Drawing Jason Statham

Jason Statham (/ˈsteɪθəm/; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor, former model and a competitive diver. Typecast as the antihero, Statham is known for his action-thriller roles and usually performs his own stage combat and stunts.

Born in Derbyshire, England, Statham began working at local market stalls and practiced kung fu, kickboxing and karate recreationally. Also in his youth, he joined Britain's National Swimming Squad as a diver, leading to his competition in the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Shortly after, he was tapped by French Connection, Tommy Hilfiger, and Levis for various modeling contracts. His past professional history inspired his casting in the Guy Ritchie crime films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000).

The commercial success of these films lead him to be cast as Frank Martin in the action thriller The Transporter trilogy (2002–08). He would go on to star in the heist film The Italian Job (2003), the black comedy-action film Crank (2006), the action film War (2007), the heist-thriller film The Bank Job (2008), the action thriller film The Mechanic (2011) along with its commercially successful sequel, Mechanic: Resurrection (2016), the action-comedy film Spy (2015), and the action film series The Expendables (2010–14). Statham introduced Deckard Shaw to the The Fast and the Furious franchise in Fast & Furious 6 (2013) as a cameo, later reprising it in Furious 7 (2015) and The Fate of the Furious (2017). A spin-off of the franchise, Hobbes and Shaw is scheduled for release in July 2019.

According to a BBC News report, his film career from 2002 to 2017 generated an estimated $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) in ticket-sales, making him one of the movie industry's most bankable stars. Statham's impact on the British and American film industries is the subject of an ongoing academic study by Leeds Beckett University due to finish in late 2018.