Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan SBS MBE (born Chan Kong-sang 陳 港 生; April 7, 1954)  is an action choreographer, comedian writer Director Producer martial artist singer and stunt performer entrepreneur Hong Kong. In his films, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style comic timing use of improvised weapons and innovative stunts. Chan has been acting since the 1960s and has appeared in over 150 films. 

Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a cultural icon Chan has been referenced in various pop songs and cartoon games. A trained opera singer Chan is also a Cantopop and Mandopop star have released several albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred. He is also a noted philanthropist. 
early life 
Chan was born on April 7, 1954 in Hong Kong as British Chan Kong-sang to Charles and Lee-Lee Chan refugees from the Chinese Civil War. He was nicknamed Pao-pao Chinese: 炮 炮 ("Cannonball") because the spirited child always rolling around. His parents worked for the French ambassador to 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 his parents withdrew him from school. In 1960, his father immigrated to Canberra, Australia to work as a chef at 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 for excellence in martial arts and acrobatics. He eventually became part of the Seven Little Fortunes, a group formed by the performance of the best students in the school 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. [8] After entering the film industry with Chan Sammo Hung have the opportunity to train in Hapkido under Grandmaster Kim Jin Pal Chan and finally reached a black belt. 

He began his career appearing in small roles at the age of five years. When eight 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 the 1966 film King Hu Come drink with me. In 1971, after an appearance as an extra in another kung fu movie a touch of Zen Chan Great Earth Film Company Chu Mu was signed. At seventeen he worked as a specialist in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon under the stage name Chan Yuen Lung (Chinese: 陳元龍). He received his first starring role later that year, in Little Tiger of Canton which had a limited release in Hong Kong in 1973 [13] Due to the commercial failures of his first forays into films and trouble finding stunt work in 1975 Chan starred one adult film comedy All in the Family in which Chan appears in her first nude scene sex. It is the only film he has made to date without a single fight scene or action sequence. Jackie Chan later also appeared in another 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 builder fellow named Jack took under his wing Chan Chan earned the nickname "Little Jack" which was later shortened to 'Jackie',., And the name Jackie Chan stuck with him ever since [16] In the late 1990s Chan changed his Chinese name to Fong Si-lung (Chinese: 房 仕 龍) since his father's original surname was Fong. 

Film career: 

The first exploits: 1976-1979: 

In 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stunt work. Willie Chan offered him a starring role in a film directed by Lo Wei. He had seen Chan's performance in the John Woo film Hand of Death (1976) and planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury. His stage name was changed to Sing Lung (Chinese: 成龍 also transcribed as Cheng Long literally "become the dragon") to emphasize his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name means 'little dragon' in Chinese film did not. unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to martial arts style of Lee. though the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, but with little improvement at the box office. 

Chan first breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle Shadow shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two images. [19] Director Yuen Woo-Ping Chan allowed complete freedom over his stunt work. The film established the comedic kung fu and was refreshing to the public in Hong Kong. Chan then starred in Drunken Master, which finally brought him to mainstream success. 

Returning to the study of Chan Lo Wei Lo tried to replicate the comedic approach of Drunken Master produce half a loaf of Kung Fu and Spiritual Kung Fu. He also gave Chan the opportunity to co-direct The Fearless Hyena with Kenneth Tsang. When Willie Chan left the company advised Jackie to decide for himself whether or not to stay with Lo Wei. During the shooting of Fearless Hyena Part II, Chan broke his contract and joined Golden Harvest prompting Lo to blackmail Chan with triads, blaming Willie for his star's departure. The dispute was resolved with the help of fellow actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu allowing Chan to stay with Golden Harvest. 

Success in the genre of action comedy: 1980-1987 
Willie Chan became Jackie's personal manager and firm friend, and has remained so for over 30 years. Was instrumental in launching Chan's international career began with his first forays into the American film industry in the 1980s His first Hollywood film was Battle Creek Brawl in 1980, Chan then played a minor role in the 1981 film the Cannonball Run, which grossed $ 100 million worldwide. Despite being ignored by the public in favor of established American actors like Burt Reynolds Chan was impressed by the outtakes shown at the closing credits inspire him to include the same device in his future films. 

After the commercial failure of The Protector in 1985, Chan temporarily abandoned his attempts to break into the American market turning his attention to movies from Hong Kong. 

Back in Hong Kong cinema Chan began to reach a larger audience in East Asia, with early successes in the lucrative Japanese market including The Young Master (1980) and Dragon Lord (1982). The Young Master beat previous box office records set by Bruce Lee and established Chan as the top movie star from Hong Kong. With Dragon Lord began experimenting with elaborate action stunt sequences, including a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the largest outlet only one sequence of scenes taken with 2900 and the final fight scene where he performs various stunts, including one in doing a flip off a loft and falls back to the lower floor. 

Chan produced a number of action comedy films with his friends from school opera Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The three co-starred together for the first time in 1983 in Project A, which introduced a dangerous stunt-driven style of martial arts that won the Best Design Award of action in the third edition of Film Awards Hong Kong. During the following two years were the "Three Brothers in Wheels on Meals and the original Lucky Stars trilogy. Chan in 1985 made ​​the first Police Story film, an action comedy of American influence in which Chan performed a number of dangerous maneuvers. was named the 'Best Film' in film Awards Hong Kong 1986 in 1987, Chan played "Asian Hawk 'character of Indiana Jones-esque in the film Armour of God. the film was the biggest blockbuster national Chan so far raising more than $ 35 million in Hong Kong. 

Acclaimed sequels and Hollywood breakthrough: 1988-1998 
In 1988 Chan starred alongside Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao for the last time to date in the film Dragons Forever. Hung co-directed with Corey Yuen, and the villain in the film was played by Yuen Wah, both of whom were fellow graduates of the China Drama Academy. 

In late 1980 and early 1990 Chan starred in a number of successful sequels beginning with Police Story 2, which won the award for Best Action Choreography in Film Awards Hong Kong 1989 This was followed by Armour of God II : Operation Condor, and Police Story 3: Super Cop for which Chan won the Best Actor Award at the Golden Horse Film Festival 1993 in 1994, Chan reprized his role as Wong Fei-hung in Drunken Master II has been included at all times 100 Movies Time magazine [31] Another sequel Police Story. 4: First Strike brought more awards and domestic box office success for Chan, but did not fare as well in foreign markets. 

Chan rekindled his Hollywood ambitions in the 1990s, but refused early offers to play villains in Hollywood films to avoid being typecast in future roles. For example, Sylvester Stallone offered him the role of Simon Phoenix to a criminal in the futuristic film Demolition Man. Chan declined and the role was taken by Wesley Snipes. 

Chan finally succeeded in establishing a foothold in the North American market in 1995 with a worldwide release of Rumble in the Bronx achieve a cult following in the United States that was rare for Hong Kong movie stars. The success of Rumble in the Bronx led to a 1996 release of Police Story 3: Super Cop in the United States under the title Supercop raised a total of $ 16,270,600. First major chart success came when Chan co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 buddy cop action comedy Rush Hourgrossing $ 130 million in the United States alone. This film made ​​him a Hollywood star after he wrote his autobiography in collaboration with Jeff Yang entitled I Am Jackie Chan did.