The artist created a cinematic image in contrast to the ideal Bruce Lee: Jackie Chan’s heroes were distinguished by their frivolity and had strained relationships with their families. The actor clearly copied the latter fact from life…
At birth, the movie star’s name was Chang Kongsan, in China he is known under the pseudonym Xing Long, and in the rest of the world – as Jackie Chan. The future dollar millionaire grew up in a poor family, but his mom and dad did everything to pull themselves and their son out of poverty. So, Charles and Lily worked as a cook and a maid at the residence of the French consul in Hong Kong, and in 1960 they left for Australia. But they did not take their heir with them – the boy was sent to a boarding school at the Beijing Opera.
Here the child not only learned singing and stage movement, but also became interested in martial arts and acrobatics. Everything would be fine, but the level of basic education in the institution left much to be desired – by graduation, the 17-year-old boy could not even read fluently. The young man decided to rely on his strengths and became a stuntman.
It is worth noting that our hero appeared in episodes as a child, starring in the films “Eternal Love” and “The Story of Qin Xianglian”. As a teenager, he appeared in the films with Bruce Lee “Fist of Fury” and “Enter the Dragon”. At the same time, in his youth, the actor moved to his parents in Australia for a while, where he worked as a builder and received the famous nickname Jackie. How did he manage to become one of the most famous artists in Asia and amass a fortune of 350 million dollars? On April 7, Jackie Chan turns 70, and we recall his path to fame.
The key to success
The stuntman received increasingly larger roles in films thanks to his enthusiasm, hard work and charisma. In the mid-70s, the actor also got the opportunity to shoot films in Hong Kong, creating a genre of entertaining action films in which only he could act – for the sake of stunts, Jackie risked his life more than once, putting the naturalism of the picture above everything else.
The films “Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow” and “Drunken Master” made Jackie popular in his homeland, and on the set of “Project A” he officially created his own stunt group. At the dawn of the 80s, the actor began trying to break into the American market with the films “The Big Brawl” and “Cannonball Run”. However, the actor’s resounding success in the United States came only in 1995, when “Rumble in the Bronx” was released.
Jackie got a taste of big money in his early 20s, and at that time he was unable to avoid star fever. “An ignoramus who never spent a day at school suddenly gets 10 million – can you imagine what that was like? I couldn’t wait to buy up all the things people dream about their whole lives in one week. I spent my days drinking and driving cars, crashing a Porsche in the morning and a Mercedes-Benz in the evening. Day after day, I was in a state of clouded consciousness. At that time, if reporters came running to us with cameras, I would threaten the journalists: “Do you dare take a picture? One shot – one blow!” How arrogant I was then – it’s disgusting!” the artist wrote in his book “I’m Happy”.
In his youth, a little-known artist went into a boutique and asked if he could try on a shirt. The saleswoman reluctantly said that the guy wouldn’t have enough money anyway. Having earned his first millions, the actor went for revenge: he took a whole stack of things in that very store and confused the girl by ordering her to pack half of them.
“These shirts are still lying around my house somewhere, I haven’t worn them since the day I bought them. Do you know how long it took her to pack that pile of clothes? Whenever I thought about it, I was happy as a child. You see how naughty I was. I behaved like a little boy. At that time, I was too insecure and very afraid of being treated with disdain,” Jackie admitted.
Chan’s first all-American hit was Rush Hour, which was spread out over several parts. Then the actor tried on a more romantic image in the film Magnificent, and shared the glory of the film Shanghai Noon with Owen Wilson. The films Tuxedo and Around the World in 80 Days were expensive but commercially unsuccessful, but The Karate Kid and the sequels to Armour of God collected good box office. It is not surprising that the actor has The Karate Kid scheduled for release at the end of this year.
Selfless hero
Having created a cinematic image of a sometimes lazy and imperfect, but kind and honest hero, Jackie almost always refused to play villains. The actor’s negative characters can be counted on one hand: a student at a Japanese school in “Fist of Fury”, a gang leader in “Showdown in Hong Kong”, a killer in “No End to Surprises”, a mafioso in “Incident in Shinjuku”. At the same time, Chan rejected the roles of antagonists in “Black Rain”, “Demolition Man” and “Lethal Weapon 4” – all due to fear of ruining his image.
Jackie avoided the list of stereotypical villains, instead securing a reputation as a kind and fearless guy: fans knew how often the actor broke bones on set for the sake of a bright spectacle. The actor received his most serious injury on the set of “Armor of God” – he had to have brain surgery, and Chan’s right ear still has poor hearing. Well, because of “Drunken Master” our hero almost lost an eye.
“They say that I managed to break all my bones, which, of course, is not true,” the actor explained in his autobiography. “But I can say with confidence that from the hair on my head to the nails on my feet, every millimeter of my body has been injured at least once. Starting with the film “The Young Master,” I began adding bonus videos with funny bloopers at the end of all my films. They also include my failed stunts, so you can see how I fall to the ground in the most ridiculous way and the entire film crew runs up to me in horror. Thanks to this, I compiled a map of injuries to my entire body, and this list is, of course, impressive.”
“Karate-father”
At 14, Jackie experienced his first love for a girl from a wealthy family, but the affair ended with the actor’s first popularity. In his book, the artist also told the tragic story of his former lover, who tried to commit suicide and ended up disfiguring her entire body with burns.
Having become famous, Jackie did not remain a bachelor for long – at the dawn of the 80s, he married his colleague Lin Fengjiao. The Taiwanese actress also knew what poverty was, because she lived in a large family, and at 12 she dropped out of school to work on a farm. And although by the 70s the actress achieved great success in the film industry, after the birth of her son Jaycee, she ended her career. Only in 2012, Lin appeared in Armour of God 3 as the wife of Jackie Chan’s hero.
In 1999, Jackie’s marriage was in jeopardy: as a result of a short-term affair with “Miss Asia – 1990” Elaine Wu Qili, the actor had an illegitimate daughter, Etta. Due to the fear of divorce, the artist did not immediately acknowledge the baby, but when Lin assured him that she forgave him for the fleeting temptation, he announced to the world that he was indeed the girl’s father.
Acknowledging paternity did not give Etta anything: the star father did not take any part in her upbringing. “In Hong Kong, a married man cannot raise another woman’s child,” said the actor’s friend, producer Tiffany Chen. “Jackie is not a monster, he is an emotional person who often cries because of separation from his daughter. Etta is not guilty of anything, she had no choice. But her mother did. She decided to give birth to a guarantee of well-being for herself and blackmail Jackie, which is unacceptable.”
Unable to obtain child support, Elaine Wu Qili had to look for work. The former beauty queen got a job as a TV show host, but due to problems in her personal life, she soon began drinking. Etta told teachers how her drunk mother hit her, after which Elaine was arrested for the first time, and the girl was sent to social services.
The world of Jackie Chan’s illegitimate daughter became increasingly dark: she became an outcast at school, and her drinking mother provided no support. Etta repeatedly ran away from her mother, and once attempted to commit suicide and ended up in a clinic. Having reached adulthood, the girl moved to Canada, where she was often seen in line for food for the homeless…
Although Jackie promised to share his fortune with his daughter when she grew up, this obviously did not happen. At least, those around him believe that the actor simply decided to forget about the mistake of his youth. Interestingly, his relationship with his son was also tense: when Jacey was little, his dad disappeared on set, and later the heir also managed to disappoint his father.
In 2014, actor and singer Jaycee Chan got involved in a criminal story related to drug possession and use. Only by a miracle, since Jackie refused to use his connections to soften the sentence, the repentant guy was released from prison six months later. His father mentioned in an interview that he would rather bequeath millions to charities than to his son. Later, the media reported that there was a thaw in the relations between the relatives, but whether this means that Jaycee will inherit part of his star father’s fortune is a big question.
