Born in Derbyshire, England, he began practicing kung fu, kickboxing and karate recreationally in his youth while working at local market stalls. An avid footballer and diver, he was tapped by Britain's national diving team to compete in the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Shortly after, he was asked to model for French Connection, Tommy Hilfiger, and Levis in various advertising campaigns. Statham's past professional history working in market stalls 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 star as Frank Martin in The Transporter trilogy (2002–08). After starring in a variety of heist and thriller films such as The Italian Job (2003), Crank (2006), War (2007), The Bank Job (2008), The Mechanic (2011), Spy (2015), and Mechanic: Resurrection (2016), he established himself has a leading actor in Hollywood. He would find further commercial success in the action series The Expendables (2010–14) and the Fast and the Furious franchise. His character in the latter, Deckard Shaw, would be featured in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), and more recently is set to reprise in a spin-off, Hobbs and Shaw (2019).
His career as an actor and producer has been criticized by critics for lacking depth and variety, and praised by the media for leading the 2000s and 2010s action movie resurgences. 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,[1][2] making him one of the movie industry's most bankable stars.[1][2] 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.
