What obstacles has Jackie Chan faced?

Answer 1

The biggest obstacle Jackie Chan faced was poverty. His parents were very poor and had to leave him in school in Hong Kong while they took better paying work in Australia. This was very difficult for Jackie.

Other obstacles he faced was that he was trained as a Chinese Opera performer in a time when Chinese Opera was declining in popularity. Fortunately Jackie had already been working in movies when he finished his apprenticeship but there were a lot of people and few jobs. After trying to make a success of his career Jackie was forced to leave Hong Kong and live with his parents in Australia for a year when he was offered a lead role in a remake of Bruce Lee's 'Fist of Fury' called 'New Fist of Fury' with the same director, Lo Wei.

This was Jackie's big break but there were still obstacles to overcome. Lo Wei, like many other directors, wanted Jackie to be like Bruce Lee, but no-one could be like Bruce Lee. After a string of box office failures Jackie had a second chance at success when Ng See Yuen asked to 'borrow' Jackie from Lo Wei for a 2 picture deal. Those two movies were 'Snake in the Eagle's Shadow' and 'Drunken Master'. Fortunately for Jackie the action choreographer and director on those two films was his 'brother' from Opera School Yuen Woo Ping and his brother Corey Yuen. Together with Jackie they allowed Jackie to develop his signature combination of humour and Martial Arts.

Other obstacles Jackie has faced is having some difficulty with English. This limits the kind of roles he can take when making movies in Hollywood. An example of this is that Jackie was offered the lead in "The Interpreter" but had to turn the part down because there was too much dialogue.

On another occasion when Jackie Chan was promoting 'The Big Brawl' a TV show refused to interview him when they realised how little English he spoke at that time and said that he should just demonstrate some martial arts instead. Jackie refused.

These are examples of the many obstacles Jackie has faced. There are many more but Jackie has this to say "Do not let circumstances control you, you control your circumstances." which is one way of saying, never give up.

Answer 2

He has a son that he rarely sees, the insurance doesn't like it when he does scary stunts. I am sure there are more, but I am unsure of the rest.

Answer 3

Hard work and determination.