Jackie Chan

One of the most popular film personalities in the world, Jackie Chan came from a poverty-stricken Hong Kong family
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.

In 1971, he rejoined his parents in Australia, but it wasn't long before he returned to Hong Kong, and adopted the stage name Chen Yuan Long. Chan found work as a stunt man and martial arts fighter, with his first film role as an adult in 'Little Tiger from Canton'. His talent soon saw him graduating first to stunt co-ordinator, and then to director, before receiving his first credit as martial arts director for 'The Heroine', in which he also starred.

Billed as Cheng Lung, Chan entered films in his mid-teens, appearing in 25 productions before his 20th birthday. Starting out as a stunt man, Chan was promoted to stardom as the potential successor to the late Bruce Lee. In his earliest starring films, he was cast as a stone-cold serious type, determined to avenge Lee's death. Only when he began playing for laughs did Chan truly attain full celebrity status. Frequently referred to as the Buster Keaton of kung-fu, Chan's outlook on life is a lot more optimistic than Keaton's, but in his tireless devotion to the most elaborate of sight gags and the most awe-inspiring of stunts (many of which have nearly cost him his life), Chan is Keaton incarnate.

From 1978's The Young Master onward, Chan has usually been his own director and screenwriter. His best Hong Kong-produced films include the nonstop action-fests Project A (1983), Police Story (1985), Armour of God (1986), and the Golden Horse Award-winning Crime Story (1993) -- not to mention the multiple sequels of each of the aforementioned titles. Despite his popularity in Europe and Asia, Chan was for many years unable to make a dent in the American market. He tried hard in such films as The Big Brawl (1980) and the first two Cannonball Run flicks, but American filmgoers just weren't buying.

At long last, Chan mined U.S. box-office gold with 1996's Rumble in the Bronx, a film so exhilarating that audiences never noticed those distinctly Canadian mountain ranges looming behind the "Bronx" skyline. Chan remained the most popular Asian actor with the greatest potential to cross over into the profitable English-speaking markets, something he again demonstrated when he co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 box-office hit Rush Hour. In 2000 Chan had another success on his hands with Shanghai Noon, a comedy Western in which he starred as an Imperial Guard dispatched to the American West to rescue the kidnapped daughter (Lucy Liu) of the Chinese Emperor.

He maintained his status as one of the biggest movie stars in the world throughout the next decades in a series of films that include Rush Hour 2, The Tuxedo, Shankghai Knights, The Myth, Rush Hour 3. He enjoyed his biggest U.S. hit in quite some time starring in the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid opposite Jaden Smith.

In 1982, Chan married Lin Feng-jiao (aka 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.

Filmography:
1962 - Big and Little Wong Tin Bar
1963 - The Love Eterne
1964 - The Story of Qin Xiang Lin
1966 - The Eighteen Darts (Part 1)
1966 - The Eighteen Darts (Part 2)
1966 - Come Drink with Me
1970 - Lady of Steel
1971 - A Touch of Zen
1971 - The Blade Spares None
1971 - The Angry River
1972 - Fist of Fury
1972 - Hapkido
1972 - The Brutal Boxer
1972 - Stranger in Hong Kong
1973 - Enter the Dragon
1973 - Facets of Love
1973 - Not Scared to Die
1973 - Police Woman
1973 - Kung Fu Girl
1973 - Little Tiger of Canton
1973 - Freedom Strikes a Blow
1973 - Ambush
1973 - The Awaken Punch
1973 - Fist of Unicorn
1974 - Fist to Fist
1974 - The Golden Lotus
1974 - Supermen Against the Orient
1974 - Village of Tigers
1975 - All in the Family
1975 - Bruce Lee and I
1975 - No End of Surprises
1975 - The Himalayan
1975 - The Young Dragons
1976 - New Fist of Fury
1976 - Dance of Death
1976 - Shaolin Wooden Men
1976 - Hand of Death
1976 - Killer Meteors
1976 - The Private Eyes
1977 - The 36 Crazy Fists
1977 - To Kill with Intrigue
1978 - Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin
1978 - Magnificent Bodyguards
1978 - Snake in the Eagle's Shadow
1978 - Drunken Master
1978 - Spiritual Kung Fu
1978 - Half a Loaf of Kung Fu
1978 - Two in Black Belt
1979 - The Fearless Hyena
1979 - Dragon Fist
1979 - Immortal Warriors
1979 - Master with Cracked Fingers
1980 - The Young Master
1980 - The Big Brawl
1980 - Read Lips
1981 - The Cannonball Run
1981 - The Gold-Hunters
1982 - Dragon Lord
1983 - Fantasy Mission Force
1983 - Fearless Hyena Part II
1983 - Winners and Sinners
1983 - Project A
1984 - Wheels on Meals
1984 - Cannonball Run II
1984 - Pom Pom
1985 - Police Story
1985 - Heart of Dragon
1985 - Ninja Thunderbolt
1985 - The Protector
1985 - My Lucky Stars
1985 - Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars
1986 - Naughty Boys
1986 - Armour of God
1987 - Project A Part II
1987 - That Enchanting Night
1988 - Police Story 2
1988 - Dragons Forever
1988 - The Inspector Wears Skirts
1988 - Rouge
1989 - Miracles
1989 - The Inspector Wears Skirts II
1989 - I Am Sorry
1990 - Island of Fire
1990 - The Outlaw Brothers
1990 - Stage Door Johnny
1990 - Story of Kennedy Town
1991 - A Kid from Tibet
1991 - Armour of God II: Operation Condor
1991 - Angry Ranger
1991 - Beauty and the Beast
1992 - Police Story 3: Super Cop
1992 - Twin Dragons
1992 - Centre Stage
1992 - The Shootout
1993 - Once a Cop
1993 - City Hunter
1993 - Crime Story
1993 - Kin chan no Cinema Jack
1994 - Drunken Master II
1995 - Thunderbolt
1995 - Rumble in the Bronx
1996 - Police Story 4: First Strike
1997 - Mr. Nice Guy
1998 - Who Am I?
1998 - Rush Hour
1998 - Hot War
1998 - An Alan Smithee Film Burn Hollywood Burn
1998 - Mulan
1999 - King of Comedy
1999 - Gorgeous
1999 - Gen-X Cops
1999 - Tempting Heart
2000 - Shanghai Noon
2000 - Gen-X Cops 2: Metal Mayhem
2001 - The Accidental Spy
2001 - Rush Hour 2
2002 - The Tuxedo
2003 - Shanghai Knights
2003 - The Twins Effect
2003 - The Medallion
2004 - Around the World in 80 Days
2004 - The Twins Effect II
2004 - New Police Story
2004 - Enter the Phoenix
2004 - Rice Rhapsody
2005 - The Myth
2005 - Everlasting Regret
2005 - House of Fury
2006 - Rob-B-Hood
2007 - Rush Hour 3
2007 - Air Diary
2008 - The Forbidden Kingdom
2008 - Kung Fu Panda
2008 - Run Papa Run
2008 - Wushu
2009 - Shinjuku Incident
2009 - Looking for Jackie
2009 - The Founding of a Republic
2010 - The Spy Next Door
2010 - Little Big Soldier
2010 - The Karate Kid
2010 - The Legend of Silk Boy
2010 - Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special
2011 - Shaolin
2011 - Kung Fu Panda 2
2011 - 1911
2011 - Legendary Amazons
2012 - CZ12
2013 - Personal Tailor
2013 - Police Story 2013[1]
2014 - As the Light Goes Out
2015 - Dragon Blade
2015 - Skiptrace
2016 - Kung Fu Panda 3