Chan was
born on 7 April 1954, in British Hong
Kong, as Chan Kong-sang, to Charles and Lee-Lee Chan,
refugees from the Chinese Civil War. His mother or parents nicknamed him Pao-pao Chinese because the energetic child was always rolling around.
His parents worked for the French ambassador in Hong Kong, and Chan spent his
formative years within the grounds of the consul's residence in the Victoria
Peak district.
Chan attended the Nah-Hwa Primary School on Hong Kong Island, where he failed his first year, after which
his parents withdrew him from the school. In 1960, his father emigrated to Canberra, Australia, to work as the head cook for the American
embassy, and Chan was sent to the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School run by Master Yu Jim-yuen. Chan
trained rigorously for the next decade, excelling in martial arts and
acrobatics. He eventually became
part of the Seven Little Fortunes, a
performance group made up of the school's best students, gaining the stage name
Yuen Lo in homage to his master. Chan became close friends with fellow group
members Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, and the three of them later became known as the Three Brothers or Three
Dragons. After entering the film industry, Chan along with Sammo Hung got
the opportunity to train in hapkido under
the grand master Jin Pal Kim, and Chan eventually attained a black belt.Jackie Chan
also trained in other styles of martial arts such as karate, judo,taekwondo, and Jeet Kune Do.
He began his career by appearing in small roles at the
age of five as a child actor. At age eight, he appeared with some of his fellow
"Little Fortunes" in the film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962) with Li Li-Hua playing
his mother. Chan appeared with Li again the following year, in The Love Eterne (1963)
and had a small role in King Hu's 1966 film Come Drink with Me. In 1971, after an appearance as an
extra in another kung fu film, A Touch of Zen, Chan was signed to Chu Mu's Great Earth
Film Company. At seventeen, he
worked as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon under
the stage name Chan Yuen Lung He
received his first starring role later that year in Little Tiger of Canton that had a limited release in Hong
Kong in 1973. In 1975, due to the
commercial failures of his early ventures into films and trouble finding stunt
work, Chan starred in a comedic adult film All in the Family in which Chan appears in his first
nude sex scene. It is the only film he has made to date without a single fight
scene or stunt sequence. Jackie Chan later also appeared in one other sex
scene, in Shinjuku Incident.
Chan joined his parents in Canberra in 1976,
where he
briefly attended Dickson College and
worked as a construction worker. A
fellow builder named Jack took Chan under his wing, thus earning Chan the
nickname of "Little Jack" that was later shortened to
"Jackie", and the name Jackie Chan has stuck with him ever since. In the late 1990s, Chan changed his Chinese name to
Fong Si-lung, since his father's original surname was Fong.
In
1982, Chan married Lin
Feng-jiao (a.k.a. Joan Lin), a Taiwanese actress. Their son, singer and
actor Jaycee
Chan, was born that same year. As a result of an extra-marital affair
with Chan, Elaine
Ng Yi-Lei bore a daughter in 1999. He speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and American Sign Language and also speaks some German,Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Thai. Chan
is an avid football fan and supports the Hong Kong national football
team, England National Football
Team, and Manchester City.
In addition
to his film production and distribution company, JCE Movies Limited, Jackie
Chan also owns or co-owns the production companies JC Group China, Jackie &
Willie Productions (with Willie
Chan) and Jackie & JJ Productions. Chan
has also put his name to Jackie Chan Theater International, a cinema chain in
China, co-run by Hong Kong company Sparkle Roll Group Ltd. The first—Jackie
Chan-Yaolai International Cinema—opened in February 2010, and is claimed to be
the largest cinema complex in China, with 17 screens and 3,500 seats. Chan
expressed his hopes that the size of the venue would afford young,
non-commercial directors the opportunity to have their films screened. 15
further cinemas in the chain are planned for 2010, throughout Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, with a potential total of 65 cinemas throughout the
country proposed.
In 2004, Chan launched his own line of clothing, which
bears a Chinese dragon logo
and the English word "Jackie", or the initials "JC" Chan also has a number of other branded businesses. His
sushi restaurant chain, Jackie's Kitchen, has outlets throughout Hong Kong, as
well as seven in South Korea, with plans to open another in Las Vegas. Jackie Chan's Cafe has outlets in Beijing,
Singapore, and the Philippines. Other ventures include Jackie Chan Signature
Club gyms (a partnership with California Fitness), and a
line of chocolates, cookies and nutritional oatcakes. With each of his businesses, a
percentage of the profits goes to various charities, including the Jackie Chan
Charitable Foundation.
In June
2006, citing his admiration of the efforts made by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to
help those in need, Chan pledged the donation of half his assets to charity
upon his death. On 10 March 2008,
Chan was the guest of honour for the launch, by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, of the Jackie
Chan Science Centre at the John Curtin
School of Medical Research of
the Australian National University. Chan is also a supporter and ambassador of Save China's Tigers, which
aims to save the endangered South China tiger through
breeding and releasing them into the wild. Following
the 2008 Sichuan earthquake,
Chan donated RMB ¥10 million to help those in need. In addition, he is
planning to make a film about the Chinese earthquake to raise money for
survivors. In response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and
tsunami, Chan and fellow Hong Kong-based celebrities, including
American rapper MC Jin, headlined a special three-hour charity concert, titled Artistes 311 Love Beyond
Borders, on 1 April 2011 to help with Japan's disaster recovery
effort. The 3-hour concert raised over
$3.3 million
Chan founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation in
1988, to offers scholarship and active help to Hong Kong's young people and
provide aid to victims of natural disaster or illness. In 2005 Chan
created the Dragon's Heart Foundation to help children and the elderly in
remote areas of China by building schools, providing books, fees, and uniforms
for children; the organisation expanded its reach to Europe in 2011. The foundation also provides for the
elderly with donations of warm clothing, wheelchairs, and other items.
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