Jet Li is a famous Chinese actor known worldwide as one of the most prominent martial arts film actors. He has been starring in Chinese films since 1982, but only made his debut in Hollywood with 1998’s Lethal Weapon 4. By the time he landed his breakout role in 2000’s Rome Must Die, Li was already 37 years old. This video gives us a rare glimpse of Li at a young age, long before he was a well known Hollywood action star.

Li is only 14 years old at the time of this Wushu competition. The name Wushu is Chinese for martial arts and can be broken down into 2 disciplines: forms and sparring. Li was a competitor in the forms discipline. He would go on to win the competition, along with 14 others in his career. This led him to America, where he performed an exhibition for then President Richard Nixon along with the rest of the Chinese National Wushu Team. According to Li, Nixon asked him to be his personal bodyguard. Li replied “I don’t want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!”

Much of Li’s success in Hollywood can be attributed to the fact that he is a legit martial arts practitioner and champion. He’s not an actor who trained for 6 months and learned just enough to be in the movie. Audiences know that when they watch Li kicking ass on screen, he’s doing it with real techniques perfected with years and years of practice. Judging from this video, he’s been very good at it for a very long time.