Jackie Chan was born in Hong Kong on April 7th, 1954. His parents, Charles
and Lee-lee Chan named him Chan Kong-sang which means “born in Hong Kong”.
Jackie weighted 12 pounds when he was born and his mother required surgery to
deliver him. Jackie’s parents were so poor that they had to borrow money from
friends to pay the doctor.
Although
Jackie’s parents were poor, they had steady jobs at the French embassy in Hong
Kong. Charles was a cook and Lee-lee was a housekeeper. Together, the Chan
family lived on Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. When Jackie was young, his father
would wake him early in the morning and together they would practice kung fu.
Charles Chan believed that learning kung fu would help build Jackie’s
character, teaching him patience, strength and courage.
When
Jackie was 7 years old Charles took a job as the head cook at the American
embassy in Australia. He felt that it would be best for Jackie to stay behind
in Hong Kong to learn a skill and so enrolled him in the China Drama Academy
where Jackie would live for the next 10 years of his life.
During
Jackie’s time at the school, he learned martial arts, acrobatics, singing, and
acting. The school was meant to prepare boys for a life in the Peking Opera.
Chinese opera was very different from any other kind of opera. It included
singing, tumbling, and acrobatics as well as martial arts skills and acting.
Students at the school were severely disciplined and were beaten if they
disobeyed or made mistakes. It was a very harsh and difficult life but Jackie
had nowhere else to go, so he stayed. He rarely saw his parents for many years.
While
at the China Academy, Jackie made his acting debut at age 8 in the Cantonese
movie “Seven Little Valiant Fighters: Big and Little Wong Tin Bar.” He later
teamed with other opera students in a performance group called “The Seven
Little Fortunes.”Fellow actors Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao were also members.
Years later 3 would work together and become known as The Three Brothers. As
Jackie got older he worked as a stuntman and an extra in the Hong Kong film
industry.
When Jackie
was 17, he graduated from the China Drama Academy. Unfortunately the Chinese
opera was no longer very popular, so Jackie and his classmates had to find
other work. This was difficult because at the school they were never taught how
to read or write. The only work available to them was unskilled labor or stunt
work. Each year many movies were made in Hong Kong and there was always a need
for young, strong stuntmen. Jackie was extraordinarily athletic and inventive,
and soon gained a reputation for being fearless; Jackie Chan would try
anything. Soon he was in demand.
Over
the next few years, Jackie worked as a stuntman, but when the Hong Kong movie
industry began to fail, he was forced to go to Australia to live with his
parents. He worked in restaurant and on a construction site. It was there that
he got the name “Jackie.”A worker named Jack had trouble pronouncing
“Kong-sang” and started calling Jackie “little Jack.”That soon became “Jackie
and the name stuck.
Jackie
was very unhappy in Australia. The construction work was difficult and boring.
His salvation came in the form of a telegram from a man named Willie Chan. Willie had seen Jackie at work as a stuntman
and had been impressed. Jackie called Willie and they talked. Jackie didn’t
know it but Willie wound end up becoming his best friend and manager. Soon
Jackie was on his way back to Hong Kong to star in “New Fist of Fury.” It was
1976 and Jackie Chan was 21 years old.
Once
Jackie got back to Hong Kong, Willie Chan took control over Jackie’s career. To
this day Jackie is quick to point out that he owes his success to Willie.
However, the movies that Jackie made for Lo Wei were not very successful. The
problem was the Jackie’s talents were not being used properly. It was only when
Jackie was able to contribute his own ideas that he became a star. He brought
humor to martial arts movies; his first success was “Snake in Eagle’s Shadow.”
This was followed by “Drunken Master” (another blockbuster) and Jackie’s first
ever directing job,” Fearless Hyena.”All were big hits.
Jackie was
becoming a huge success in Asia. Unfortunately, it would be many years before
the same could be said of his popularity in America. After a series of lukewarm
receptions in the U.S., mostly due to miscasting, Jackie left the States and
focused his attention on making movies in Hong Kong. It would be 10 years
before he returned to make Rumble in the Bronx, the movie that introduced
Jackie to American audiences and secured him a place in their hearts. Rumble
was followed by the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon series which put Jackie on the
Hollywood a List.
Despite
his Hollywood successes, Jackie because frustrated by the lack of varied roles
for Asian actors and his own inability to control certain aspects of the
filming in America. He continued to try, however, making The Tuxedo, The
Medallion, and Around the World in 80 Days, none of which was the blockbuster
that Rush Hour or Shanghai Noon had been.
Jackie’s
lifelong devotion to fitness has served him well as he continues to do stunt
work and action sequences in his films. In recent years, Jackie’s focus has
shifted and he is trying new genres of film – fantasy, drama, romance – and is
spending more and more time on his charity work. He takes his work as
Ambassador for UNICEF/UNAIDS very seriously and spends all his spare time
working tirelessly for children, the elderly, and those in need. He continues
to make films in Hong Kong, including the blockbuster drama New Police Story in
2004.
Personal
Life
In 1982, Chan married the Taiwanese actress Lin Feng-jiao, also
known as Joan Lin. In the same year they had a son, Jaycee Chan who is a singer
and actor. Chan is a follower of the Buddhist religion. He can speak many
languages like Cantonese, Mandarin, English, German, Korean, Japanese, Spanish,
Thai, etc.
Awards & Achievements
Won the Best Actor Award at the 1993 Golden Horse Film Festival
for his role in the movie 'Police Story 3 - Super Cop'. Won the Best Actor
Award at the 2005 Golden Rooster Awards for the movie 'New Police Story'. Received
the Butt kicker award at the Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Choice Awards in the year 2011
for his film ‘The Karate Kid’, in which he starred with Will Smith’s kid Jaden
Smith.
