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Jackie ChanChinese and American actor, stuntman, film director, producer, screenwriter, stunt and action choreographer
Date of Birth: 07.04.1954
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan, a Chinese and American actor, stuntman, film director, producer, and screenwriter, will turn 69 years old on April 7, 2023. Looking at this perpetually smiling tanned man, it is hard to believe that he has already crossed the threshold of his seventh decade. Jackie has no plans to end his acting career: his filming schedule is planned for years to come, which means that fans of his work have nothing to worry about - this master will continue to delight the audience with spectacular roles in movies.
Early Life
Chan Kong-sang, known as Jackie Chan, was born on April 7, 1954, in the Victoria Peak area of British Hong Kong, China. His real name in English is 'Chan Kong-sang' which translates to 'born in Hong Kong'. There are other variations of Chan's name, depending on the readings in different Chinese dialects (Chen Gangshen in Northern Chinese, Chan Kong San in Traditional Chinese, etc.). Charles and Lee-Lee Chan, the parents of the future actor, were a poor couple who fled to Hong Kong from the mainland during the Civil War. When Jackie was six years old, the family moved to the capital of Australia, Canberra. The move did not prevent young Chan from being admitted to the Peking Opera School on Hong Kong Island. The boy showed excellent results, while also mastering the martial art of kung fu.
Early Career
His first role did not take long to come: in 1962, at the age of 8, Jackie made his debut in the Chinese film "Big and Little Wong Tin Bar", playing one of the children in a crowd scene. The young actor then appeared on the big screen in China almost every year, but all these roles were episodic. Thanks to his excellent physicality and mastery of kung fu, Jackie started working as a stuntman at a young age: he appeared in films featuring the legendary Bruce Lee, such as "Fist of Fury" (1972) and "Enter the Dragon" (1973). From the mid-1970s, the talented young man began to be trusted with more significant roles, until in 1978 a breakthrough occurred in his career: the films "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master" were released, in which Jackie played the lead role. It is worth noting that in the same year, five other films featuring Chan were released, but only these two achieved great success. In the first film, Chan played orphan Wong Fei-hung, who saved the life of kung fu master Pai Cheng-tien and joined him for training. The combination of humor and martial arts (many of the kung fu elements in the film were allowed to be choreographed by Jackie himself) appealed to the audience, and the film became a kind of founding work for the genre of comedic kung fu. In "Drunken Master," the focus was once again on the combination of polished stunts and comedy. This time, Chan appeared as a mischievous troublemaker Wong Fei-hung, who enrolled in training with the old man Soh - a connoisseur of the unique style of "eight drunken saints." An intriguing plot, well-choreographed fight scenes, humor, and the incomparable duo of actors Jackie Chan and Yuen Siu-tien allowed the movie to become one of the most beloved films in Chinese history. The efforts and risks of the actors (while performing one of the stunts, Jackie Chan almost lost his eye, and after the eye was stitched, it turned out to be wider than the other - only cosmetic surgery helped to eliminate the visible difference) were rewarded in full: "Drunken Master" set a record at the local box office, collecting 8 million Hong Kong dollars. In the credits of the aforementioned films, the actor was listed under the pseudonym Chen Yuan Lung, but he became known as "Jackie" while working as a construction worker in Canberra. One of Chan's colleagues was a guy named Jack, and the short Chinese man was nicknamed Little Jack, later simply Jackie. Throughout his career, the actor changed about five pseudonyms, but it was the name Jackie Chan that brought him worldwide fame.
Hollywood and International Success
In 1979, Jackie made his directorial debut with the film "Fearless Hyena". The comedic action film found success, and Jackie himself became even more popular. Riding on the wave of success, he decided to try to break into Hollywood. While he did not deviate from the genre of comedic action films, movies such as "Battle Creek Brawl" (1980), "The Cannonball Run" (1980), and "Cannonball Run II" (1984) did not compare to the success of "Drunken Master" and "Fearless Hyena". His next American film was the crime action film "The Protector" (1985). During the filming of this movie, Jackie had serious disagreements with director James Glickenhaus. The director spent little time on shooting fight scenes, which Jackie considered one of the most important aspects of an action movie. Glickenhaus ignored Jackie's suggestions and hints regarding specific stunts, and as a result, the final version of the film did not satisfy the Chinese actor. Upon returning to Hong Kong, Jackie reshot several scenes from "The Protector" to show the Asian audience a more acceptable version of the film, according to his perspective. In the same year, he released his fifth directorial film - the action film "Police Story". With this work, he wanted to show American filmmakers how to make dynamic cinema.
Chan's career in his home country took off from that point onwards. Hits such as "Armour of God" (1986), "Police Story 2" (1988), "Police Story 3: Supercop" (1992), "Rumble in the Bronx" (1995), and "Who Am I?" (1998) were released during this period. In each of these films, Jackie, as usual, performed most of the stunts himself and regularly suffered injuries. The filming of "Armour of God" almost ended in tragedy: Chan fell from a tree and suffered a skull fracture. Brain hemorrhage and damage to the base of the skull could have cost him his life, but it resulted in his right ear hearing worse than his left. In 1998, he made another attempt to establish himself in Hollywood, and this time his efforts paid off: the action-comedy film "Rush Hour" directed by Brett Ratner gained worldwide popularity, and Jackie Chan and his on-screen partner Chris Tucker won the MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo. The breakthrough in Hollywood did not stop Chan from making Chinese films, but now for every Chinese film, he also worked on two to three American films.
In 2000, an animated TV series titled "Jackie Chan Adventures" was released, a joint production of the United States and Hong Kong. The animated fantasy-action film was well-received by a global audience, thanks to its dynamic plot, colorful characters (in addition to the main character, archaeologist Jackie Chan, viewers were delighted by his energetic niece Jade, grumpy Uncle, bumbling villains Valmont, Tohru, Finn, Ratso, and Chow, and many other characters), and the final credits where the executive producer of the cartoon, Jackie Chan, delivered educational speeches for young viewers.
Some of Jackie Chan's most notable works in the 2000s include comedies such as "Shanghai Noon" (2000) and "Shanghai Knights" (2003), "Rush Hour 2" (2001) and "Rush Hour 3" (2007), the drama film "The Karate Kid" (2010), as well as the animated trilogy "Kung Fu Panda" (2008, 2011, 2016), in which he voiced Master Monkey.
Jackie Chan is still married to Taiwanese actress Feng-Jiao Lin, whom he married in 1982. The couple has a son, Jaycee Chan Yo-Ming, who is a well-known singer and musician in China. Jackie also has a daughter, Etta Ng Chok Lam, from an extramarital relationship with actress Elaine Ng Yi-Lei; the girl was born on November 19, 1999. The actor considered this relationship a mistake and initially refused to officially recognize the child. There were rumors that when Jackie found out about Elaine's pregnancy, he asked her to have an abortion, but she did not agree. As a result, the actor agreed that he had two children. However, Jackie does not participate in the upbringing and fate of his daughter.
In April 2017, Etta attempted suicide, which was unsuccessful. Medical professionals diagnosed her with depression. Besides her fraught relationship with her father, her relationship with her mother was also strained.
Later, Etta confessed her non-traditional sexual orientation on her Instagram page and posted a photo with her partner Andi Autumn. The girls faced a wave of criticism, but they found the strength to thank those who responded to their coming-out with understanding.
Jackie Chan, himself, has an official Instagram account where he is followed by thousands of fans. He also shares updates on Twitter.
In 2017, Jackie Chan lent his voice to characters in the animated films "The Lego Ninjago Movie" and "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature". In May of the same year, Russian audiences saw the premiere of the film "The Foreigner", where Jackie played a former special forces soldier in a brilliant duo with Pierce Brosnan.
Following that, Jackie's filmography expanded with the role in the science-fiction film "Bleeding Steel". This film marked his first venture into the genre.
In August 2018, the premiere of the Russian-Chinese film "Viy 2: Journey to China" took place. This was the first film in the history of cinema jointly produced by Russia and China. The film's director was Oleg Stepchenko, who also directed the first film in the "Viy" series.
Interestingly, the film was not based on the works of Nikolai Gogol but rather on Chinese myths. The film aimed to showcase both Russian and Chinese cultures.
In 2019, several films featuring Jackie were released. These include "The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang", "The Mystery of the Dragon Seal", and "Climbers". During this time, the actor also worked on the film "Avanguard: Arctic Wolves", in which he played the lead role.
