Jackie Chan

Biography

Jackie Chan SBS MBE PMW (born 7 April 1954, Chinese: 成龍, Yale romanization: Sìhng Lùhng, Jyutping: Sing4 Lung4; lit. “becoming the dragon” is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for his slapstick acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically performs himself. Chan has been acting since the 1960s, performing in more than 150 films. He is one of the most popular action film stars of all time.

Chan is one of the most recognizable and influential film personalities in the world, with a widespread global following in both the Eastern and Western hemispheres. He has received fame stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, cartoons, films, and video games. He is an operatically trained vocalist and is also a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of music albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred. He is also a globally known philanthropist and has been named one of the top 10 most charitable celebrities by Forbes magazine. In 2004, film scholar Andrew Willis stated that Chan was perhaps the “most recognized film star in the world.” In 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $350 million, and as of 2016, he was the second-highest-paid actor in the world.

Chan was born on 7 April 1954 in British Hong Kong as Chan Kong-sang (Chinese: 陳港生; lit. ‘Chan the Hong Kong-born’) to Charles and Lee-Lee Chan, political refugees from the Chinese Civil War. In circa 1937, Chan's father, originally named Fang Daolong, briefly worked as a secret agent for Lieutenant General Dai Li, the chief spy in Kuomintang-ruled China. For fear of being arrested by the communist government, Chan's father fled to British Hong Kong in the 1940s and changed his surname from Fang to Chan. Chan was his wife Chan Lee-lee’s surname. Chan discovered his father's identity and changed his Chinese name to Fang Shilong in the late 1990s, the name he would have been named according to his kin's genealogy book.