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Jason Statham

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Jason Statham
Jason Statham TIFF 2011.jpg
Statham at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2011.
Born (1967-07-26) 26 July 1967 (age 47)
Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom
Occupation
  • Actor
  • film producer
  • martial artist
Years active 1998–present

Jason Statham (/ˈsteɪθəm/ STAY-thəm;[1][2] born 26 July 1967)[3][4][5][6][7][8] is an English actor, producer, martial artist, and former diver. He is known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Snatch (2000), and Revolver (2005). He has also appeared in films such as the action thriller The Transporter trilogy (2002–08), the heist film The Italian Job (2003), the black comedy/action film Crank (2006), the action film War (2007), which co-starred Jet Li, the science fiction action thriller Death Race (2008), the crime film The Bank Job (2008), and the action-comedy Expendables film series (2010–14). He usually performs his own stage combat and stunts,[9] and is noted for being typecast as an antihero.

Early life

Jason Statham was born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England, the son of Eileen (née Yates), a dancer, and Barry Statham, a street seller and lounge singer.[6][10][11][12][13] He moved to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where he initially chose not to follow his father's career working the local market stalls and decided to pursue 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 the age of 11, a passion that he shared with diving.[14] He practiced daily in perfecting his diving techniques, and was a member of Britain's National Diving Squad for twelve years.[15][16] Statham competed for England at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.[17]

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. 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."[7] However, he was still forced to follow in his father's footsteps as a street seller to make ends meet, selling "fake perfume and jewellery on street corners" according to Statham.[10] 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 Statham's past as a black market salesman, Ritchie cast him to play the role of "Bacon" in his 1998 crime comedy thriller Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.[19] The movie was well received by both critics and audiences, and helped put Statham in the public eye. Statham's second collaboration with Ritchie came in the 2000 film Snatch, playing the role of "Turkish". Cast alongside popular actors Brad 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: the science fiction action horror film Ghosts of Mars and the science fiction Martial arts action film 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 studied Wing Chun kung fu, karate, and kickboxing.[21] The film spawned two sequels, Transporter 2 (2005) and Transporter 3 (2008).

Statham 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 the independent film London in 2006. That same year he played the lead role in the action film Crank which spawned the sequel Crank: High Voltage (2009).

In 2008, Statham starred in the British crime thriller The Bank Job and Death Race, a remake of Death Race 2000 (1975). American film critic Armond White hailed Statham's ascension as the leading international action film star. On the occasion of Death Race, White championed Statham's "best track record of any contemporary movie star."[23] Later in 2008, White praised Statham's 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. Statham stated "We've got a movie we're 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 it's a little bit like that, about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is The Grabbers."[24]

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 of Sir 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 1999's Payback and by Lee Marvin in 1967's Point Blank (though their characters were given different surnames).[26]

He reprised his role as Lee Christmas in The Expendables 2 in 2012. In 2013, Statham had a cameo in Fast & Furious 6 as Ian Shaw, brother of the film's antagonist Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). He will portray the main antagonist in Fast and Furious 7 which will release in April 2015.[27] That year, he also starred opposite James Franco in the thriller Homefront and starred in the British thriller Hummingbird. Statham made a cameo in the 2014 music video Summer of Calvin Harris as one of the car racers.[28] In 2014 he returned as Lee Christmas in The Expendables 3. He is set to appear in the action comedy Spy in 2015.

Statham has advocated for stunt performers to be given their own category at the Oscars.[29]

Influence in popular media

In the comic book series Ultimate Spider-Man, that series' version of the villain Vulture was rendered by artist Mark Bagley to resemble actor Statham, as per writer Brian Michael Bendis' instructions.[30]

Personal life

Statham was in a seven-year relationship with model Kelly Brook, until 2004.[31][32] Since April 2010, he has been dating model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.[33]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Bacon
2000 Snatch Turkish
Turn It Up Mr. B
2001 Ghosts of Mars Sergeant Jericho Butler
One, TheThe One MVA Agent Evan Funsch
Mean Machine Monk
2002 Transporter, TheThe Transporter Frank Martin
2003 Italian Job, TheThe Italian Job Handsome Rob
2004 Collateral Airport man Cameo appearance
Cellular Ethan Greer
2005 Transporter 2 Frank Martin
Revolver Jake Green
London Bateman
Chaos Detective Quentin Conners
2006 Pink Panther, TheThe Pink Panther Yves Gluant Uncredited
Crank Chev Chelios
2007 War FBI Agent John Crawford
2008 Bank Job, TheThe Bank Job Terry Leather
In the Name of the King Farmer Daimon
Death Race Jensen Garner "Frankenstein" Ames
Transporter 3 Frank Martin
2009 Crank: High Voltage Chev Chelios
2010 13 Jasper Bagges
Expendables, TheThe Expendables Lee Christmas
2011 Mechanic, TheThe Mechanic Arthur Bishop
Gnomeo & Juliet Tybalt Voice only
Blitz Detective Sergeant Tom Brant
Killer Elite Danny Bryce
2012 Safe Luke Wright
Expendables 2, TheThe Expendables 2 Lee Christmas
2013 Parker Parker
Fast & Furious 6 Ian Shaw Cameo appearance
Hummingbird Joey Jones Released as Redemption in the U.S. and Crazy Joe in France.
Homefront Phil Broker
2014 The Expendables 3 Lee Christmas
2015 Wild Card Nick Wild
Furious 7 Deckard Shaw
Spy Rick Ford
2016 Mechanic: Resurrection Arthur Bishop Post-production

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2002 Red Faction II Shrike Voice only
2003 Call of Duty Sergeant Waters Voice only

References

  1. ^ BBC "Jason Statham interview" (video). BBC. Retrieved 18 May 2009. 
  2. ^ "Jason Statham interview on ROVE (live in studio) – Bank Job" (video). Rove. Australia. 13 July 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2009. 
  3. ^ Nguyen, Lan N. (7 October 2002). "NOT THE USUAL STUNT CASTING HOW REFRESHING! ACTION STAR ISN'T AFRAID TO BREAK A SWEAT". New York Daily News. Retrieved 16 November 2010. Statham, now 35, has left his scruffy past well behind. He has his first leading role in an action flick... 
  4. ^ Graham, Renee (7 March 1999). "Crime and comedy do pay With `Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,' Guy Ritchie launches his career with a bang". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 15 November 2010. He's new to this acting thing, having spent a good chunk of his 31 years as a street huckster with an eye for suckers. 
  5. ^ "Director riding high – lock, stock and barrels". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. 7 March 1999. Retrieved 16 November 2010. For "Lock, Stock," Ritchie hired several nonprofessionals for the cast, including Statham, 31, who spent five years selling stuff on the streets. 
  6. ^ a b Born July–September 1967, according to the Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.
  7. ^ a b "Jason Statham stays true to himself". London: The Star-Ledger News. 3 June 1995. Retrieved 5 March 2011. 
  8. ^ Whitty, Stephen (30 January 2011). "To baldly go where no mane's grown before". The Star-Ledger News. Retrieved 21 February 2011. "It’s funny," the 43-year-old says with a tight grin. "They never ask me to play lawyers." ... 
  9. ^ Endelman, Michael (1 September 2006). "Five Things You Should Know About Jason Statham". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 1 November 2009. 
  10. ^ a b "Today Show Interview Jason Statham". Today Show. Retrieved 11 March 2013. 
  11. ^ Khayyat, Oday (January 2009). "Fast Action Hero". NOX. Archived from the original on 2011-11-13. Retrieved 16 November 2010. 
  12. ^ "STATHAM, Jason". BFI. 2010. Retrieved 16 November 2010. 
  13. ^ Corcoran, Monica (3 September 2006). "Action Bloke". The New York Times. 
  14. ^ www.dirt.com (14 June 2012). "Jason Statham Bio". dirt.com. www.dirt.com. Retrieved 18 August 2012. 
  15. ^ Iley, Chrissy (5 October 2008). "Jason Statham, last action hero". The Times (UK). Retrieved 8 June 2009. 
  16. ^ Barlow, Helen (13 July 2008). "All action". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 November 2009. 
  17. ^ Rice, Simon (23 July 2014). "Commonwealth Games: Watch Jason Statham diving at the 1990 Games". The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2014. 
  18. ^ AskMen (1996–2012). "Jason Statham". AskMen. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 18 August 2012. 
  19. ^ Filmbug (1998–2012). "Jason Statham". Filmbug. MISJA.COM. Retrieved 18 August 2012. 
  20. ^ Sidrah Zaheer (2011). "10 Most Popular Actors Who Do Their Own Stunts". Tip Top Tens. Tip Top Tens. Retrieved 18 August 2012. 
  21. ^ Jason Statham interview USAToday.com, 10 October 2002.
  22. ^ Silver, James (3 October 2005). "How to flog a turkey". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 22 May 2010. 
  23. ^ White, Armond. "Transcendent Thrill Drive". Nypress.com. Retrieved 22 August 2010. 
  24. ^ Sampson, Thomas (17 September 2008). "Jason Statham up for The Grabbers". The Hollywood News. Retrieved 26 January 2009. [dead link]
  25. ^ Swart, Sharon (14 May 2009). "Jason Statham embraces 'Killer Elite'". Variety. Retrieved 19 August 2010. 
  26. ^ Mike Fleming (writer) (20 June 2011). "FilmDistrict Acquires Taylor Hackford-Helmed 'Parker' With Jason Statham". Deadline.com. Retrieved 6 February 2014. 
  27. ^ Keyes, Rob. "'Fast & Furious 6' Post-Credits Scene & 'Fast & Furious 7' Villain Revealed". Screenrant. Retrieved 16 February 2013. 
  28. ^ "It's fast and furious! Jason Statham makes a cameo appearance in Calvin Harris' brand new video Summer". Daily Mail. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014. 
  29. ^ Jason Statham calls for stunt Oscars
  30. ^ Brucie, Dylan (March 2007). "Ultimate Spider-Man". Wizard Xtra!. p. 117.
  31. ^ Nashawaty, By Chris (24 August 2007). "Cut To The Chase". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 1 November 2009. 
  32. ^ Day, Elizabeth (1 November 2009). "Kelly Brook". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 2 November 2009. 
  33. ^ "Rosie Huntington-Whiteley cozies up to One Direction in Glamour: 'The lads are like puppies – they're adorable!'". New York Daily News (NYC). 3 July 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013. 

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