ACTOR · BORN 1967
Jason Statham
- Born
- 26 July 1967, Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England, UK
- Known for
- Furious 7 (2015), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), The Fate of the Furious (2017), Snatch (2000)
63 archived facts 5 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (63)
- #001
Jason Statham spent 12 years on the British national diving team, competing on the 10-metre platform and 3-metre springboard. In 1992 he ranked 12th in the world as a platform diver.
- #002
Jason Statham is well trained in mixed martial arts and is proficient in kickboxing and jujitsu.
- #003
Jason Statham grew up in Great Yarmouth and chose martial arts over following his father's work on the local market stalls.
- #004
A capable martial artist with a background in kickboxing, Wing Chun and karate, Statham often performs his own stunts and had toyed with the idea of becoming a stuntman himself before his acting career. Throughout his career Statham has repeatedly called for an Oscar to celebrate the work of male and female stunt performers, and was quoted as saying: "I think it's an overlooked category, especially considering how much responsibility these coordinators have for some of the greatest entertainment in action movies. I mean, the stunt guys - they're all unnamed heroes. They really are. Nobody gives them any credibility. They risk their necks. And then you've got the poppy actors who are doing the acting. It's like they're doing [the stunts]."
- #005
Jason Statham attended a local grammar school from 1978 to 1983 and grew up alongside football player Vinnie Jones, who introduced him to football.
- #006
Statham performed almost all of his own stunts in The Transporter (2002), including car chase scenes, scuba diving scenes and fight scenes.
- #007
Jason Statham spent 12 years in Great Britain's National Swimming Squad and competed for England at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in the 10 metre, 3 metre and 1 metre events, finishing tenth, eleventh and eighth. In a 2003 interview he described the squad as a "great experience" that taught him "discipline, focus, and certainly [kept him] out of trouble".
- #008
In 2014 he was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame.
- #009
Jason Statham was discovered by the sports modelling agency Sports Promotions while he was training at London's Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.
- #010
He became a father for the first time at 49 when his fiancée Rosie Huntington-Whiteley gave birth to their son Jack Oscar Statham on 24 June 2017.
- #011
Jason Statham held modelling contracts with Tommy Hilfiger, Griffin and Levi's for their 1996 spring and summer collections, and in 1997 he modelled for the clothing brand French Connection.
- #012
He enjoys wakeboarding, jet skiing, windsurfing and rock climbing.
- #013
A spokesperson for the high street chain said Jason Statham was chosen because the brand wanted a model who looked like a normal guy, describing his look as very masculine and not too male-modelly.
- #014
Before The Transporter (2002), he already had a background in martial arts that allowed him to perform his own fight scenes.
- #015
Jason Statham also worked as a street seller to make ends meet, saying he sold fake perfume and jewellery on street corners, and appeared in music videos including the Shamen's "Comin' On" in 1993, Erasure's "Run to the Sun" in 1994 and the Beautiful South's "Dream a Little Dream of Me" in 1995.
- #016
He has trained in karate, Wushu, Wing Chun Kung Fu, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and kickboxing.
- #017
Jason Statham was working as a model for French Connection when he was introduced to filmmaker Guy Ritchie, who was developing a film and needed someone to play a streetwise con artist.
- #018
Although he never won a medal during his 12-year diving career, Statham competed at the 1990 Commonwealth Games and came close three times to competing for Great Britain at the Olympics: 1988, 1992 and 1996. He finished third at each Olympic trial; each time only two of his countrymen made the competition. Saying he did not see it as a waste of time, he stated: "Not winning a medal despite all the hard work made me more disciplined, taught me to focus on hard work and enabled me to achieve success in my future endeavours."
- #019
He cites Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Lee, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood as his inspirations.
- #020
Jason Statham was paid £5,000 for his role in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), a film that was well received by critics and audiences and helped bring him into the public eye.
- #021
He became a father for the second time at 54 when his fiancée Rosie Huntington-Whiteley gave birth to their daughter Isabella James Statham on 2 February 2022.
- #022
Jason Statham's second collaboration with Guy Ritchie was Snatch (2000), which earned more than $80 million at the box office and for which Statham was paid £15,000.
- #023
After Vin Diesel was removed from the project, Statham was offered the role of Agent 47 in Hitman (2007). Timothy Olyphant ultimately took the role.
- #024
In 2002, Jason Statham narrated the martial arts documentary Thai Boxing: A Fighting Chance. The film follows three people from very different backgrounds who are all training Muay Thai as they prepare for their next fight.
- #025
His entry into the entertainment business came when an agent put him in an advertisement for the French Connection clothing company.
- #026
He is friends with actor Vinnie Jones and has worked with him three times: first on Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), then Snatch (2000) and finally Mean Machine (2001).
- #027
He paid $10,625,000 to buy a 3,355-square-foot oceanfront house in the Malibu Colony in Malibu, California. In addition, since mid-2005 he has owned a 2,281-square-foot house in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, which he bought for $2.4 million.
- #028
Jason Statham took supporting roles in Mean Machine (2002) and The Italian Job (2003).
- #029
He has played six different characters in recurring roles: Frank Martin (The Transporter), Chev Chelios (Crank), Deckard Shaw (The Fast and the Furious series), Arthur Bishop (The Mechanic), Lee Christmas (The Expendables) and Rick Ford (Spy).
- #030
Jason Statham played the lead villain in Cellular (2004).
- #031
Because of his commitment to Death Race (2008), he turned down his role in RocknRolla (2008).
- #032
In the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series, the Vulture's version of the villain in that series was designed by artist Mark Bagley to resemble Statham, on the instructions of writer Brian Michael Bendis.
- #033
Jason Statham took a dramatic role in the independent film London in 2005 and led the action film Crank in 2006.
- #034
He is a staunch supporter of Nottingham Forest Football Club.
- #035
Jason Statham was considered for the role of Deadshot in Suicide Squad (2016).
- #036
American film critic Armond White praised Jason Statham's rise as an action star, calling his record the best of any contemporary movie star and highlighting Transporter 3 as kinetic pop art.
- #037
Jason Statham became engaged to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on 10 January 2016.
- #038
Jason Statham worked with Chris Evans and Jessica Biel twice, first on Cellular (2004) and then on London (2005).
- #039
Jason Statham reprised his role as Chev Chelios in the 2009 sequel Crank: High Voltage.
- #040
Jason Statham appears briefly, for a little over a minute and a half, in the music video for the British group The Beautiful South's "Dream a Little Dream of Me".
- #041
Jason Statham was in a relationship with Kelly Brook from 1997 to 2004.
- #042
Jason Statham was initially set to play Private Cooper in Dog Soldiers (2002), but left to take a role in Ghosts of Mars (2001).
- #043
Jason Statham starred as Arthur Bishop in the 2011 remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film The Mechanic, his first film of that year.
- #044
Jason Statham was considered for the lead role in Stolen (2012), which went to Nicolas Cage.
- #045
Jason Statham appeared in two films with Ray Liotta, Revolver (2005) and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007); in both he played the main character and Liotta played the antagonist.
- #046
Jason Statham returned to British film with the police drama Blitz, playing Detective Sergeant Tom Brant.
- #047
Jason Statham was offered the lead role in Bronson (2008), but he was not available.
- #048
According to a BBC News report, Jason Statham's film career from 2002 to 2017 generated an estimated 1.5 billion US dollars (1.1 billion pounds) in ticket sales, making him one of the film industry's most reliable stars.
- #049
Jason Statham began filming Parker, directed by Taylor Hackford, in August 2011; the film was released in January 2013.
- #050
Jason Statham appeared in two different films in a scene where his character talks to himself in an elevator in what appears to be a hallucination: once in Revolver (2005) and once in Crank (2006).
- #051
Jason Statham played Parker, a criminal antihero previously portrayed by Mel Gibson in 1999's Payback and Lee Marvin in 1967's Point Blank, though those characters had different surnames.
- #052
Jason Statham starred in three different films in which his character is attacked with an axe: The Transporter (2002), Transporter 2 (2005) and War (2007).
- #053
A 2012 BBC News report estimated that Jason Statham's ten-year film career from 2002 to 2012 produced over one billion dollars at the box office, making him one of the industry's most bankable stars.
- #054
Jason Statham appeared in two films that feature The Stooges' song "I Wanna Be Your Dog": Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Transporter 3 (2008).
- #055
Jason Statham was signed to reprise his role as Lee Christmas in The Expendables 2 in 2012.
- #056
An article by Times Higher Education reported that Manchester University Press commissioned an academic study analysing Jason Statham's impact on the British and American film industries from his 1998 debut to 2018. According to the article, professors Steven Gerrard and Robert Shail intend to show "the changing face of British cinematic masculinity" as "one that embraces cinema across a wide range of projects, but one that also uses cross-textual media in his output".
- #057
Jason Statham appeared in a cameo at the conclusion of Fast & Furious 6 in 2013, playing the brother of the film's antagonist Owen Shaw.
- #058
In February 2017, during Super Bowl LI, Jason Statham appeared alongside Gal Gadot in a 30-second Super Bowl commercial for Wix.com. CNET reported that the ad reached 22 million user views.
- #059
Jason Statham returned as that character in Furious 7, this time as the main antagonist, in the film released in April 2015.
- #060
In 2014, Jason Statham returned as Lee Christmas in The Expendables 3, a film that was critically panned but grossed $215 million against a $90 million budget.
- #061
Jason Statham starred in the action comedy Spy in 2015 alongside Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law and Rose Byrne.
- #062
Jason Statham received a Critic's Choice Award nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy for his role in Spy.
- #063
According to Empire magazine, a Spy 2 was in development in late 2015, with more screen time planned for Jason Statham's character, Rick Ford.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Jason Statham — Wikipedia
- IMDb IMDb
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