Jackie Chan Success Story

Childhood

Jackie Chan was born on April 7, 1954 in British Hong Kong. He was born to Charles and Lee-Lee Chan and they named him Chan Kong-Sang at birth. He was sent the Nah-Hwa Primary School but Chan failed in his first year itself. He was a very energetic kid, running around imitating people and singing songs. This prompted his parents to admit him to the China Drama Academy in Peking. Chan trained here for the next ten years of his life specialising in acrobatics and martial arts. He appeared in the film ‘Big and Little Wong Tin Bar’ (1962) at the age of five.

Beginning

At the age of 17 he got an opportunity to work as a stuntman in Bruce Lee films like ‘Fist of Fury’ and ‘Enter the Dragon’. But soon he found it difficult to find good movies to act in which suited his martial arts. In 1976 Chan went to Australia to live with his parents and worked as a construction worker. But soon he got an offer from the Hong Kong Film industry to work in a complete martial arts film. Chan was excited at this prospect and went to Hong Kong to act in that movie. The movie was a commercial failure but he decided to pursue in the industry for some more time.

Career

In the 1978 film ‘Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow’ Chan found his first success as a result of bringing in the comedic Kung Fu genre into big screen. Next Chan starred in ‘Drunken Master’ which helped him establish himself as one of the rising stars in the industry. He started in some more films in the same genre like ‘Spiritual Kung Fu’, ‘The Fearless Hyena’ and ‘Half a Loaf of Kung Fu’. All these movies were equally successful at the box office. With his success at home he tried to enter the American film industry with the film ‘The Cannonball Run’ (1982). But he was not given mainstream roles, so he went back to his home country.