Jackie Chan

If Buster Keaton were alive and well and living in Hong Kong, directing and starring in kung fu comedies, the end eroduct would probably resemble the films of Jackie Chan. Chan's action sequences, while at least as thrilling as the very best of Hollywood, are further distinguished by meticulous, witty choreography that transforms potentially lethal action into elaborate clowning. As in Keaton's films, the viewer's laughter is sometimes stifled by awe at the sheer physical prowess on display.

With his friendly, pug-nosed face, disarming smile and compact (5'9", 150 lbs) yet muscular frame, Chan does not look or act like a traditional action hero. As NEW YORK POST film critic Jami Bernard observed: "Unlike American action heroes, Chan often takes his lumps, takes the easy way out, or even opts to run." Most of the films that built his reputation have the amiable atmosphere of boys' adventures; they are light, good-natured and surprisingly chaste. Chan offers a benign alternative to such macho Hollywood stars as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme. What's more, as a trained martial artist, he could effortlessly kick their pampered butts.

Reputedly a veteran of more than 100 films (more than 40 as an adult), Chan first starred in cheaply produced martial arts movies (e.g., "New Fist of Fury" 1976), in which he aped the fearsome fighting style of the late, great Bruce Lee. He only became Asia's number one box-office star after perfecting his own disarming comic persona and a deliriously slapstick, yet acrobatic, fighting style to match. Chan does all his own stunt work and has almost been killed on several occasions. With his notoriety, no insurance company will underwrite his productions. He had to form the Jackie Chan Stuntmen Association after so many stuntmen were injured during the making of "Police Story" (1985) that none were willing to work with him again. Once he had assembled his own team, Chan trained them personally and paid their medical bills out of his own pocket. He also formed Jackie's Angels, a casting and modeling agency, to cast his increasingly elaborate productions.

Chan's life is already the stuff of Hong Kong legend. He has claimed that his family was so poor at the time of his birth that they offered to sell him to the British doctor who delivered him because they could not afford to pay the medical bill or feed their child. (They eventually reconsidered the sale.) Chan's father and mother found work, as a cook and maid respectively, at the French consulate in Hong Kong before moving to Australia to work at the US embassy when Chan was a small child. The six-year-old was sent back to HK alone in 1961 to be indentured to a ten year stint with the Chinese Opera Research Institute.

From five in the morning to nearly midnight, the young Chan endured an exceedingly rigorous training program in the techniques of Peking Opera. This entailed singing, dancing, mime, acrobatics and a variety of martial arts, all under threat of corporal punishment (caning) and food deprivation. Yu Shan Yuan, the strict master of the school, placed Chan--then called Yuan Lou--in a student performance group called the Seven Little Fortunes, where he began his more than three decade association with the supremely talented Samo Hung and Yuen Biao. The Three Brothers, as they came to call themselves, formed an awesomely coordinated action-comedy trio and performed in "Wheels on Meals" (1983) and "Dragons Forever" (1988), both directed by Hung, and the Chan-directed classic "Project A" (1983).

Chan began his film career at age eight in the Cantonese feature "Big and Little Wong Tin Bar" (1962). He went on to appear in a number of HK singing films. Chan is said to have been in more than 25 films by age ten. He graduated at age 17 and, using the name Chen Yuan Long, found work as a stunt man, martial arts fighter and extra at the Shaw Brothers studios. Chan was gratified to receive a compliment from Bruce Lee while serving as the stunt double for the dreaded Mr. Suzuki in "Fist of Fury/The Chinese Connection" (1971). Chan successfully executed what was reportedly the highest fall ever attempted in a HK film, duly impressing Lee.

Becoming the highest paid film artist in Hong Kong and cultivating an international following, Chan has surpassed the prematurely deceased Lee to become the biggest box-office draw in Japan and the rest of Asia. He has repeatedly set and broken box-office records with some of the most lavish productions in Asian cinema. Chan is also a sensation as a pop recording star; many of his films feature him singing the themes and performing numbers.

Beginning with "The Big Brawl" (1980), Chan also made several attempts to cross over to fame on the American screen with limited success: as part of the large comedy ensembles headed by Burt Reynolds in the two "Cannonball Run" racecar movies (1980, 1983) and as an unlikely NYC cop opposite Danny Aiello in "The Protector" (1985). Chan did not have creative control over these efforts nor did he coordinate the stunts. Though there was a devoted cult following in the English-speaking world familiar with his superlative HK productions developed, most Americans were not given a genuine chance to sample his creative wares. Chan avoided these pitfalls with "Rumble in the Bronx" (1996), his fifth English-language release.

Teamed with former stunt man/precision driver-turned-director Stanley Tong (who had helmed Chan's 1992 "Police Story III: Supercop") and pop star-actress Anita Mui (sometimes described as "the Asian Madonna"), Chan had creative control over "Rumble in the Bronx". Shot in Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, this joint venture between Hong Kong's Golden Harvest and the US's New Line Cinema served up an old-fashioned story with state-of-the-art stunts bolstered with a major marketing campaign. Chan had arrived, turning up in numerous publications, getting keys to various cities and chatting on TV with David Letterman and Jay Leno. In the film, he portrayed a vacationing HK cop dealing with gangs and the mob in a quirky and rather quaint Bronx of the imagination. The nonsensical story provided an excellent showcase both for Chan's peerless athleticism and his engagingly boyish personality. Despite some unconvincing dubbing, reviewers and audiences were charmed and astounded. Raking in a quick $10 million, the modestly budgeted ($6 million) "Rumble" became the number one film of its opening week. America had finally discovered Jackie Chan. Executives promptly scrambled to bring in more of Hong Kong's most famous export.

While his next few films stumbled at the box office (i.e., "Mr. Nice Guy" 1998), "Rush Hour" (also 1998) proved to be a crowd pleaser, teaming the martial artist with rising comic actor Chris Tucker and led to the inevitable sequel (2001's "Rush Hour 2"). The immense popularity of the "Rush Hour" films set the tone for the next stage in Chan's U.S. career--instead of being called on to carry a picture on his own, he would be teamed with a popular sidekick in action-oriented buddy comedies. The actor's next successful outing was with Owen Wilson in "Shanghai Noon" (2000), a highly amusing comedy-Western casting Chan as the Chinese Chon Wang (sounds like "John Wayne") seeking a kidnapped princess in the Old West with the help of Wilson's scalawag Roy O'Bannon. Once again Chan showed real charm as a fish-out-of-water, and provided a great foil for an up-and-coming comic actor.

In 2002, Chan joined with the less-comedically gifted Jennifer Love Hewitt (who was gifted in other areas) in the action comedy "The Tuxedo," which was made with some verve and ingenuity but didn't lure large audiences; and in 2003, he rejoined Wilson for the sequel "Shanghai Knights" which took the two leads to London for a further dose of slapstick action. That same year, Chan starred in the English language Hong Kong actioner "The Medallion," playing a detective who suffers a fatal accident involving a mysterious medallion and is transformed into an immortal warrior with superhuman powers. Most critics found the film to be a fairly standard Chan outing, with a few eye-popping action stunts and a potent dose of Chan's charms, but otherwise unexceptional.

Chan next appeared headlining the all-star ensemble of "Around the World in 80 Days" (2004), a loose, comedic version of the classic Jules Verne novel in which Chan played Phileas Fogg's traveling companion, Passepartout--repositioned this time as the true star of the story, a Chinese thief traveling incognito and defending the eccentric Fogg from a variety of menaces and bizarre situations.

• Also Credited As:
  Chan Kwong-Sang, Chen Gang Shen, Chen Yuan Long, Chen Yuan-lung, Cheng Leng, Cheng Lung, Jacky Chan, Sing Lung, Yuan Lou
• Born:
  on 04/07/1954 in Hong Kong
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Director, Producer, Executive, Guild president, Singer, Stunt choreographer, Comic book creator, Extra, Martial arts coordinator, Stuntman, Bricklayer, Dishwasher

Family

• Father: Charles Chan. worked at the French consulate in Hong Kong; subsequently worked at the American embassy in Australia
• Mother: Lee-Lee Chan. worked at the French embassy in Hong Kong; subsequently worked at the American embassy in Australia
• Son: J C Chan. born c. 1982; sees his father three or four times a year

Significant Others

• Companion: Elaine Ng. was at one time crowned Miss Asia; Chan admitted to having a relationship with Ng during filming of "Gorgeous", during which she became pregnant with his child

Education

• Chinese Opera Research Institute, 1961-71

Milestones

• 1954 Reportedly offered for sale by his impoverished parents to a British doctor for $HK1,500 (variously translated as $26 or $200); father eventually reconsidered
• 1961 Trained in the techniques of Peking Opera from 5AM to nearly midnight each day; under threat of corporal punishment (caning) and food deprivation, studied acting, singing, dance, mime, acrobatics and a variety of martial arts (dates approximate)
• 1961 Returned to HK alone at age seven to be indentured to the Chinese Opera Research Institute
• 1962 Made feature acting debut at age eight in the Cantonese feature "Big and Little Wong Tin Bar"
• 1971 First film role as an adult, "Little Tiger from Canton"
• 1971 Graduated and rejoined his parents in Australia; worked at various odd jobs such as dishwashing and bricklaying (date approximate)
• 1972 First credit as fight choreographer, "Police Woman"
• 1972 Served as the stunt double for the dreaded Mr. Suzuki in Lo Wei's "Fist of Fury/The Chinese Connection", a popular Bruce Lee vehicle; successfully executed what was reputedly the highest fall ever attempted in Asian cinema
• 1973 First credit as martial arts director, "The Heroine" (also played second male lead)
• 1973 First film lead, "The Little Tiger of Guangdong" (shelved until 1974)
• 1974 First released theatrical feature in starring role, "Stranger in Hong Kong"
• 1975 Appeared in "Hand of Death", an early effort by director John Woo
• 1977 Loaned out to independent producer Ng See Yuen (aka Wu Si Yuan) to star in his first hit, "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" (1978); early example of Chan's still emerging comic persona
• 1977 Starred in his first comedy, the kung fu parody "Half a Loaf of Kung Fu"; shelved for two years (date approximate)
• 1978 Starred in landmark kung fu comedy, "Drunken Master", one of the first HK films to break successfully into the Japanese market
• 1980 American film debut, starred in Golden Harvest's "The Big Brawl" with Jose Ferrer; marked a departure from his standard country bumpkin character in his HK films
• 1980 Played a supporting role in "The Cannonball Run", a road race comedy directed by Hal Needham starring Burt Reynolds and a large ensemble cast
• 1980 Returned to HK intent on concentrating on improving his films for the Asian market by making elaborate action-comedies
• 1983 Directed and starred in what many consider his finest film, "Project A", a period action-comedy
• 1984 Appeared in "Cannonball Run II"
• 1985 Directed and starred in "Police Story", which was later screened at the New York Film Festival
• 1985 Starred in "The Protector", an American-produced police drama co-starring Danny Aiello
• 1986 Directed and starred in "Armor of God", an Indiana Jones parody which became Hong Kong's third highest-grossing film of the 1980s; suffered a skull fracture and a bone fragment lodged in his brain from a fall incurred while executing a relatively simple stunt during the Yugoslavia shoot; underwent brain surgery; suffered some hearing loss; has a permanent hole in his skull
• 1989 Directed and starred in "Mr. Canton and Lady Rose", a remake of Frank Capra's "Pocketful of Miracles"(1961) transposed to 1930s Hong Kong which became Hong Kong's top grossing film of the year
• 1989 Turned down an offer from Michael Douglas to co-star as a villain in Ridley Scott's "Black Rain"
• 1992 Led more than 300 to march on Hong Kong's police headquarters to protest the powerful local influence of the triads (organized crime)
• 1993 Played a rare dramatic starring role in "Crime Story", a crime melodrama
• 1995 Created original character for "Jackie Chan's Spartan X", a six-issue comic book series from Topps (to hit the stands in 1996)
• 1996 Honored with a retrospective tribute at the USA Film Festival in Dallas, Texas
• 1996 In the US, took part in several "cyber" chats and interviews including the first international satellite-fed community conference on the Internet
• 1996 Relaunched US film career as the star of "Rumble in the Bronx", his fifth North American film (filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada); first English-language (dubbed) film over which he had complete creative control; took in $10 million opening weekend, making it top film of that week
• 1996 Signed with the William Morris agency for film, TV and advertising work in the USA
• 1998 Had cameo as himself in "Burn, Hollywood, Burn"
• 1998 Starred in "Mr. Nice Guy"
• 1998 Teamed with comedian Chris Tucker for the box-office hit "Rush Hour"
• 2000 Starred in action feature "Shanghai Noon"
• 2001 Reteamed with Tucker on "Rush Hour 2"
• 2002 Received a STAR on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame
• 2002 Starred in the action comedy "The Tuxedo"
• 2003 Starred in the action comedy "Shanghai Knights"
• 2003 Was reunited with Samo Hung as co-star in "Highbinders"
• 2004 Starred as Passepartout in the Disney live action feature "Around the World in 80 Days" based on the classical novel by Jules Verne
• Appeared in bit parts in "Not Scared to Die" (1973), Li Han Xiang's "Golden Lotus" (1974) and "All in the Family" (1975)
• Became part of a student performance group called the Seven Little Fortunes where he first worked with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao; the trio would later act together on Chan feature vehicles including "Meals on Wheels" (1983) and "Dragons Forever" (1988), both helmed by Hung, and the Chan-directed "Project A" (1983)
• Began appearing in HK singing films as a child
• Emigrated to Australia with his parents as a small child
• Established as the most popular martial arts star in Asia since Bruce Lee
• Feature directing debut variously reported as "The Fearless Hyena" (1979) or "The Young Master" (1980); the latter marked his first film with producer Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest Company
• Formed his own production company, Golden Way; began producing films with Golden Harvest's Raymond Chow, notably "Rouge" (1988) and "Center Stage/The Actress" (1992)
• Formed the Jackie Chan Stuntmen Association after so many stuntmen were injured during the making of "Police Story" that none were willing to work with him again
• Returned to Hong Kong; adopted the stage name Chen Yuan Long and found work as a stunt man, martial arts fighter and extra in the Shaw Brothers studios
• Starred in six kung fu movies for producer-director Lo Wei (who had helmed Bruce Lee's first two films) beginning with "New Fist of Fury" (1976); most were unsuccessful (dates approximate)

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