Jason Statham Jason Statham (/ˈsteɪθəm/ stay-thəm;[2][3] born 26 July 1967)[4][5][6][7][8][9] is an English actor, producer, martial artist, and former diver. He is known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He has also appeared in films such as The Italian Job, The Transporter, Death Race, Crank, The Bank Job, War,The Expendables, and The Expendables 2. He usually performs his own stage combat and stunts,[10] and is noted for being typecast as an antihero. Early life Statham was born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England, the son of Eileen (née Yates), a dancer, and Barry Statham, a street seller and lounge singer.[7][11][12][13][14] He moved to Great Yarmouth,Norfolk, where he initially chose not to follow his fathers career working the local market stalls and decided to pursue the arts. He grew up with football player Vinnie Jones, alongside whom he would later go on to act. Jones introduced him to football, and Statham went on to play for the local grammar school (1978–1983), which he had attended since the age of 11, a passion that he shared withdiving.[15] He practised daily in perfecting his diving techniques, and was a member of Britains National Diving Squad for twelve years. Stathams life in the media began when he was spotted by the agency Sports Promotions specialising in sports modelling while he was training at Londons Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Afterwards, he became a model for the clothing brand French Connection. A spokesperson for the high street clothing chain said: We chose Jason because we wanted our model to look like a normal guy. His look is just right for now: very masculine and not too male-modelly.[8] However, he was still forced to follow in his fathers footsteps as a street seller to make ends meet, selling fake perfume and jewellery on street corners according to Statham.[11] He made small appearances in a few music videos including Comin On Strong by The Shamen in 1993, Run to the Sun by Erasure in 1994 and Dream a Little Dream of Me by The Beautiful South in 1995. Career Statham signing autographs at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con International. While working as a model for French Connection, he was introduced to fledgling British director Guy Ritchie[18] who was developing a film project and needed to fill the role of a street-wise con artist. After learning about Stathams past as a black market salesman, Ritchie cast him to play the role of Bacon in his 1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.[19] The movie was well received by both critics and audiences, and helped catapult Statham into the public eye. Stathams second collaboration with Ritchie came in the 2000 film Snatch, playing the role of Turkish. Cast alongside popular actorsBrad Pitt, Dennis Farina and Benicio del Toro, and with the movie earning more than $80 million in box-office revenue, 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 he was cast as the lead role of driver Frank Martin in the action movie The Transporter, in which he was responsible for his own stunts (Statham has made this choice for all of his films).[20] He has studiedWing Chun kung fu, karate, and kickboxing.[21] The film spawned two sequels, Transporter 2 (2005) andTransporter 3 (2008). Statham posing with a fan at the ShoWest – Lionsgate Luncheon in March 2007. He also played supporting roles in Mean Machine(2002), The Italian Job (2003) (in which he played Handsome Rob), and Cellular (2004) in which he played the lead villain. In 2005, Statham was once again cast by Ritchie to star in his new project,Revolver, which was a critical and box office failure.[22] He played a dramatic role in theindependent film London in 2006. That same year he played the lead role as Chev Chelios in the action film Crank which spawned the sequel Crank: High Voltage (2009). In 2008, Statham starred in the British crime thrillerThe Bank Job and Death Race, a remake of Death Race 2000 (1975). American film critic Armond White hailed Stathams ascension as the leading international action film star. On the occasion ofDeath Race, White championed Stathams best track record of any contemporary movie star.[23] Later in 2008, White praised Stathams Transporter 3 as a great example of kinetic pop art. In 2009, Statham started to develop a new movie written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples (12 Monkeys). Statham stated Weve got a movie were 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 its a little bit like that, about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is The Grabbers. In 2010, Statham appeared alongside fellow action stars Sylvester Stallone, 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. In 2011, Statham starred in the remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film, The Mechanic, and returned to British film in the police drama Blitz. He also starred in the action film Killer Elite. The film was based on real events, which were the subject ofSir Ranulph Fiennes fictional novel The Feather Men. Statham played an assassin named Danny who comes out of retirement to save an old friend, who was played by Robert De Niro.[25] In August 2011, he began filming Parker for director Taylor Hackford; the film was released in January 2013. Statham played Parker, the criminal antihero previously played by Mel Gibson in 1999s Payback and by Lee Marvin in 1967s Point Blank (though their characters were given different surnames).[26] His 2012 releases were The Expendables 2, in which he reprised his character Lee Christmas, and Safe. Statham had a cameo in Fast & Furious 6 (2013). He may portray the main antagonist of Fast and Furious 7, Ian Shaw, the brother of the antagonist in Fast & Furious 6, Owen Shaw.[27] Statham has advocated for stunt performers to be given their own category at the Oscars en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Statham.
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 02:30:45 +0000
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