Word: li
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...that their careers have outlasted those of Western action stars? Chan has been in nearly 100 films since he did bit parts as a child actor. Li's been making movies nonstop for 26 years. Shouldn't their bodies, let alone their audiences, have given up by now? Steven Seagal made fewer than 20 features. Jean-Claude Van Damme had about a decade's worth of wide releases. Arnold Schwarzenegger managed 20 years of action stardom, and he's considered the gold standard...
Then there's the work. Contrast Chan's and Li's homemade, our-pain-for-your-gain, almost literally death-defying feats with those of Hollywood action stars from the same generation. Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris--they all looked fit and muscular, and some had martial-arts backgrounds. But when it came time to do the heavy lifting, especially as they reached midcareer, the doubles were usually called...
...action films, or they are working in the direct-to-DVD subbasement, or they have retired to government service. And Chan, 30 years after he became an East Asian star with Drunken Master, still has a two-continent career: Cantonese-language films at home, the Rush Hour movies here. Li, who became a Hong Kong superstar with the Once upon a Time in China series, segued to the West with hit movies in Hollywood (Romeo Must Die) and France (Fearless...
...true that they're both a bit younger than Stallone or Norris; this month marks Chan's 54th birthday and Li's 45th. But the two stars have been training and punishing their bodies since they were kids. When he was 8, Chan went to live and learn at a draconian martial-arts school. By 11, Li was the star of China's junior wushu team; in 1974 he performed on the White House lawn for President Nixon. So Chan's and Li's real ages, in Hong Kong action-movie years, are about 108 and 90, respectively...
...actors whom Chan and Li most closely resemble are the comedy stars of early Hollywood: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, all onstage since youth. In films full of physical derring-do, they prided themselves on executing their own graceful maneuvers and extravagant stunts. The other big silent-action hero, Douglas Fairbanks, was famous for his perilous leaps between high structures. His reckless agility, as much as his radiant smile, made him a worldwide sensation...