Jason Statham was born on July 26, 1967, and is a renowned English actor known for his tough, hard-boiled, gritty, or violent on-screen personas in various action-thriller films.
Growing up, Statham engaged in recreational Chinese martial arts, kickboxing, and karate training while working at local market stalls. An avid footballer and diver, he was a member of Britain's national diving team and even competed for England in the 1990 Commonwealth Games.
After being asked to model for prominent fashion brands, Statham's past experience working at market stalls inspired his casting in Guy Ritchie's crime films, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000).
The success of these films led to Statham being cast as Frank Martin in the Transporter trilogy (2002-2008),followed by a string of heist and action-thriller films, including The Italian Job (2003),Crank (2006),War (2007),The Bank Job (2008),The Mechanic (2011),Spy (2015),and Mechanic: Resurrection (2016),solidifying his status as a Hollywood leading man.
Although he has also starred in films that received mixed reviews, such as Revolver (2005),Chaos (2005),In the Name of the King (2007),13 (2010),Blitz (2011),Killer Elite (2011),Hummingbird (2013),and Wild Card (2015),Statham regained commercial success as part of the ensemble action series The Expendables (2010-2014) and the Fast & Furious franchise.
In the latter, he has played Deckard Shaw in Fast & Furious 6 (2013),Furious 7 (2015),The Fate of the Furious (2017),F9 (2021),and the spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019),for which he received his first production credit as a co-producer.
Despite receiving criticism for his acting lacking depth and variety, Statham has been praised for his role in leading the resurgence of action films during the 2000s and 2010s. According to a BBC News report, his film career from 2002 to 2017 generated an estimated $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) in ticket sales, making him one of the film industry's most bankable stars.
