| Jackie Chan (born April 7, 1955, Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong & American actor, stuntman, film director, producer, script writer, director of tricks & action choreographer & singer. Jackie Chan acted in film with pseudo-names: Jackie Chan, Jackie Chan with a Baseball Bat, Yuan Lung Chan, Yuen-Lung Chan, Lung Chen, Long Cheng, Wellson Chin, Sing Lung.
Biography:
Chan - one of the most popular heroes of kung-fu action movies in the world & is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comedy & also use of most different “improvised means” in actions scenes. He acted in more than 100 films in leading roles & is one of the most popular Asian actors in the world. He sings theme songs in many of his films & releases albums since 1980s. Chan is popular as one of the “Seven Little Fortunes” (graduates of Peking Opera School, becoming popular actors).
Jackie Chan was born in Hong Kong (presently, administrative district of People’s Republic of China). His parents - Charles Chan & Lee-Lee Chan – came to Hong Kong as refugees from continent during Chinese Civil War & relocated to Australia in 1960. Before relocating to Australia, they worked as butler & house-maid in the residence of France Consul in Hong Kong. Chinese name of Chan “Kong-Sang” means “born in Hong Kong”.
Jackie Chan started his film career as a stuntman & sometimes he was offered small roles in episodes. Very confident in kung-fu, acrobatics & possessing good elastic body & skills of scene skills, from the mid 1970s Chan started playing leading roles & then started producing & directing the films. He makes out rightly entertaining films - unpretentious comedies with “fights”, but in due course of time it has become clear that this energetic & volatile robust fellow has managed to create new genre of films, in which only one person is capable to act – Jackie Chan himself. Because, nobody else would endanger their lives for the sake of breathtaking stunts other than Jackie Chan. In many respects, films of Jackie Chan are similar to comedies “mute cinema” era, when stunts & humorous stunts reigned on screen. Becoming the most popular Chinese actor, from mid 1990s, Jackie Chan works in Hollywood & has managed to achieve astounding success in a short span of time. Film intellectuals do not admire him, but Jackie Chan has no less devoted admirers than the biggest stars of global cinema. Most popular films of Jackie Chan: Police Story 4 (1993), Thunderbolt, Rumble in the Bronx, Shanghai Noon.
For the last few years, Jackie Chan is more & more experimenting with genres, protagonists & plots. In one of the interviews, he expressed his wish to prove to the audience that he is an actor who can fight & not the fighter who can act”. Therefore, his last films were so different from each other: “New Police Story” - drama, “The Myth” – fantasy, “Rob-B-Hood” – a comedy. And, Jackie Chan actually is a diversified actor & actually he is an excellent actor who can play most different characters without losing his individuality.
Though Jackie Chan was popular in restricted circles in USA, real success was achieved only after the movie “Rumble in the Bronx” in 1995.
Jackie Chan has stars on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong & Hollywood Walk of Fame & also on Old Arbat Street in Moscow. Chan is also a successful pop singer & since 1984, he released more than 100 songs on 20 albums. He sings in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese & English. He very often sings theme songs for his films but while releasing these movies in Britain and USA, these theme songs, as a rule, are replaced.
Jackie Chan is widely known for his charity work & participates in various projects. He often acts as goodwill ambassador in various projects like the help rendered to sufferers of tsunami in Indian Ocean in 2004 or of flooding in Continental China. In June 2006, he stated that bequeaths half of his earnings towards charitable purposes. He also mentioned that he very much respects philanthropic inclinations of Bill Gates & Warren Buffett.
“Bad guys”:
Popular belief exists that, during entire film career, Jackie Chan never played a negative character. But nevertheless, there are at least 3 such films & are:
* Incidental negative role in movie “Return of the Dragon” with Bruce Lee;
* Minor negative role of leader of goons in film “Rumble in Hong Kong”;
* Role of main negative character of Wa Wu Bin (Tiger) in film “The Killer Meteors”
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Chan Kong Sang, known in Hollywood as Jackie Chan celebrated the 55th birthday this Tuesday. Chan has been acting since 70s, starred in over 100 films, and is best known for his comic acrobatic fighting style, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts. Jackie began Hollywood career as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films "Fist of Fury" (1972) and "Enter the Dragon" (1973). Unlike other Hollywood actors Jackie Chan performs most of his stunts by himself and therefore has impressive number of scars.
