started to develop a new movie written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples (Twelve Monkeys). Statham stated “We’ve got a movie we’re trying to do, written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, in the vein of an old film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It’s not a remake or anything, but it’s a little bit like that, about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is The Grabbers," and the release date is still unknown.

In 2010, Statham appeared alongside fellow action stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke, among others in The Expendables. Statham plays Lee Christmas, a former SAS soldier and expert at Close Quarters Combat using knives.

He will also star in the action film, The Killer Elite. According to Variety the film will be based on real events, which were the subject of Sir Ranulph Fiennes' fictional novel The Feather Men. Statham will play a former Navy SEAL named Danny who comes out of retirement in order to save an old friend who will be played by Clive Owen.

Personal life

Statham is unmarried, but was in a seven year relationship with model Kelly Brook until 2004. Since April 2010, he has been dating Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

Statham is also a fan of mixed martial arts (MMA) and has attended many mixed martial arts pay per views, usually put on by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Filmography



Box office performance

Since 1998, Statham has appeared in over twenty films. Several have been box office hits, such as Snatch and The Bank Job. He has starred in two sets of film series, The Transporter and Crank. The films he has been in have grossed a total of more than $1 billion USD at the box office, with the highest individual film being The Italian Job.

Izvor: Wikipedia

 

Jason Statham - attends "Killer Elite" Premiere - 2011 TIFF held at Roy Thomson Hall, September 10, 2011