Hardly any actor is as closely associated with high-speed car chases as Jason Statham. Now aged 59, he is known for films such as the „Transporter“ series, „Crank“ and „Fast & Furious“. The Brit hails from Shirebrook, a small town south of Sheffield. And he has had close ties with the Canary Islands for years.
In the south of Gran Canaria, Barry’s father worked as a singer in various bars and other tourist establishments. Jason visited his father there. This is how he developed a connection with the island’s tourist centre, Mogán, and the surrounding area.
Statham’s father adopted the stage name Barry Wild. His alter ego transformed the popular actor’s father into a different person. From the turn of the millennium, Wild performed in various bars and pubs for around a decade. Even today, forum posts and long-forgotten website fragments bear witness to the performances of the singer, who has since passed away. Jason’s connection to the south of Gran Canaria remained.
Jason Statham: The connection with Gran Canaria
Even before the Canary Islands were discovered by Hollywood, Jason Statham was travelling to the islands. Whilst Hollywood stars are now a common sight in the archipelago, back then they were actually considered a rarity. He mainly visited Puerto de Mogán, the coastal tourist resort in the south-west of Gran Canaria.
The 1.78-metre-tall man now knows two sides to life in the south of Gran Canaria. As a highly paid multimillionaire, Statham could easily afford one of the 225 yacht moorings and dine at the finest restaurants. His father, Barry Wild, on the other hand, earned a living in the region. Anyone working in or close to the tourism sector in the Canary Islands is familiar with the downsides: high rents are driving workers out to the outskirts of town, whilst local housing is being repurposed for tourism.
Despite the keen interest of the British ‚tabloids‘, Jason Statham has managed to keep his connection to the Canary Islands largely under the radar. Whether he owns a villa or finca there is the subject of public debate, though this has so far yielded no conclusive results. So either the actor does not own any property there, or it is well concealed.
In any case, the connection to the Canary Islands remains to this day. And since Hollywood has been filming more and more productions on the islands, the actor can even return regularly, without attracting any attention, to the place where his father, as the singer Barry Wild, entertained tourists in the evenings for at least ten years.
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