Jason Statham Biography

English born, Syndenham, London raised, Statham is the second son of a dancer and a lounge singer. Although he had artistic talent running through his veins, he instead focused on his athletic abilities at the high dive. His diving abilities were so impressive that he joined the British Olympic team in 1988 in Seoul, Korea. After 10 years in the National Diving Squad, a talent agent led him to the modeling industry. His modeling career doubled for his work on the street as a salesman of stolen and fake goods. "I was a sort of fly pitcher street corner con man who sold jewellery and perfume out of a briefcase for many years." Interestingly enough, this is how he met director Guy Ritchie who ended up launching his career in the Indie hit, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Guy had been convinced by Statham to buy his worthless merchandise, and when he tried to return it, Statham was so graciously inflexible that Ritchie hired him. "When he met me, he had written Lock Stock and had a part that was pretty much bang on to me. He wanted an authentic kind of character, and that was me, because they don't teach you that kind of thing in drama school". Read more bio...