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...to Hollywood that is.

This article was spawned when I saw a most on a thread that went along these lines:

"I don't take martial arts, but I watch a lot of Jackie Chan. It's cool" (Not exact wording)

I was gritting my teeth when I read this post and this is why.

Of all the Chinese actors that made it to Hollywood, only two can ever be considered as martial artists. Bruce Lee (of course) and Jet Li.

So why not Jackie Chan? Well there is a simple answer to this. He is a comedian; he was never a martial artists to start off with. One might ask at this point how come he's not one? Well for one, he came from a Chinese opera background.

Here's where the subtleties come in. Chinese opera is very acrobatic and is, in a way, staged martial arts, especially with weapons. The better the opera is performed, the more realistic the moves are like. Thus, it is why many opera actors can often pass as martial arists.

Yes many of them do their own stunts. But that's because there is no stunt doubles in Chinese operas where they come from.

This does not mean they are martial artists in the sense that just because you are a mechanic doesn't necessarily mean you can drive.

This is the case of many other "martial arts" actor from Hong Kong.

Hey let's not forget that he also admitted, Tito, Randy, and Chuck would kill him.. and they're also movie stars... kinda. Oh and Sakuraba's a movie star in japan... same with ... Rampage. Hence I know way too much about Sakuraba than is healthy!

Well said.
His background might have been the opera, but I'm sure he trained heavily in full martial arts aswell. Not forgetting that the chineese opera (especially back then) was hardcore. I'm not saying he's the best fighter in the world or even anything close to it, but I doubt he's a bad martial artist either.

I think when I said Jet Li was a martial artist, I meant by the background training they've had. Training in Chinese opera and in martial arts can be viewed as similiar but in fact are very different. Maybe I'm pointing out the obvious here but I wanted to clarify.

in order to have this debate wouldnt we theoretically need to clearly discuss and define 'martial arts'?

A clear definition of martial arts, and what it means/takes to be a martial artist.

Exactly. It would be (and pretty much has been so far) a moot point arguing whether or not who is and who isn't a martial artist without first agreeing on a solid definition of "Martial Arts". Once we achieve an agreement on how we define it, then we can properly articulate ourselves and make this discussion more productive.

No?