Jason Statham Biography

Jason Statham (July 26, 1967) is a British actor. He was born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, United Kingdom. His mother, Eileen Yates, which was a dancer, and his father Barry Statham, whom in the beginning was a street merchant and then started singing lounge music. His parents also would set up fake auctions with which they swindle the spectators.

At the age of nine, Jason was surrounded by gangsters and people specialized in swindling people. Over time, Statham began swindling people as well and he did it very well. His family moved to Great Yarmouth, United Kingdom town in which he would meet professional soccer player, Vinnie Jones, who brought him to soccer. He decided to join the team at his elementary school. At that time, he also dabbled in diving. In fact, he was part of the British National Diving Team for twelve years. Jason was a known national athlete and ranked 12th in England.

Once he graduated from high school, he enlisted to the Army but discovered that that was not his way. Then, he quit the Armed Forces to devote himself to martial arts, another of his passions since he was a child. What he learned with this discipline would help him in his future participation in action films.

In 1990, he represented the British National Team in the Commonwealth Games in springboard diving.

To make money for a living, he would go to the fake auctions, and sell perfumes and fake jewelry in the street. At the same time, he would engage with street acting performances which were very appreciated by the people.

Soon after, Jason would be hired to be a model for the French Connection brand. At that moment, he was in a relationship with Kelly Brook, who was a model, actress, swimsuit designer and English television hostess. The relationship will ended by Kelly due to problems related to long hours away from home.

In the world of fashion, he met Guy Ritchie, who later would help him to get a role in his first production in 1998, named “Lock, stock and two smoking barrels” an English comedy that tells the story of four friends who commit different robbery crimes after Eddie (Nick Moran) lost a bet for £ 500,000 against a mafia gangster in a called “three card brag” which was rigged by the gangster. To pay off the debt, he and his friends decide to rob some drug dealers and then, the robbers in turn. This film had a great impact on the English audience. Some years later, Total Film magazine nominated “Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels” as one of the best British films of all time, ranking it in the top 40.

In 2000, after his debut, he starred in “Snatch” directed by Guy Ritchie. Statham shared cast with Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina, and Benicio del Toro. However, what made him a very popular actor internationally was the “Transporter” saga in which he starred. The first movie of the saga was produced in 2002, the second in 2005 and “Transporter 3” 2008.

Statham’s performance was so outstanding that caught the attention of many american directors and critics, who later would call him to be part of different Hollywood productions. Also, he participated in the saga of “The Expendables” (2010, 2012 and 2014) in which he performed with Sylvester Stallone, as well as Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Eric Roberts, Stone Cold and Randy Couture. In 2007, the production of the movie “Hitman” offered him to play the character of Agent 47 after Vin Diesel was excluded from the project, but Jason did not accept the offer. The paper was later accepted by Timothy Olyphant.

His successful acting development allowed him to work in The Italian Job (2003) and Collateral (2004), appeared in Crank (2006), War (2007), The Bank Job (2008), Death Race (2008), Crank: High Voltage (2009), The Mechanic (2011), Blitz (2011), The Killer Elite (2011), Parker (2013), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015) and Mechanic: Resurrection (2016) among others. As of 2010, he had a relationship with the English model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, best known for her work with the brands as Victoria’s Secret and Burberry, occasionally as an actress.

For his martial arts skills, he eventually developed the risky scenes in the films he was acting. Due to his popularity, he was invited to participate in music videos, Comin ‘On (1993) by The Shamen, Run to the Sun (1994) by Erasure and Dream a Little Dream (1995) by The Beautiful South. He was represented in some video games such as: Red Faction II, in this video game he recorded the voice of Shrike, Call of Duty, where he was the voice of Sergeant Waters, and Sniper X with Jason Statham.

His participation in the spin-off of the ninth film of the Fast & Furious saga produced by the important brand Universal Pictures is rumored. The company recently announced that the expected release was to be delayed until the spring of 2020.