Jason Starham

Jason StathamJason Statham is an English actor. He is known for portraying characters in various action-thriller films who are typically tough, hardboiled, gritty, or violent. Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickboxing, and karate recreationally in his youth while working at local market stalls. Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickboxing, and karate recreationally in his youth while working at local market stalls. An avid footballer and diver, he was a member of Britain’s national diving team and competed for England in the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Shortly after, he was asked to model for French Connection, Tommy Hilfiger, and Levi’s in various advertising campaigns. His past history working at market stalls inspired his casting in the Guy Ritchie crime films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000).The commercial success of these films led Statham to star as Frank Martin in the Transporter trilogy (2002–2008). After starring in a variety of heist and action-thriller films such as The Italian Job (2003), Crank (2006), War (2007), The Bank Job (2008), The Mechanic (2011), Spy (2015), and Mechanic: Resurrection (2016), he established himself as a Hollywood leading man. However, he has also starred in commercially and critically unsuccessful films 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). He regained commercial success as a 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), Fast X (2023), and the spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019). He was credited as a co-producer on Hobbs & Shaw, receiving his first production credit.Statham moved to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where he initially chose not to follow his father’s career working the local market stalls, instead practising martial arts. He grew up with football player Vinnie Jones, alongside whom he would later act. Jones introduced him to football, and Statham went on to play for the local grammar school (1978–1983), which he had attended since age 11, a passion that he shared with diving.Statham’s life in the media began when he was spotted by the agency Sports Promotions specialising in sports modelling while he was training at London’s Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. He was also signed by Tommy Hilfiger, Griffin, and Levi’s for various modelling contracts during their 1996 spring/summer collections.An article by Times Higher Education reported that Manchester University Press commissioned an academic study analysing the impact Statham has had on the British and American film industries from his debut in 1998 to 2018. According to the article, professors Steven Gerrard and Robert Shail are looking to show “the changing face of British cinematic masculinity” into “one that embraces cinema across a wide range of projects, but one that also uses cross-textual media in his output”.Jason Statham was born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, to Eileen (Yates), a dancer, and Barry Statham, a street merchant and lounge singer. He was a Diver on the British National Diving Team and finished twelfth in the World Championships in 1992. He has also been a fashion model, black market salesman and finally of course, actor. He received the audition for his debut role as Bacon in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) through French Connection, for whom he was modeling. They became a major investor in the film and introduced Jason to Guy Ritchie, who invited him to audition for a part in the film by challenging him to impersonate an illegal street vendor and convince him to purchase fake jewelry. Jason must have been doing something right because after the success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) he teamed up again with Guy Ritchie for Snatch (2000), with co-stars including Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina and Benicio Del Toro. After Snatch (2000) came Turn It Up (2000) with US music star Ja Rule, followed by a supporting actor role in the sci-fi film Ghosts of Mars (2001), Jet Li’s The One (2001) and another screen partnership with Vinnie Jones in Mean Machine (2001) under Guy Ritchie’s and Matthew Vaughn’s SKA Films. Finally in 2002 he was cast as the lead role of Frank Martin in The Transporter (2002). Jason was also in the summer 2003 blockbuster remake of The Italian Job (1969), The Italian Job (2003), playing Handsome Rob.Throughout the 2000s, Statham became a star of juicy action B-films, most significantly Crank (2006) and Crank: High Voltage (2009), and also War (2007), opposite Jet Li, and The Bank Job (2008) and Death Race (2008), among others. In the 2010s, his reputation for cheeky and tough leading performances led to his casting as Lee Christmas in The Expendables (2010) and its sequels, the comedy Spy (2015), and as (apparently) reformed villain Deckard Shaw in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019). Apart from these blockbusters, he continued headlining B-films such as Homefront (2013).Jason Statham spent 12 years on the British national diving team, competing on the 10-meter platform and the 3-meter springboard. In 1992, he was ranked 12th in the world as a platform diver.Well trained in Mixed Martial Arts and is an expert in Kickboxing/Jujitsu.A competent martial artist with a background in kickboxing, wing chun and karate, Statham frequently does his own stunts and, prior to his acting career, toyed with the idea of being a stuntman himself. Throughout his career, Statham has frequently called for there to be an Academy Award to celebrate the work of stunt men and women, being quoted as saying “I think it is an overlooked category, especially considering how much responsibility these coordinators have for some of the greatest entertainment in action movies. I mean, all of the stunt men-these are the unsung heroes. They really are. Nobody is giving them any credibility. They’re risking their necks. And then you’ve got poncy actors pretending like they’re doing [the stunts].”.In 2017, he had his first child, a son with his partner, model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.You ain’t ever gonna get an Academy Award for doing Crank (2006) and you certainly won’t for doing all the other movies I’ve done.[on being directed by Sylvester Stallone in The Expendables (2010)] He is someone that you have to respect and with that he runs a very relaxed set.[on preparing for action roles] I go to this gym full of stunt men. There aren’t any TVs or treadmills there. This is a spit-and-sawdust kind of place. It has a lot of great training aids – trampolines and bags and every weapon ever invented to do harm to a human being. If you want to know how to throw a knife it’s great.Growing up where I did, you met a lot of colorful characters whose business was on the other side of the law, or more likely you didn’t know what they were up to, and you never would. So playing those kinds of characters now, I can draw on that. The rest of it, you can practice or learn from books. But mostly, I draw from my experiences. That’s all I have, you know.You see a lot of action films, and it’s almost (like) you can’t tell who’s doing what. It’s chopped up so much, you just see a fist, a leg – it’s all driven by the sound, boom, pow, boom. You wouldn’t know what was happening otherwise. The people who inspired me growing up, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, that’s the real deal. You see them, the camera’s way back, there aren’t a lot of cuts – you feel like you’re really in there. Today, there’s so much technology and green-screen and CGI, you can turn your grandma into an action star. But people are getting wise to that, I think. There’s no substitute for the real thing.Became a father for the 1st time at age 49 when his fiancée Rosie Huntington-Whiteley gave birth to their son Jack Oscar Statham on June 24, 2017.He enjoys wakeboarding, jet skiing, wind surfing, and rock climbing.He is trained in Karate, Wushu, Wing Chun Kung Fu, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Kickboxing.Prior to The Transporter (2002) he already had a background in martial arts which enabled him to perform his own fight sequences.He cites Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Lee, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Clint Eastwood as his inspirations.Offered the role of Agent 47 in Hitman (2007) after Vin Diesel was dropped from the project. Timothy Olyphant eventually took the role.Paid $10,625,000 to purchase a 3,355-square-foot oceanfront house in the Malibu Colony in Malibu, California. In addition, since mid-2005 has owned a 2,281-square-foot house in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills, which he purchased for $2.4 million.Though he never won a medal during his 12 year diving career, Statham competed in the 1990 Commonwealth games and came close to competing for Great Britain in the Olympics three times: 1988, 1992, and 1996. At each Olympic trial, he placed third – only two of his fellow countrymen were taken each time. Not seeing it as having been a waste of his time, he noted, “Despite the hard work, the failure to win a medal made me more disciplined, taught me to focus on hard work and determined me for the success of my future endeavours.”.