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Chan Kong-sang, aka Jackie Chan, began to study Kung Fu, acrobatic stunts and flips when he was seven years old, at the China Drama Academy, under a famous Chinese Opera Master. Along with six others, Chan got the leading role in an opera called The Seven Little Fortunes, and they went on to stage public performances at amusement parks and the like. A few years later, their teacher began to loan them out to movie companies, to work as stunt men, and, by the time he was 17, Chan was beginning to take on stunt roles in Bruce Lee films.
In 1976, Chan was offered a starring role in a film called New Fist of Fury, and his Chinese name was changed to Shing Lung — "become a dragon" — the name Chan still carries in China. Playing a Bruce Lee-type character, Chan's film was a flop. Though he made several other films in the same genre — all box office failures — it wasn't until Chan began to inject his own brand of humor into the movies that he became a success. He made dozens of movies in China, and moved on to Hollywood in the 1980's, taking on small parts in movies like, Cannonball Run, The Big Brawl and Rumble in the Bronx. Mr. Nice Guy, 1997, finally brought the "Jackie Chan style" to the American public, and made him a hit. He followed up with Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, and Shanghai Knights — all box-office hits.
Chan is a producer, director, writer, actor and stunt man. His directorial debut, Shi di chu ma, (1980) was a milestone in martial arts films, being the first to effectively combine comedy with action. This set the tone for many of his future films, which combined slapstick humor with high-energy martial arts action. Chan performs all his own stunts and his later films include outtakes of his on-set injuries run under the closing credits.
In 2007, Chan's Rush Hour 3 was released and the next year, The Forbidden Kingdom, Chan's first collaboration with Jet Li appeared in theaters. Chan also played the voice of Master Monkey in 2008's Kung Fu Panda.
Last updated: January 14, 2009.
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