He became famous for playing the lead roles in the comedy action movies Drunken Master, Dragon Lord, Super Cop, Showdown in the Bronx, Rush Hour, Armor of God, 30 Million Baby and many others; He has acted in more than 100 films.
In addition to numerous merits, he is an ambassador good will UNICEF, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, winner of the Oscar for his contribution to cinema.
Family and childhood
Jackie Chan was born in Hong Kong on April 7, 1954. His parents Charles Chang (1914-2008) and Lily Chang (1916-2002) fled to Hong Kong from China to escape political persecution: Charles, an active supporter of the conservative Kuomintang party, during the civil war was its secret agent, and after the victory of the communists, he was revealed and recognized as an enemy of the people. The mother of the future actor, according to some reports, was a drug dealer - she sold opium. 
In Hong Kong, the family had to start from scratch, so they lived below the poverty line. Even the money for the doctor, which Lily needed at the birth of her son, the father was forced to borrow from friends. Parents were employed in French embassy: Charles worked as a cook, and Lily became a maid.
Father began to introduce Chen to kung fu with early childhood- He believed that martial arts would help the child gain patience, strength and courage. Mom affectionately called her son Pao-Pao (“cannonball”), because he often rushed around the house, knocking down everything in his path.
At the age of 5, Chan started going to primary school, but after the first class he was expelled for poor progress. In 1960, when he was 6 years old, his parents again faced persecution from the Chinese side and were forced to move once again, this time to Australia. In Canberra, Charles got a job as a chef at the US Embassy, but decided that it would be better for his son to stay in his native Hong Kong and learn a useful profession, so he got the boy in the Peking Opera School at the Chinese theater academy where Chan spent the next 10 years.
The school taught martial arts, acrobatics, vocals and acting and prepared boys for further career in traditional Chinese opera. The strictest discipline reigned here, severe corporal punishments were practiced. Chan did not like his school, but he had nowhere to go: his parents were far away, and he almost never saw them. Therefore, the boy studied intensively and at one time was even a member of the Seven Lucky Group, an ensemble of the seven most talented students who traveled to theaters in Hong Kong and abroad.
How actor Jackie Chan has changed
He then became close with two bandmates, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, and the three of them formed a show group known as "Three Brothers" or "Three Dragons". During his studies, as a teenager, Chan managed to act in extras and episodes in several films: "Eternal Love", "Big and Little Wong Tin Bar", as well as "Fist of Fury" and "Enter the Dragon" with Bruce Lee.
At the age of 17, the young man successfully graduated from the theater school, but by this time the traditional Chinese opera had lost its former popularity, and the graduates were left alone with uncertainty. The situation was aggravated by the fact that theater school they did not teach general education subjects, and Chang could not even read and write properly. All that was left for him was either an unskilled physical work, or a career as a stuntman in a movie.
Top 10 Most Dangerous Jackie Chan Stunts
The beginning of a film career
In 1971, for the first time in his life, Chan played leading role- it was the film "Little Tiger from Kwantung", where he performed under the pseudonym Chan Yunlong (Chan Yuen Lung). The film was not released to the big screen until 1973, but neither before its release, nor in the months after that, there were no new offers for filming. 
There was also a lull in the work of the stuntman, and the young man was forced to accept the starring role in the adult comedy film All in the Family (1975). In this picture, he first starred naked in erotic scene; in addition, this is the only Jackie Chan film that does not contain a single episode of martial arts or stunts. In general, the Hong Kong film industry was in a state of decline during this period, and, having failed to find new job, in early 1976, Chan went to his parents in Australia.
In Australia, the young man took an accelerated course of secondary education at Dixon College, while working part-time at a construction site. Here he often worked in tandem with a man named Jack. Since it was difficult for the Australians to pronounce his Chinese name Gansheng, they began to call young guy after the name of his older and taller companion "little Jack" or "Jackie" - so he got his new name.
The young man was not satisfied with life in Australia: construction work was hard and did not give moral satisfaction, and he could hardly count on something better. The rescue came in the form of a telegram from a man named Willie Chan, who worked for the famous Hong Kong producer and director Lo Wei. They saw Jackie's stunt stunts in one of the films and wanted to cast him as the lead in The New Fist of Fury (1976). Chan happily returned to Hong Kong, and Willy subsequently became his manager and best friend.
In the film The New Fist of Fury, Lo Wei strongly encouraged and emphasized the resemblance of Jackie Chan to the famous Bruce Lee, also known by the nickname "Little Dragon". The young man even took on the screen name Xin Lun (in another transcription of Chen Long), which literally means "become a dragon." The film did not have great success, because Jackie Chan did not look organic in the style of hand-to-hand combat that is characteristic of Bruce Lee. However, Lo Wei made several more similar films starring Chan, and Jackie invented some of the tricks for these films himself. Gradually, the young actor began to create new genre- a comedy with a demonstration of martial arts or street fights and an abundance of complex, sometimes even dangerous tricks.
The first success came to Jackie Chan after the release of the films Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978) and Drunken Master (1978) directed by Yuan Heping (in a different transcription by Yun Wophing). In The Drunken Master, Jackie played the role of a Chinese folk hero Wong Feihong, who is presented as a rustic and careless young man.
After that, he returned to Lo Wei's studio and developed a successful "drunken master" comedy style in Spiritual Kung Fu (1978) and A Little Kung Fu (1980), and in Fearless Hyena (1979) Jackie Chan also acted as co-director. However, after filming Fearless Hyena 2 (1983), Jackie and Willie left Lo Wei's studio for the larger Golden Harvest studio.
Jackie Chan. "Drunk master". Trailer
Worldwide film success
In the early 1980s, Jackie Chan was already a successful actor with his own unique style and role, but his success has so far been limited to the Asian region. And Jackie dreamed of conquering the whole world and, in particular, the United States. He repeatedly entered the American market with the projects The Big Brawl (1980), Cannonball Race (1981) and its sequel (1984), Patron (1985), Armor of God (1986) and many others. , but these paintings did not bring big fees in America. 
While performing one of the stunts for the film Armor of God, Jackie Chan fell from a tree and suffered a serious head injury with a skull fracture. This caused serious fears for his life, but the actor quickly recovered.
On the set of Project A (1983), Chan officially created the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, with which he worked in subsequent years (and in 2002, the actor was awarded the annual Taurus World Stunt Academy Award). All this time, he was extremely in demand in the Asian film market: in the period from 1983 to 2007, Chan was nominated almost annually at the Hong Kong Film Festival as the best actor or best stunt coordinator, and he received this award five times.
Jackie Chan cries at a meeting with fellow stuntmen
Real success in the United States came to Chan only in the mid-1990s, after the film Showdown in the Bronx (1995). American critics wrote: “Any attempt to evaluate this film from a rational point of view is doomed to failure. Do not try to consider the plot and dialogues, do not peer into acting game. The whole point is in Jackie Chan himself - he does what he can like no one else. His movements are confident, full of grace and grace. The choreography of the fight is set with humor (and without too much fanaticism). He's just having fun. And if we allow ourselves to plunge into this atmosphere, then we will have fun too.
Showdown in the Bronx. Jackie Chan's best fights compilation
And there were a lot of them: as when working on other paintings, Jackie did not spare himself at all and was even ready to risk his life for the sake of a spectacular shot. In the same year, the actor received the MTV Movie Awards for his achievements in cinema. Chan's other new work filmed in Hong Kong was also recognized - Thunderbolt (1995), First Strike (1996), Mister Cool (1996).
Top 10 Jackie Chan Stunts
Finally, in 1998, Jackie Chan took the plunge and made his first all-American film, Rush Hour, starring Chris Tucker. The painting gained great popularity and became one of the most box office films of the year, and the creative tandem of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker received the MTV Movie Awards as the best duet. Subsequently, sequels were released in the same composition - "Rush Hour - 2" (2001, brought the "MTV Movie Awards" for best fight) and "Rush Hour - 3" (2007). However, despite the commercial success, the third part of the critics was perceived rather coolly: "This is a dull retelling of earlier films, and even a change of scenery cannot mask the lack of new ideas."
At the turn of the 1990s and 2000s, Jackie Chan began to experiment with his role, trying to diversify it. One of such successful “pen attempts” can be called the film “Magnificent” (1999), in which Jackie played a hero who is still fluent in kung fu, but at the same time is an incorrigible romantic and dreamer. The comedy western Shanghai Noon (2000) also became a success, where American comedian Owen Wilson became Jackie's shooting partner. “Although the plot of the picture is not worth discussing about it, Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson look great together. The footage is great, and Jackie Chan is hilarious. A wonderful film in the spirit of the good old cinema, ”critics spoke about the picture.
The next three years were marked by less successful work, which combined Jackie Chan's own style with expensive superimposed special effects. Thus, the film The Tuxedo (2002) was scolded for its "stupid" plot and blurred perception of tricks, "Medallion" (2003) was called "expensive cheap", and "Around the World in 80 Days" (2004) was criticized for too free deviations from the original novel by Jules Verne.
And after a series of failures in Hollywood, Jackie Chan decided to return to Hong Kong, where he was waiting for a new triumph in connection with the release of the film New Police Story (2004). This time he managed to successfully combine fights and stunts with the drama of a police hero who lost his friends. This was followed by the equally successful fantasy film The Myth (2005), and then the 30 Million Dollar Baby (2006, also known as Rob-B-Hood), in which Jackie Chan's "famous comic charm lit up a farce about a kidnapping a baby is a farce with a lively enough plot so that the eerie contents of children's diapers do not have time to stain the playpen.
In 2008, the Chinese-American film The Forbidden Kingdom directed by Rob Minkoff was released, on the set of which Chan met and became friends with the famous Chinese actor and martial artist Jet Li. Critics greeted the picture ambivalently, noting that "the action scenes are great, but there is too much" water "between them." After that, he continued to experiment with various genres acting in Chinese and American films.
In 2010, Chan co-starred with Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith) in The Karate Kid, a remake of original painting 1984. The role of an elderly kung fu teacher was his first dramatic role in American cinema.
In 2011, the jubilee, hundredth film with the participation of Jackie Chan was released - "The Fall of last empire". Here he acted not only as a leading actor, but also as a co-director and executive producer. In the same year, the actor received the People's Choice Award as the favorite action movie star.
In 2012, at the Cannes Film Festival, Jackie Chan announced his retirement from action films, as his age was no longer "suitable" for the genre. However, he later clarified that he did not intend to give up his favorite business completely, but would only perform fewer tricks and, in general, would take more care of his body.
After that, he starred in the films Police Story 4 (2013), Dragon Sword (2015) and On the Trail (2016). In December 2016, the comedy thriller Railroad Tigers was released in China, in which the artist starred with his son Jaycee. On November 12, 2016, Jackie Chan was awarded the Academy Award "Oscar" for "extraordinary achievements" in cinema.
Musical career
Jackie Chan has been professionally trained in singing since childhood at the Peking Opera School. In the 1980s, he started recording songs and gained popularity as a performer in Hong Kong and the Asian region. Since 1984, he has released 20 albums of compositions in Cantonese, Mandarin and Taiwanese, as well as in Japanese and English. He often performed songs for his films himself, but when the films were released in Europe and the USA, these compositions were usually replaced.Jackie Chan sings Adele's song in Chinese
In 2007, Jackie Chan recorded the song "We Are Ready" ("We are ready") - the official song of preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics. He also performed the song at the 2008 Summer Paralympics annual countdown ceremony, and also sang the song "Hard to Say Goodbye" at the closing ceremony of the Summer Paralympics. Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing with Andy Lau, Liu Huang and Emil (Wakin) Chau.
Political and social activities
Jackie Chan promotes a healthy lifestyle: he himself does not smoke, does not drink alcohol or even coffee. In addition, he actively opposes drug use and supported the campaign of Chinese President Xi Jinping in this matter: drug trafficking must be completely eradicated, and everyone who takes them must be "severely punished." In 2014, when his own son Jaycee was arrested for smoking marijuana, Jackie Chan said he was "shocked, crushed and disgraced". 
In 2009, at the Boao Asian Forum, the actor was asked if he considered freedom to be a positive or a negative thing. To which he replied: “I am gradually coming to the conclusion that we Chinese need to be led and controlled. If we are not controlled, then we will begin to create what we want. This remark angered many prominent figures in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and Chan's rep later had to claim that the actor was talking about freedom in the entertainment industry and not about Chinese society in general.
In December 2012, Jackie Chan angered many by calling Hong Kong a "protest city" and calling for restrictions on the right to demonstrate. A little later in an interview, he called the United States the “most corrupt” country in the world, which caused a backlash of criticism. Journalists accused Chan of deliberately belittling America in order to present China in a more favorable light, as well as that he was driven by personal motives and attitudes towards the American film market.
Evening Urgant. Jackie Chan
Despite some controversial statements, the actor has a reputation for being a caring person and is active in charitable activities. Back in 1988, he founded the "Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation" to provide scholarships to young people in Hong Kong and to help those affected by natural disasters and diseases.
In 2005, the actor organized the Dragon Heart Foundation to help children and the elderly in remote areas of China: building schools, acquiring textbooks and school uniform, purchases of wheelchairs, warm clothes, etc. In 2011, this fund expanded and began to work also in Europe.
In 2004, Chan participated financially in helping those affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami, and after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, he donated 10 million yuan. In addition, he donated to UNICEF and two other children's organizations for a total of HK$4.14 million. In June 2006, Jackie Chan announced that he admired the grandiose charitable donations of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and himself intended to bequeath to charitable purposes half of his fortune.
Personal life of Jackie Chan
In matters related to personal life, famous actor pretty secretive. He is a Buddhist by religion. On December 1, 1982, he registered a marriage with Taiwanese actress Joan Lin (real name Lin Fengjiao, born in 1953), and two days later, on December 3, they had a son, Chan Zuming, who later became known as Jaycee Chan as a singer and an actor. 
The relationship between father and son was not always smooth sailing. Jaycee was offended when, in 2011, his father confirmed his former decision to bequeath half of his fortune to charity, and not leave it to him. Jackie Chan then said about his son: “If he is capable of something, then he will earn his money himself. And if he is not capable, then he will spend mine in vain.
In 2014, when Jaycee was arrested for possession and use of marijuana, his father did not defend him, but said that the young man should be responsible for his own actions. However, when six months later the son was released from prison, they reconciled. “I haven't seen him for too long. And I feel that he has matured,” commented Jackie Chan. “We stayed up for a long time, we talked almost all night.”
Jackie Chan apologizes for drug addict son
Despite a long and strong marriage, Jackie Chan also has illegitimate daughter Etta Wu Zholin (b. January 18, 1999). Her mother, actress Elaine Wu Qili, who was awarded the title of Miss Asia 1990, decided to raise her daughter without the participation of her father. Chan admits that he "made a mistake that many men around the world have made."
Jackie Chan holds the Guinness World Record for being officially "a living actor who performed the largest number movie stunts.
Jackie's personal motto: "There is no fear, there are no understudies, there are no equals either." With this lifestyle, the actor “earned” a huge number of injuries during his career: he received a dislocation of the hip joints many times, broke his skull, fingers and toes, nose, cheekbones, thigh bones, sternum, neck, ankles and ribs. The right ankle was especially “unlucky”, and now, with any jumps, the actor can only land on left leg. Due to frequent bodily injuries, Jackie Chan is blacklisted by all insurance companies and has long been unable to insure his life and health while working on films.
Jackie Chan received an honorary doctorate in 1996. social sciences at the Baptist University of Hong Kong; in 2008 he was made Honorary Professor at the Hong Kong Branch of the Savannah College of Art and Design, and in 2009 received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Cambodia.
Jackie is seriously passionate about motorsport. He co-owns the Chinese Jackie Chan DC Racing team with driver David Chen. Also, he is active. football fan- Supports the Hong Kong national team, the England national team and Manchester City.
In 2011, several news agencies reported that the 56-year-old actor allegedly died in a Los Angeles hospital, where he was taken after a heart attack. Before the official denial came, US President Barack Obama managed to speak with words of condolence, and for several hours the whole world mourned the beloved artist. Fortunately, this information turned out to be a "duck". The actor himself took the incident with humor.
Jackie Chan now
In October 2017, The Foreigner, a Chinese-British film directed by Martin Campbell, was released in which Chan partnered with Pierce Brosnan. Here Jackie again played a serious dramatic role, combining it with a demonstration of martial arts.- from Russian. Public Favorite
Jackie Chan is a successful businessman. Since 2004, he has been producing and selling his own brand of clothing and accessories under the JCD (Jackie Chan Design) brand. He owns a chain of sushi restaurants, several sports clubs and a biscuit and chocolate production line.
Chan has stars on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong, as well as on the famous Avenue of Stars in Hollywood and on the Old Arbat in Moscow. He is the author of the autobiographical books Inside the Dragon (1997), I, Jackie Chan (1998), Jackie Chan: Old Before I Grow Up (2015) and I'm Happy (2016). The number of books written about him by other people is incalculable.
Jackie Chan's real name is Chen Gangsheng, which translates to "Hong Kong-born Chen". The actor received his nickname Jackie at the age of 22, working part-time on construction sites in Canberra (Australia). He was a builder's assistant named Jack, so the workers called Chan " little jack and then just Jackie.
Jackie's father, Charles Chan, was an intelligence officer of the Republic of China, and his mother, Lily, - theater actress, who, in her spare time on stage, traded in opium. They met when Charles, on duty, had to arrest Lily. Both were divorced, and each had two children from a previous marriage: two boys for Charles and two girls for Lily. When the Communist Party came to power in 1949, the married couple fled to Hong Kong, leaving their children behind in China. Jackie was born to them in 1954.
When Jackie was seven years old, his parents abandoned him. They sent the boy to a boarding school, and they themselves sailed to Australia to work. The orphanage that Jackie ended up in specialized in teaching the pupils of the "Peking Opera" - specific genre, which combines not only acting, singing, pantomime and dancing, but also acrobatics and martial arts.
Classes in the boarding school began at five in the morning and ended at midnight. Corporal punishment was the norm. At the same time, no time was devoted to reading, writing, arithmetic and other school sciences at all. Until now, Jackie Chan, although he speaks seven languages (Northern Chinese, Cantonese, English, German, Korean, Japanese, Thai), writes and reads even in his native language with difficulty.
A year after training, eight-year-old Jackie starred in his first film, Big and Little Wong Tin Bar. The role was not the main one, he played one of the seven children who are learning kung fu. In the film, Jackie sang and fought with an adult villainous hero.
When Jackie was released from the boarding school in 1971, he had ten films behind him. The roles were small, often he was only one of the extras. In the next seven years, he starred in 26 more films. In two of them, he had a chance to work side by side with Bruce Lee. And although Chan is almost invisible in the crowd in Fist of Fury, Bruce paid special attention to him in Enter the Dragon!
Chan's star was made by two films released in 1978: The Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and The Drunken Master. It was in them that Jackie first combined martial arts and comedy. Prior to these films, the Hong Kong film industry was influenced by the style of Bruce Lee, due to which all the countless kung fu action films were filled with whining fighters who assumed intimidating poses, then quickly dealt with the enemy, after which they again froze in an intimidating pose for a little more whine. Jackie Chan showed that you can beat on the screen effortlessly and not with such stupid seriousness.
As soon as Jackie made his way into the stars, he stopped playing negative characters. After 1976, he played only one bad guy - the head of the Chinese mafia in the film "Incident in Shinjuku". To maintain a positive image, Chan refused to participate in many expensive Hollywood films. He said no to Sylvester Stallone when he asked him to play the villain in The Destroyer. He didn't accept Michael Douglas' offer to be the bad guy in Black Rain. He turned down a role in Lethal Weapon 4. Flint, not a man!
Starting his film career as a stuntman, Chan, as you well know, always did his own stunts, without the help of special effects and understudies. But the older he got, he shied away from outside help less and less. In the movie The Tuxedo, for example, in some scenes, understudies took the rap for him, as many as six of them. However, this is also due to the fact that the film was shot in Hollywood, famous for its thousand-page contracts. The producers were afraid that any injury could prevent the film from being shot on time and at the right cost.
Business card Jackie Chan's unfortunate scenes that accompany the closing credits of most of his films. This branded chip appeared not by chance. The moral of bad takes is "Don't try this at home." Jackie Chan wanted to show teenagers that tricks are easy and simple only on the screen, but in fact this thing is very dangerous, even in the hands (and feet) of a professional.
The music lessons received at the boarding school did not go unnoticed for Jackie. He has 20 music albums. In addition, he often takes part in voice acting. Disney cartoons for Chinese viewers.
Jackie Chan has twice entered the Guinness Book of Records. He holds the record for the most big number mentions in the credits of one film. In the action movie Armor of God: Mission Zodiac, Chan acted as a screenwriter, director, actor, producer, film director, cameraman, main artist, line producer, stunt coordinator, props, lighting, stuntman, composer, songwriter and even the food crew responsible.
Jackie Chan many years after birth); born April 7, 1954, Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong and American actor, stuntman, film director, producer, screenwriter, stunt and action director, singer.
Filmed under the pseudonyms: Jackie Chan, Jackie Chan with a Baseball Bat, Yuan Lung Chan, Yuen-Lung Chan, Lung Chen, Long Cheng, Wellson Chin, Sing Lung.
Sometimes I stop and think: I could die today!
Chan Jackie
Chang is one of the most popular heroes fighters in the world, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comedic gift, as well as the use of a wide variety of "improvised means" in battles. He has starred in over 100 films and is one of the most celebrated Asian actors in the world. He has sung title songs in many of his films and released albums since the 1980s.
Chang is known as one of the "Lucky Seven" (Peking Opera School graduates who became popular actors).
Jackie Chan was born in Hong Kong (now the administrative region of China People's Republic). His parents, Charles Chan and Li-Li Chan, fled to Hong Kong from the continent during the civil war, and in 1960 moved to Australia.
Before moving, they worked respectively as a butler and maid at the residence of the French Ambassador in Hong Kong. Chinese name Chana "Kongsan" means "born in Hong Kong".
At the age of 6, Chan was sent to the Beijing Opera School in Hong Kong. In addition to stage training, this school gave the boy the ability to perfectly control his body. Chan was also fond of the martial art of kung fu. AT episodic roles he began acting in films as a teenager, participated in the stunt extras of the films Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon with the participation of Bruce Lee.
Jackie Chan began his film career as a stuntman, sometimes he was occupied in episodes and small roles. Confident in kung fu, acrobatics, having good plastique and stage skills, Chan began to play larger roles from the mid-1970s, and then directs films himself.
I could be the most famous doctor in the world... But I became the most famous patient in the world
Chan Jackie
He makes pictures of a frankly entertaining plan - unpretentious comedies with a "scuffle", but over time it becomes clear that this energetic and mobile strong man managed to create a new film genre in which only one person is able to work - Jackie Chan himself. Because no one but him will put his life in danger for the sake of another dizzying stunt.
News and publications related to Chan Jackie
Razzakov Fedor
Jackie Chan - Gutta-percha Chinese
Fedor Razzakov
Jackie Chan: Gutta-percha Chinese
Jackie Chan (real name - Chan Kunsun) was born on April 7, 1954 in Hong Kong, in a low-income family. His father was a cook, his mother was a servant in the Australian embassy. According to legend, Jackie's parents were so poor that immediately after his birth ... they were going to sell their son to one of the English doctors who delivered the baby. And for only $26! However, the doctor turned out to be a real gentleman: he paid the money to dad, but refused to take the child.
At the age of six, Jackie's parents sent Jackie to the School at the local Peking Opera Center, and they themselves left for better share to Australia, where they got a job at the embassy. They kept in touch with their son. As Jackie himself recalls: “I was very angry: I didn’t have parents. Every Sunday, the parents of other children came to school for them and took them home. Everyone left, and I was left alone. I cried and cried, but a few months later I calmed down. Every day I looked in the mailbox, but my parents could not write. They called me every Sunday, my mother yelled at me on the phone, I - to her. One day they sent me a letter with five Australian pounds. And then I got used to it and stopped worrying ..."
It was at the Peking Opera School that Jackie received those gymnastic and wrestling basics that now amazes the audience in his films. The point is that Chinese opera abounds battle scenes using kung fu techniques, and the actors are required to have such acrobatic and gymnastic training that the masters could envy big sport. Among the students of the School, Jackie Chan was considered one of the best. Therefore, it is no coincidence that when filmmakers came to the School to select students for filming in the extras of several Hong Kong action films, Jackie was among the lucky ones.
At the age of 16, Jackie successfully graduated from the School, having mastered several kung fu styles at once. By that time, he had participated in several films (although the roles were episodic), and Bruce Lee was his idol. Therefore, dreaming of following in his footsteps, Jackie got a job as a stuntman at a film studio. But then his father came to Hong Kong to take his son to Australia. Their first meeting was not particularly joyful, as Jackie was angry at his parents for leaving him. But when he found out that all the money they earned over the years in a foreign land, the parents set aside to buy a house for their son, Jackie thawed. He went to Australia, where he got a job as a construction worker. However, he did not part with the dream of becoming an actor for a second. A year later, having saved up money, Jackie returned to his homeland and got a job as an actor at the Shaw Brothers film studio. In 1971, he starred in the film Furious Fist, where in one of the episodes he was the partner of his idol Bruce Lee. Over the following years, Jackie starred exclusively in episodes (Canton's Little Tiger, 1972; Scared to Death, Dragon Fist, 1973; Stranger in Hong Kong, 1974; Furious New Fist, 1975, etc.) , staged complex stunt episodes, being a stunt foreman. In his last capacity, he worked on films: "Shaolins" (1975), "The Art of Shaolin: Snake and Crane Technique", "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" (1978).
In 1978, Jackie was lucky: he was invited to the main role in the film "The Drunken Master". When the movie came out, it beat everything box office records fees in South-East Asia. No less successful were the following works by Jackie Chan (in Hong Kong he was also known as Cheng Lun, which means "Became a Dragon"): "Fearless Hyena" (1979), "Big Trouble", "Young Master", "A Little kung fu" (all - 1980). These films established Jackie's reputation as a true master, as in them he demonstrated real miracles of acrobatics and martial arts. For example, where else could the viewer see how the hero rips off the bark from the trees with his fingers, fends off the blows of swords and the peak with chopsticks, flies up the wall to the roof of the house, etc.
In 1980, Jackie makes an attempt to conquer Hollywood - he starred in a minor role in the film Cannonball Race, but fails. He returns to Hong Kong and adds two more to the role of the actor: a screenwriter and a director. In this capacity, he shoots several films: "Dragon Overlord" (1982), "Project A" (1983), "Police Story" (1985), "Armor of God" (1986). Despite the primitive plots, these films attracted the audience primarily with their tricks, which Jackie demonstrated with even greater virtuosity than before. He even created his own stunt "Jackie Chan School" and did most of the tricks on the set. The complexity and danger of these tricks is at least indicated by the fact that several times Jackie's life literally hung in the balance. For example, during the filming of the film "Armor of God", which took place in Yugoslavia, Jackie had to jump off high altitude on the crown of the tree. The actor himself tells about what came of it:
"I flew to Yugoslavia for twenty hours, and I had a jet lag. The trick was very simple: jump from the castle wall to the tree below. The first time the trick turned out perfectly. But something about it did not suit me. When I jumped a second time, I couldn't catch the branch. The operator was standing below. If he hadn't moved away, I would have collapsed right on top of him, but perhaps then we would have got off with bruises. And so I hit my head on the ground. The skull cracked, and one of the bones crashed into the brain. Blood gushed from my ears. People immediately rushed to the phone, trying to find a clinic where they could perform an operation. Eight hours later I was already under anesthesia. Strangely enough, everything went well and I recovered quite quickly. True, now there is a hole in my head, sealed with a plastic plug ... "
Unlike most stars who like to shine at various parties, Jackie tries to lead a secluded lifestyle, closed from prying eyes. That's why long time his personal life was a mystery behind seven seals. It was only known that in the 80s he married Taiwanese actress Lin Fen Zhao, but where and under what circumstances this happened is a mystery. Even the fact that their son is growing up became known only after ... 13 years after his birth (the boy was born in the early 80s)! Jackie himself once answered a question about such secrecy: they say, I'm afraid that, having learned about my marriage, some of my unbalanced fans may commit suicide. Do you think he was joking? Not at all. In 1985, a 16-year-old Japanese fan, Jackie, actually committed suicide because of an unrequited love for her idol. Another representative of the Land of the Rising Sun came to Jackie with an interpreter and invited him to marry her. When the artist politely refused her, she tried to poison herself. Luckily, she was able to get it out.
But back to creative career actor. In the second half of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, Jackie continued to act actively, chalking up another fifteen films. Among them: "Diner on Wheels" (1985), "First Mission" (1986), "Project A, Part 2", "Dragons Forever" (both 1987), "Police Story-2" (1988), " Black Dragon" (1989), "Armor of God-2" (1990), "Police Story-3. Super Cop", "City Hunter" (both 1992), "It's Not Easy to Die", "Police Story-4" (both 1993 ), "Drunk Master-2" (1994), etc. Despite the fact that in all these tapes, Jackie continued to exploit the idea he had once found (a mixture of an action movie with a comedy), but the viewer went to them with a shaft. It is no coincidence that in Southeast Asia it was Jackie Chan who was called the N1 actor.
Meanwhile, in the mid-90s, Jackie finally conquered Hollywood. Which is quite natural: most of the comedies there are so dumb that there is nowhere else to go. And the tapes with the participation of Chan (especially from the beginning of the 90s) were a rare example of films of the category "two in one": both an action movie and a comedy at the same time. Yes, with an abundance of dizzying stunts! As Jackie himself admits: "Despite the abundance of furious scenes, the films where I star are devoid of obscenities, explicit scenes cruelty, sex and violence. Perfect for family viewing..."
Jackie Chan's conquest of Hollywood began with Rumble in the Bronx (1995). The result was stunning: in the first two days of hire, he collected $ 10 million, which is one and a half times more than in 5 weeks of showing in Hong Kong. After that, flattering offers from local producers rained down on the "gutta-percha Chinese" as if from a cornucopia. Jackie rushed to spud the Hollywood market, starring one after another in several films: "Mr. Cool", an Alan Smithy film: "Burn, Hollywood, Burn" (both - 1997), "Rush Hour" (1997), "Who Am I?" (1998), Shanghai Noon, Magnificent (both 2000), Rush Hour 2 (2001). Almost all of these tapes were a great success with the audience, and "Rush Hour-2" at the time of writing the book for several weeks now occupies the 2nd line in the US rental ten.
In the summer of 1999, the name of Jackie Chan, probably for the first time, became involved in loud scandal. It turned out that the 27-year-old beauty Helen Ng, who won the title of "Miss Asia" in 1990, is expecting a child from him. For several months, all the Hong Kong and American newspapers did nothing but talk about this topic, while the perpetrators of the scandal themselves preferred to remain dead silent. But when the parazzi began to overcome Jackie's wife and son, the actor's nerves could not stand it. He gathered a press conference and delivered a penitential speech "a la Clinton": they say, I repent, I have sinned, but I still love my wife and son madly. After that, Helen split up, honestly admitting that the father of her unborn child is Jackie Chan. In November 1999, a lovely girl was born. They say that his wife forgave Jackie, but he saw his daughter only a few months after her birth. Apparently, he did not want to upset his wife once again.
On April 7, 2016, the legendary action hero Jackie Chan turned 62 years old. Looking at this ever-smiling lean man, it is hard to believe that he has been in his seventies for two years now. Jackie is not going to finish acting career: his filming schedule is scheduled for years to come, which means that fans of his work have nothing to worry about - this master will delight the audience with spectacular roles in the cinema more than once.
Chang Kongsan was born on April 7, 1954 in Victoria Peak, British Hong Kong, China. The actor's real name in English is spelled "Chan Kong-sang" and translates as "Chan, born in Hong Kong". There are other pronunciations of Chan's name, depending on the readings in different languages Chinese group (Chen Gangsheng - in Northern Chinese, Chan Kong San - in traditional Chinese, etc.).
Charles and Li-Li Chan, the parents of the future actor, were a poor couple who fled to Hong Kong from the continent during civil war. When Jackie was six years old, the family moved to the capital of Australia, the city of Canberra. The move did not prevent little Chan from entering the Beijing Opera School, located on Hong Kong Island. The boy showed excellent results, simultaneously mastering martial arts kung Fu.
The first role was not long in coming: in 1962, 8-year-old Jackie made his debut in the Chinese film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar, playing one of the children in the crowd. Then little actor almost every year he appeared on the Chinese big screen, but all these roles were episodic. Thanks to his excellent plasticity and confident command of kung fu, Jackie began working as a stuntman at a young age: he appeared in films with the participation of the legendary Bruce Lee - "Fist of Fury" (1972) and "Enter the Dragon" (1973).
From the mid-70s, the talented guy began to be trusted with more significant roles, until in 1978 a breakthrough happened in his career: the films Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and The Drunken Master were released, in each of which Jackie played the main role. It is worth noting that in the same year, five more paintings with the participation of Chan saw the light, but only these two achieved great success. In the first film, Chan played the orphan Kan Fook, who saved the life of kung fu master Pak Chung Tin and entered his training. Humor combined with martial arts (the director of the film Yuen Wu Ping allowed Jackie to direct many elements of kung fu) appealed to the audience, and the picture became a kind of founder of the comedy kung fu genre.
In The Drunken Master, again, a bet was made on a combination of sophisticated tricks and elements of comedy. This time, Chan appeared in the role of Won Feihong, a hooligan not without kung fu abilities, who entered the training of old Sou, an expert in the special style of "eight drunken saints". An entertaining plot, beautifully staged action scenes, humor, as well as an inimitable tandem of actors Jackie Chan and Yuan Xiaotian allowed "... the master" to become one of the most adored films of the Chinese nation. The efforts and risk of the actors (performing one of the tricks, Jackie Chan almost lost his eye, and after the eye was sewn up, it turned out to be wider than the other - only cosmetic surgery helped to eliminate the visible difference) were rewarded in full: "The Drunken Master" became the record holder of local rental , raising 8 million Hong Kong dollars.
In the credits of the above films, the actor was listed under the pseudonym Chen Yuen Lung (Chen Yuan Lung), and the famous name "Jackie" he was called when he worked as a builder in Canberra. One of Chan's colleagues was a guy named Jack, and the short Chinese was nicknamed Little Jack, later just Jackie. Throughout his career, the actor has changed about five pseudonyms, but the name Jackie Chan brought him world fame.
In 1979, Jackie made her directorial debut with the film Fearless Hyena. The action comedy found success, and Chan himself became an even more popular person and, on the wave of success, decided to try to break into Hollywood. He did not change the action comedy genre, but the films "Brawl at Battle Creek" (1980), "Cannonball Race" (1980) and "Cannonball Race 2" (1984) could not compare with "Drunken Master" and "Fearless hyena."
Jackie Chan's next American film was crime thriller"Patron" (1985). During the filming of the picture, Chan had serious disagreements with director James Glickenhaus. The director devoted little time to shooting action scenes, which Jackie considered one of the most important components of an action movie. Glickenhouse did not react in any way to Chan's remarks and hints regarding this or that trick, and as a result final version The film was so disliked by the Chinese actor that he became disillusioned with American cinema.
Back in Hong Kong, Jackie's first step was to re-shoot some scenes of The Patron in order to show Asian viewers a more acceptable version of the film, in his opinion. In the same 1985, he released his fifth directorial film, the action movie Police Story. With this work, he wanted to show American filmmakers how to make dynamic films.
Since then, Chan's career in his homeland has gone uphill: such hits as "Armor of God" (1986), "Police Story 2" (1988), "Police Story 3: Super Cop" (1992), "Showdown in the Bronx" saw the light (1995) and "Who Am I?" (1998). In each of these films, Jackie, as was his wont, did most of his own stunts and was regularly injured. Shooting "Armor of God" almost ended in tragedy: Chan fell from a tree and received a head injury. A brain hemorrhage and damage to the base of the skull could have cost the actor his life, but the cost was that his right ear began to hear worse than the left.
In 1998, he made another attempt to gain a foothold in Hollywood, and this time his efforts were crowned with success: Brett Ratner's action comedy "Rush Hour" gained worldwide popularity, and Jackie Chan and his on-screen partner Chris Tucker won the American MTV channel award in the nomination "Best Screen Duo" The Hollywood breakthrough did not put an end to Jackie's Chinese films, but now there were two or three American ones for one Chinese film.
In 2000, an animated series co-produced by the United States and Hong Kong, The Adventures of Jackie Chan, saw the light of day. Animated fantasy action movie appealed to the world public; The success of the project was ensured by a dynamic plot, colorful characters (in addition to the main character, archaeologist Jackie Chan, the audience watched with delight his restless niece Jade, grumbling Uncle, unlucky villains Valmont, Toru, Finn, Ratso and Chow and many other heroes), as well as the final credits, in which the executive producer of the cartoon, Jackie Chan, made speeches that were informative for young viewers.
The most famous works of Jackie Chan in the 2000s. - these are the comedies "Shanghai Noon" (2000) and "Shanghai Knights" (2003), "Rush Hour 2" (2001) and "Rush Hour 3" (2007), the drama "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, at the same time the couple had a son, Jaycee Chan Yo Ming, a famous singer and musician in China. Jackie also has a daughter, Etta Ou Chok Lam, from an extramarital affair with actress Elaine Ou Yi-Lei; the girl was born on November 19, 1999.
Now Chan is filming in the Russian-Chinese film Journey to China. iron mask", the sequel to the acclaimed "Viya" (2014), which will be released on big screens in 2017. Rumor has it that he will return to the cult image of Inspector Lee in the film "Rush Hour 4", but there is no official information about this, so the actor's fans can only hope that the picture will see the light of day - fortunately, Jackie Chan is full of strength to again play this cool movie character.
