Jackie Chan's parents, Lee-Lee Chan and Charles Chan who migrated to Canberra, Australia in 1960 as a refugee from the Chinese civil war and who had previously worked as a maid and butler for the French ambassador to Hong Kong. His Chinese name at birth was Chan Kong-sang and he was given his Westernized name, "Jackie", by his Australian coworkers when living in Australia in 1976-19771. Because his father's family name was originally Fong and was changed only when arriving in Hong Kong, Jackie Chan's Chinese name was, years later, changed in family records to Fong Si Lung2.

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 eight 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 the three 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 a 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 Chan worked in the Hong Kong movie industry and was looking for someone to star in a new movie being made by Lo Wei, a famous Hong Kong producer/director. 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 would 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 that 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.

Chan married Taiwanese actress Lin Feng-Jiao in 1983 according to his autobiography, but many Asian sources state he was married on December 1, 1982, and with whom he had a son, Jackson "Jaycee Chan" Jo-Ming (born on December 3, in either 1982 or 1984). He is also rumored to have a daughter, Etta Ng Chok Lam (b. 1998) with Elaine Ng Yi-Lei out of wedlock.

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 (and their box office). Rumble was followed by the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon series which put Jackie on the Hollywood A List.

Chan is often said to do all his own stunts. While this claim does not hold up to close scrutiny, he does insist on doing the majority of them, including stunts for other characters if they are not showing their faces, and has racked up an impressive list of injuries to prove it. (The closing credits of his movies usually show bloopers and at least one serious injury.) He is unable to get insurance anywhere in the world. He came closest to death while filming Armour of God (1985), when he fell from a tree in a relatively routine stunt and fractured his skull.

In his biography, Chan says he created his screen persona as a reaction to that of Bruce Lee, and the numerous imitators who appeared before and after Lee's death (see "Bruceploitation"). Where Lee's characters were typically stern, morally upright heroes, Chan plays well-meaning, slightly foolish regular guys, often at the mercy of friends, girlfriends or families. However, his characters always triumph in the end.

Chan repeatedly attempted to break into the American movie industry, appearing in movies like Battle Creek Brawl, Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run II and The Protector. While he did attain cult popularity in the US, his break into the mainstream was Rumble in the Bronx in 1995. He has attained the box-office guarantee that has so far eluded other Hong Kong movie stars like Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh in Hollywood. He also made a successful animated series called Jackie Chan Adventures.

Jackie Chan also has the distinction of being the central subject of UK band Ash's song Kung Fu. In 1994, MTV honored Chan with a lifetime achievement award for his action-oriented movies, and a year later, he made his "official" debut in North America with a world-wide release of Rumble in the Bronx.

Jackie has a star on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong as well as the Walk of Fame. Chan is also known as a major pop star in Asia, and he released over 100 song titles in 20 albums since 1984. He sings in many different languages including English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Japanese.

Chan is one of the most well-known philanthropists in Hong Kong, and has worked tirelessly to champion many charity works and causes. As a well-respected figure of the Hong Kong entertainment industry, he is often one of the leaders in such works, speaking up for conservation, against animal abuse as well as promoting disaster relief efforts such as the recent mainland China relief flood programmes and the 2004 Tsunami donations.

Extras

Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Classic Collection [2 Disc HD Remaster Edition]	Armour Of God Series [DTS Digitally Remastered]	Project A Series [DTS Digitally Remastered]	Police Story Trilogy [DTS Digitally Remastered]	Drunken Master [Digitally Remastered]
Jackie Chan - My Stunts	Jackie Chan - My Story	Best Of The Martial Arts Films	Jackie Chan Police Story Collection	Snake in the Eagles Shadow

Related links

Bruce Lee
Jet Li
Michelle Yeoh
Chow Yun-Fat
Stephen Chow
Andy Lau
Tony Leung
Zhang ZiYi
Gong Li
Maggie Cheung
Shu Qi

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©Copyright 2000-2009 Sensasian.com
All Rights Reserved.