Jason Statham was born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, to Eileen (Yates), a dancer, and Barry Statham, a street merchant and lounge singer. Statham has done quite a lot in a short time. He has been a Diver on the British National Diving Team and finished 12th in the World Championships in 1992. He has also been a fashion model, black market salesman and finally of course, actor. He got 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 is also in the summer 2003 blockbuster remake of The Italian Job (1969), The Italian Job (2003), playing Handsome Rob.

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Trivia

Did nearly all of his own stunts in The Transporter (2002), including car chase sequences, scuba diving sequences and fight sequences.
His break into the entertainment business came when an agent put him on an advertisement for the French Connection clothing company.
Prior to The Transporter (2002) he already had a background in martial arts which enabled him to perform his own fight sequences.
Was originally set play Private Cooper in Dog Soldiers (2002), but dropped out to star in Ghosts of Mars (2001).
Offered the role of Agent 47 in Hitman (2007) after Vin Diesel was dropped from the project. Timothy Olyphant eventually took the role.
Well trained in Mixed Martial Arts and is an expert in Kickboxing/Jujitsu.
Has appeared in three different films in which his character gets attacked with an axe, The Transporter (2002), Transporter 2 (2005) and War (2007).

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.