Biography: Jackie Chan

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Roberto Martinez

Professor Boughn

THE 3220

2 April 2011

Biography: Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan is one of the most skilled clowns of the modern era. Unlike his peers, Chan is able to blend an appearance of martial arts prowess with the typical clowning traits of over-complicated problems seamlessly into a unique mix of traits. Where other people have to choose between being the comic relief or the brave hero, Chan does both with equal effectiveness. While others such as Sammo Hung and Stephen Chow have had success following in his footsteps, Jackie Chan was the foremost pioneer mixing Hong Kong action and clowning (Wiki).

Jakie Chan, originally called “Kong-sang” Chan (literally “Born in Hong Kong”) was born in 1954 to a poor couple, Charles and Lee Lee Chan. Charles and Lee Lee worked for the French embassy working as a cook and house cleaner respectively, and although they did not earn much it was a very steady job. Charles began teaching Jackie martial arts at a young age in order to try and add some structure and discipline to his life. When Jackie began attending school, he began using his training in school yard fights, which in turn were punished by his father (a plot element seen in the Drunken Master movies).

Jackie failed his first year of school just as his father earned a new, much more lucrative position as head cook for the American embassy in Australia. The family decided that it would be better to keep Jackie in Hong Kong and enrolled him in the China Drama Academy, a Peking opera school. During this time, Jackie’s training was expanded to incorporate acting, singing, acrobatics, and tumbling as well as continuing his martial arts schooling. Jackie prospered in this field and also met two of his closest collaborators, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The three would eventually go on to be called the “Three Brothers” in Hong Kong cinema. Jackie began work as a stunt man in a pair of Bruce Lee films, Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon (Chuck Norris also worked as a stunt man on the film).

After this initial set of successes, the Hong Kong cinema industry went through a period of bust following Bruce Lee’s death. As a result, Jackie emigrated to Australia to live with his parents. Because the China Drama Academy didn’t teach reading or writing, Jackie was only qualified for unskilled labor. He started working restaurant and construction jobs. This is where he first got the name “Jackie” as his co-workers had trouble pronouncing his given name. Jackie had a distaste for the jobs as he found them “difficult and boring” (Biography). Thankfully, Chan soon started getting offers from Hong Kong again thanks to his previous work and his physical similarity to Bruce Lee.

Trying to capitalize on his looks, movie producers attempted to make Jackie into an action hero starting with New Fist of Fury. The film and its subsequent attempts to make Jackie the new Bruce met with failure, partly because Jackie studied different techniques than Bruce. However, when a director decided to let Jackie contribute ideas in Snake in Eagle’s Shadow, which allowed him to infuse humor into the action of the movie, which was well-received. Jackie became a sensation for bringing physical comedy to the kung fu genre. After branching from China to Japan, it would take a few years before Jackie took a swing at the American market with the film Cannon Ball Run (the inclusion of bloopers during the credit reel became a staple of Jackie’s films after seeing how well it worked for this film). Jackie became frustrated with Hollywood, however, and wouldn’t attempt to make another movie in the country until Rumble in the Bronx in the early 90s, which lead to him becoming a sensation in the United States.

Jackie’s stardom continues to accumulate. In 2008 he was one of the torch-bearers for the Beijing Olympics, continuing his film work, as well as serving an ambassador to UNICEF and UNAIDS. Jackie’s son, Jaycee Chan has started a career as a successful singer in China, a skill Jackie shares but is not widely known for outside of the People’s Republic. If all goes well, Jackie will continue to delight the world with his blend of action and comedy for decades to come.

Works Cited

"Biography." The Official Website of Jackie Chan. Web. 01 Apr. 2011.

"Jackie Chan." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 01 Apr. 2011.