Jackie Chan Biography

NAME: Jackie Chan

OCCUPATION: Film Actor, Martial Arts Expert

BIRTH DATE: April 07, 1954

EDUCATION: Chinese Opera Research Institute

PLACE OF BIRTH: Hong Kong, China

Actor, director, producer. Born April 7, 1954, in Hong Kong, China. When his parents moved to Australia to find new jobs, the seven-year-old Chan was left behind to study at the Chinese Opera Research Institute, a Hong Kong boarding school. For the next 10 years, Chan studied martial arts, drama, acrobatics, and singing, and was subjected to stringent discipline, including corporal punishment for poor performance. He appeared in his first film, the Cantonese feature Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962), when he was only eight, and went on to appear in a number of musical films.

Upon his graduation in 1971, Chan found work as an acrobat and a movie stuntman, most notably in Fist of Fury (1972), starring Hong Kong's resident big-screen superstar, Bruce Lee. For that film, he reportedly completed the highest fall in the history of the Chinese film industry, earning the respectful notice of the formidable Lee, among others.

Jackie has been married to Lin Feng-Jiao since 1982 and has a son, actor-singer Jaycee Chan. To learn more about Jackie you can read his biography, I Am Jackie Chan.

US success was now just around the corner for the the hard-working Jackie Chan, and it arrived in the form of the action film Rumble in the Bronx (1995) (aka "Rumble In The Bronx", though it was actually filmed in Canada) that successfully blended humor and action to make a winning formula in US theaters. Jackie did not waste any time and went to work on Jackie Chan's First Strike (1996) (aka "Police Story 4"), Mr. Nice Guy (1997) (aka "Mr. Nice Guy"), Jackie Chan's Who Am I? (1998) (aka "Who Am I"), which all met with positive results at the international box office. Jackie then went to work in the his biggest-budget US production, starring alongside fast-talking comedian Chris Tucker in the action / comedy Rush Hour (1998). The film was a bigger hit than "Rumble In the Bronx" and firmly established Jackie as a bona fide star in the US. Jackie then paired up with rising talent Owen Wilson to star in Shanghai Noon (2000) and its sequel, Shanghai Knights (2003), and re-teamed with Tucker in Rush Hour 2 (2001), as well as starring in The Tuxedo (2002), The Medallion (2003) and the delightful Around the World in 80 Days (2004).