"When I go to McDonald's, I want to buy a hamburger, not pizza — and when I go to Pizza Hut, I want pizza, not hamburgers," he says with a smile and a shrug. "When people go to watch Jet Li, they want action. Everybody has your image in mind, including the audience. And they've already decided your image is kung-fu action.

"I hope one day I can do a film where I only act. But that would be really difficult. Movies are still a business. It's difficult for an actor to cross the border from one kind of film to the other."

But not from one country to another. A native of China, Li conquered all of Asia as a martial-arts movie star — and now has made the leap to Hollywood, seemingly without breaking stride. Li broke into the American market in a mere five years, making his Hollywood debut in "Lethal Weapon 4."

In "Cradle 2 the Grave," the hip-hop martial-arts film opening today, he appears opposite rapper DMX. Hawai'i-born actors Kelly Hu and Mark Dacascos also star.

At the age of 40, Li admits he can no longer do the same things physically that he could do at 20: "Who could?" He wants to keep making movies, but has no interest in directing them, though he has produced several of his films.