• Biography
• More Bios
• Movies

• More ...
• Filmbug Top 100
• Movie Dictionary

Browse ..
A-Z
By Date
By Year
By State
By Country

•  

Born in Hong Kong on April 7, 1954, Jackie Chan was enrolled in the China Drama Academy at age 7 where he spent the next 10 years training in the art of Peking Opera and learned the acrobatics, martial arts, acting, and singing that would later help him become an international superstar.

When Chan left the Academy at the age of 17 to pursue stunt work over the gradually fading Peking Opera industry, he gained a reputation as a talented and fearless stuntman. Within a few years, he was acting, directing, and choreographing stunts for dozens of films. In 1978, the films SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW and DRUNKEN MASTER were the first to showcase Chan's genre of action comedy, which transformed the Hong Kong film industry. Two years later, Chan made his major feature film directorial debut on THE YOUNG MASTER, which marked the start of his long association with producer Raymond Chow, whose Golden Harvest Company made many of Chan's subsequent films.

After a series of attempts in the 1980s to break into the American movie market, Chan returned to Hong Kong to focus on making films in his hometown. He was extremely successful and his film credits in the 1980s includes SUPERCOP FIRST STRIKE, the POLICE STORY series and THE ACCIDENTAL SPY to name only a few.

In 1995, he returned to the US to film RUMBLE IN THE BRONX and it was a huge hit when released in 1996. Since then, Chan has starred in a succession of American productions, including the blockbuster RUSH HOUR series with Chris Tucker and director Brett Ratner, as well as the hit action comedy Western, SHANGHAI NOON, followed by its sequel, SHANGHAI KNIGHTS which Chan also executive produced. Other box office successes include the film HIGHBINDERS, THE TUXEDO and a remake of the classic, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.

Over his nearly four-decade film career, Chan has received hundreds of awards for his acting, directing, writing, and stunt work. The numerous honors include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the MTV Movie Awards, which was presented to him by Quentin Tarantino in 1995; the Actor of the Year Award at the 1999 Hollywood Film Festival; two Best Actor Awards at the Golden Horse Film Festival; three Hong Kong Film Awards; two additional MTV Movie Awards; a Taurus Honorary Award at the World Stunt Awards and an Innovator Award from the American Choreography Awards in 2002, and most recently, a Special Jury Award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival as well as an Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Cinema Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2005.

For the past 20 years, Chan has devoted much of his spare time and energy to charity work. In 1988, he established the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation and has since worked tirelessly for dozens of charities both at home and abroad. In recent years, he has focused his energies on his Dragon's Heart Foundation, which builds schools in remote areas of China. Among his many charitable endeavors, he is a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF/UNAIDS, a celebrity cabinet member of the American Red Cross, founder of the Jackie Chan Civil Aviation Foundation in China, and has hosted charity concerts and car races for many years.

As Chan continues to make Asian blockbuster films like THE MYTH, ROB-B-HOOD and NEW POLICE STORY in his native Hong Kong, he is also lending his voice to Master Monkey, a strong, agile and dedicated kung fu warrior in KUNG FU PANDA, a 2008 animation feature by DreamWorks Animation.