Jackie Chan
Birthdate: Apr 7, 1954
Birthplace: Formerly British Hong Kong
Jackie Chan (birthname: Kong-sang Chan) is one of the world’s most recognizable movie stars who has displayed a rare combination of physical violence and charming comedy, and was a central figure in Hong Kong’s golden movie era of the 1980s and 1990s.
Chan’s big break into the martial arts genre was as a stunt performer with Bruce Lee on his two features, Fist of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973), followed by starring roles in Little Tiger of Canton (1973) and New Fist of Fury (1976), and then broke through as a kung fu martial arts star with Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978) and director Yuen Woo-Ping’s iconic Drunken Master (1978) followed by Chan’s first movies as star/director/co-writer and his first projects with producers Raymond Chow’s and Leonard Ho’s Golden Harvest, The Young Master (1980) and Dragon Lord (1982).
Chan launched the next major phase of his performance and directing career as the world’s top martial arts movie star with arguably his best movie, Project A (1983), co-starring Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao and grossing $18 million. However, this reputation is probably matched (if not surpassed) by his brilliant contemporary urban, $19-million-earning Police Story (1985), co-starring Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin, and which came just after the Barcelona-set Wheels on Meals (1984), with Hung and Biao, and grossing $13 million.
Chan as star/director/writer followed these successes with a flood of hit sequels as well as the Armour of God series launched by the wildly successful Armour of God (1986) and Police Story series, as well as the highly entertaining sequel Project A Part II (1987), Dragons Forever (1988), Twin Dragons (1992), City Hunter (1993) and Drunken Master II (1994).
Jackie Chan’s Hollywood breakthrough finally arrived after his first brilliant Hong Kong decade with the Stanley Tong-directed and U.S./Hong Kong-backed Rumble in the Bronx (1996), with Anita Mui and Francoise Yip, and released by New Line Cinema for a hefty $76 million return. Chan, unlike several other Asian movie actors trying—and often failing--to achieve success in the Hollywood and English-speaking markets, hit the jackpot as co-star of the cross cultural buddy cop Rush Hour franchise (co-starring Chris Tucker), including Rush Hour (1998), Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Rush Hour 3 (2006), all directed by Brett Ratner and released by Warner Bros. to a cumulative box office of $849 million.
Chan also co-starred in Touchtone/Disney’s Western/martial arts-accented comedy-action pair, Shanghai Noon (2000) and Shanghai Knights (2003), both co-starring Owen Wilson as an American outlaw and Chan as a member of the Chinese Imperial Guard, with directors Tom Dey and David Dobkin (respectively), and which delivered a cumulative return of $188 million.
Chan’s other major Hollywood franchise was launched by Sony/Columbia Pictures’ U.S./China/Hong Kong feature remake, The Karate Kid (2010), which marked his debut in a dramatic role as kung fu master Mr. Han, co-starring Jaden Smith with Taraji P. Henson and Yu Rongguang under Harald Swart’s direction, produced (in part) by Will Smith and grossing over $359 million; Chan returned as Mr. Han in the franchise’s sixth entry, Karate Kid: Legends (2025), co-starring Ben Wang and Ralph Maccio under Jonathan Entwistle’s direction.
Jackie Chan, as he aged out of his heavy-duty martial arts acting in previous decades, made a crafty move and landed one of his few voice roles as Master Monkey in yet another Hollywood franchise, DreamWorks Animation/Paramount Pictures’ hit animated Kung Fu Panda series, including Kung Fu Panda (2008), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) and Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), co-starring the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and Lucy Liu, and grossing a cumulative $1.81 billion global return.
Jackie Chan Photos and Videos
Personal life
Jackie Chan was born and raised in then-British-controlled Hong Kong by his parents, Charles and Lee-Lee. Chan grew up on the grounds of the French consulate in Hong Kong, since his father was the head cook in the consulate kitchen, while attending and failing at Nah-Hwa Primary School. Chan was then transferred to study for the next decade under Master Yu Jim-yuen’s Peking Opera school at the Hong Kong-based China Drama Academy, and became one of the academy’s top students as a member of the Seven Little Fortunes with future movie stars Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, aka “Three Dragons.”
Chan moved to Canberra, Australia, to live with his parents while briefly attending Dickson College. Graduated from School. Chan has been married to Feng-Jiao (Joan) Lin since 1982; the couple has one child, Jaycee. Chan had a notoriously scandalous affair with actor Elaine Ng Yi-Lei in 1998-1999, when the couple had a child, Etta, whom Chan hasn’t seen since her birth and, according to Yi-Lei’s attorney, received no financial assistance from Chan. Chan’s height is 5’ 8 ½ ”. Chan’s estimated net worth is $400 million.
Jackie Chan Movies
actor
Previous (21)
- 2025 |
Karate Kid: Legends
asMr. Han
After kung fu prodigy Li Fong relocates to New York City, he attracts unwanted attention from a local karate champion and embarks on a journey to enter the ultimate karate competition with the help of Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso.
- 2024 |
Panda Plan
asJackie
International action superstar Jackie Chan is involved in a rescue operation of a beloved zoo panda named Hu Hu.
- 2023 |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
asSplinter
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
The Turtle brothers work to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants.
- 2023 |
- 2020 |
- 2019 |
The Climbers
asOld Yang Guang (Guest Appearance in Post Credit Scene)
The four members of the China Everest Climbing Commando confront the most difficult mount. The first four failures have cost them too much physical strength until the wind and snow stop the gap.
- 2019 |
Police Story
asChan Ka Kui
A virtuous Hong Kong Police Officer must clear his good name when the drug lord he is after frames him for the murder of a dirty cop.
- 2018 |
- 2017 |
The Foreigner
asQuan Ngoc Minh
A humble businessman with a buried past seeks justice when his daughter is killed in an act of terrorism. A cat-and-mouse conflict ensues with a government official, whose past may hold clues to the killers' identities.
- 2017 |
Earth: One Amazing Day
asNarrator
From BBC Earth Films, the studio that brought you Earth, comes the sequel - Earth: One Amazing Day, an astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to e... Read all
- 2017 |
The Lego Ninjago Movie
asMaster Wu
Shunned by everyone for being the son of an evil warlord, a teenager seeks to defeat him with the help of his fellow ninjas.
- 2017 |
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature
asMr. Feng
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature
A group of squirrels try to stop a mayor from destroying the park where they live to make way for a dysfunctional amusement park.
- 2017 |
Kung Fu Yoga
asJack
Two professors team up to locate a lost treasure and embark on an adventure that takes them from a Tibetan ice cave to Dubai, and to a mountain temple in India.
- 2017 |
Railroad Tigers
asMa Yuan
A railroad worker in China in 1941 leads a team of freedom fighters against the Japanese in order to get food for the poor.
- 2016 |
Kung Fu Panda 3
asMonkey
Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness", Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to home.
- 2011 |
Kung Fu Panda 2
asMonkey
Po and his friends fight to stop a peacock villain from conquering China with a deadly new weapon, but first the Dragon Warrior must come to terms with his past.
- 2010 |
The Karate Kid
asMr. Han
Work causes a single mother to move to China with her young son; in his new home, the 12-year-old boy embraces Kung Fu, taught to him by a master.
- 2008 |
Kung Fu Panda
asMonkey
To everyone's surprise, including his own, Po, an overweight, clumsy panda, is chosen as protector of the Valley of Peace. His suitability will soon be tested as the valley's arch-enemy is on his way.
- 2007 |
Rush Hour 3
asLee
After an attempted assassination on Ambassador Han, Lee and Carter head to Paris to protect a French woman with knowledge of the Triads' secret leaders.
- 2001 |
- 1996 |
Facts About Jackie Chan
Heads Up: Jackie Chan has a permanent hole in his head from a stunt accident experienced during the making of Armour of God.
Worst Injury: Chan, who may have endured more stunt injuries than anyone else in movie history, claims that his most painful injury occurred when Bruce Lee accidentally hit him in the face with a nunchuck while filming Enter the Dragon.
Jackie’s Rule: Jackie Chan has noted that “I have a few rules that I tell my manager. No sex scenes. No, make love. The kids who like me, don’t need to see it. It would gross them out.”
Heritage: Chan’s parents were political refugees from Mainland China, with his father having been a secret agent for the anti-Communist Kuomintang forces and fleeing to Hong Kong in the 1940s. Chan traces his family heritage to the city of Wuhu in the Chinese province of Anhui.
Political Flip Flops: Jackie Chan was a vocal supporter of democratic interests in British-held Hong Kong, but after the “Turnover” to the People’s Republic of China, Chan became a public advocate of the Chinese Communist Party, including criticizing the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.
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