| Jackie Chan  AKA Chan Kong San
Born: 7-Apr-1954
Birthplace: Hong Kong
Gender: Male
Religion: Buddhist
Race or Ethnicity: Asian
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor Nationality: China
Executive summary: Martial arts star does his own stunts Jackie Chan is a martial arts film star, often billed as an action star who always does his own stunts. In the past, Chan performed most of the non-routine stunts in his films, and he still plans, tests, choreographs, and performs the elaborate, jaw-dropping "wow" fights and jumps that make his films visually spectacular. But Chan is in his 50s now and one cannot expect him to continue climbing clock towers, kickfighting atop speeding trains, or shimmying up light poles: in his recent films, he relies more on his comic acting abilities, stunt men, and cinematic special effects.
Chan's parents were staff workers at the French embassy in Hong Kong; his father was a cook, his mother a maid. He was mostly raised at a boarding school, where academics and performing were both stressed, along with rigorous physical training. With young Chan's athletic and dramatic skills, he was a minor child actor in Hong Kong movies in the 1960s, and he worked as a stuntman and extra on Bruce Lee's 1973 kung fu classic Enter the Dragon. Throughout the 70s, Chan worked as an actor and stuntman on innumerable Hong Kong films. He had been in at least 50 films before his star-making role in 1978's Drunken Master, with comedy that comes through even in subtitles, and fight scenes that are astonishing.
With Drunken Master, Chan found the movie persona that worked perfectly for him. His characters are usually slackers or wisecrackers, maybe not too bright, but willing to work hard. Chan has said his characters are generally -- and intentionally -- the opposite of Lee's stalwart, morally upright, unbeatable heroes. Chan wants viewers to feel that his character does not want to fight, not because he is philosophically opposed to violence but because he is afraid he will get pummeled.
In the 1980s Chan attempted to export his stardom to America, but his American films (The Big Brawl and The Protector) were duds. Back in Hong Kong, Chan continued making eye-candy: any of his Police Story films are better than Arnold Schwarzenegger's best, and the motorcycle-train-helicopter chase sequence at the end of Police Story III: Supercop is amazing to watch -- and even more amazing when one recalls that Chan and co-star Michelle Khan did their own stunts. Armour of God: Operation Condor puts an Asian spin on Indiana Jones, and Twin Dragons is perhaps his funniest film. Other essentials include Project A II, Thunderbolt, Fearless Hyena, and Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin.
Father: Charles Chan (restaurant cook, b. 1915, d. 2008)
Mother: Lee-Lee Chan (domestic worker, d. 2002)
Wife: Feng-Jiao Lin (actress, b. 30-Jun-1953, m. 1983, one son)
Son: Jason Chan (b. 3-Dec-1982)
Mistress: Elaine Ng (actress and former Miss Asia, one daughter)
Daughter: Etta Ng Chok Lam (b. 19-Nov-1999)
High School: Chinese Opera Research Institute (1971)
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
Endorsement of Hanesbrands Hanes underwear
Endorsement of Pepsi 2006
Chinese Ancestry
FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
Who Am I? (17-Jan-1998)
Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989)
Police Story 2 (20-Aug-1988)
Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods (21-Jan-1987)
Police Story (14-Dec-1985)
Project A (22-Dec-1983)
The Young Master (1980)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
The Forbidden Kingdom (4-Apr-2008)
Rush Hour 3 (9-Aug-2007)
Around the World in 80 Days (13-Jun-2004)
The Medallion (15-Aug-2003)
Vampire Effect (8-Mar-2003)
Shanghai Knights (30-Jan-2003)
The Tuxedo (19-Sep-2002)
Rush Hour 2 (26-Jul-2001)
Shanghai Noon (19-May-2000)
The King of Comedy (13-Feb-1999)
Gorgeous (12-Feb-1999)
Rush Hour (18-Sep-1998)
Who Am I? (17-Jan-1998)
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (29-Sep-1997)
Mr. Nice Guy (30-Jan-1997)
Jackie Chan's First Strike (14-Dec-1996)
Rumble in the Bronx (21-Jan-1996)
Thunderbolt (1995)
Drunken Master II (3-Feb-1994)
Supercop 2 (21-Oct-1993)
City Hunter (16-Jan-1993)
Police Story 3: Supercop (4-Jul-1992)
Twin Dragons (1992)
Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989)
Police Story 2 (20-Aug-1988)
Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods (21-Jan-1987)
Police Story (14-Dec-1985)
The Protector (30-Aug-1985)
My Lucky Stars 2: Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (15-Aug-1985)
My Lucky Stars (10-Feb-1985)
Cannonball Run II (29-Jun-1984)
Wheels on Meals (1984)
Project A (22-Dec-1983)
The Cannonball Run (19-Jun-1981)
The Young Master (1980)
The Big Brawl (1980)
Drunken Master (5-Oct-1978)
Official Website:
http://www.jackiechan.com/
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