Jason Statham Biography

Broke into acting in such an unconventional way, Jason Statham has really found his path in the film industry through his enactment in action pictures and soared to be one of the most popular actors of the genre by the 21st century, thanks to his past professions which included that of a black market salesman. Born on September 12, 1972 in London, England to a lounge singer and a dressmaker turned dancer who both then ran the business of selling counterfeit products, he grew up following his parents' trail to master the art of "street theater", an euphemism for hustling tourists on London's Oxford Street. In the meantime, this typically shaved bullet-headed guy also developed an interest in sports which thus led him to be an excellent athlete in diving, even was included in the National Diving Squad for 10 years to compete in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic games.
Jason's life began to encounter a turning point when he was spotted by a talent agent specializing in athletes while training London's Crystal Palace National Sport Center by late 1990s. Afterwards became a model for French Connection in either its commercial or print campaigns, he was introduced to British director Guy Ritchie who at that time was working on a film project with this European clothing retailer owner as one of its biggest investors. Sensing that Jason fitted the role of the street con artist he was looking for after learning about the guy's past, Ritchie subsequently cast him to play the role of Bacon in his "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (1999). The movie surprisingly was well-received by both critics and audience, therefore catapulted the fledgling actor to public notice and also to his second collaboration with Ritchie in "Snatch" (2000).
Cast alongside Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina, and Benicio Del Toro, Jason delightfully landed his breakthrough as the flick turned out to be a worldwide box-office hit, scoring more than $80 million with about of the income came from U.S. Consequently able to penetrate American movie scene, he then was included in a series of Hollywood film productions, such as John Carpenter's "Ghosts of Mars" and Jet Li's vehicle, "The One", which both came up in 2001. Going a notch higher by the following year through his role as Frank Martin in the smash hit movie of "The Transporter", this stunning hunk wonderfully continued to create success after another with his performances in "The Italian Job" (2003), "Cellular" (2004), and "The Transporter 2" (2005).
Once again snatched by Ritchie to star in his 2005 effort entitled "Revolver", Jason's star is likely to keep shining brightly as he then appeared in three propitious film projects of 2006, namely "Crank", "Chaos" and "London." Meanwhile, 2007 found him once again starring opposite Li in "War", this time playing an FBI agent hunting down Li's character to avenge the death of his working partner. Things got busier for the hunk during the next two years when he successfully added no less than five stints into his burgeoning resume, which were those for "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" (2008), "The Bank Job" (2008), "Death Race" (2008), "Crank 2: High Voltage" (2009), and "The Brazilian Job" (2009), the latter two would see him reprise his roles of Chev Chelios and Handsome Rob, respectively.
Concerning his love life, Jason once dated a British model turned presenter and screen actress, Kelly Brook, for seven years before gave his heart to Sophie Monk, an Australian singer/actress known as the former member of popular music group, Bardot.