"You're too short." That's what I was told when a Hong Kong director turned me down for a movie role. Not long after, I found out the truth.
In this episode of So Be It, Jada and I go back to the year before Shaolin Temple, when I was turned down for a movie role and told it was my height. I also talk about how I fell in love with Hong Kong action cinema in the first place, watching my first Bruce Lee movie at 11 years old, sneaking out to watch Jackie Chan in Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master, both made by Woo-ping, and learning about action legends like Sammo Hung and Lau Kar-leung, the director behind The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
I talk about what it actually felt like to face rejection, and how I decided that even though I couldn't change my height, I could still put in the work to prove myself through skill.
[Jet Li’s New Book] Beyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom.
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00:00 My Dream of Being an Actor
00:28 My First Bruce Lee Movie
03:10 My First Film Offer
05:43 Hong Kong Movies That Made Me Want to Act
07:35 Copying Moves from the Movies
09:35 Why Northern & Southern Kung Fu Look Different
13:55 My Second Chance at Acting
18:12 Turned Down Again
23:55 “Too Short”
26:45 Escaping School to Learn 18 Weapons
30:00 The Director Who Wouldn't Leave
31:42 Princeton University
37:25 How So Be It Applies to My Journey
38:25 Advice for My Younger Self
40:00 Short but Gold
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