Jackie Chan's life in pics
Actor Jackie Chan fanous for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons and innovative stunts was born on April 7, 1954 in Hong Kong. As the actor celebrates his 56th birthday today we take a look at his life in pics...
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Jackie Chan weighed around 12 pounds at the time of his birth and was nicknamed Paopao (meaning canonball in Chinese). His parents Charles and Lee-Lee Chan were refugees from the Chinese Civil War. Since his parents worked for the French Consul to Hong Kong, Chan spent his formative years within the grounds of the consul's residence in the Victoria Peak district.
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In 1971, after an appearance as an extra in another Kung Fu film, A Touch of Zen, Chan began his adult career in the film industry, initially signing to Chu Mu's Great Earth Film Company. At the age of 17, he worked as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon under the stage name Chan Yuen Lung.
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Due to the commercial failures in his early ventures into films and trouble finding stunt work, in 1975 Chan starred in a comedy film, All in the Family, which features Jackie Chan's first and possibly the only nude scene filmed to date. It is also the only film he has made to date that did not feature a single fight scene or stunt sequence.
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Chan joined his parents in Canberra in 1976, where he briefly attended Dickson College and worked as a construction worker. A fellow builder named Jack took Chan under his wing, earning Chan the nickname of Little Jack which was later shortened to Jackie and the name Jackie Chan stuck with him ever since.
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Jackie Chan performs most of his own stunts, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. He has stated in interviews that the primary inspiration for his more comedy-stunts were films such as The General directed by and starring Buster Keaton, who was also known to perform his own stunts.
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Since its establishment in 1983, Chan has used the team in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities. Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes so that their faces are obscured.
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Jackie Chan created his screen persona as a response to Bruce Lee, and the numerous imitators who appeared before and after Lee's death. In contrast to Lee's characters, who were typically stern, morally upright heroes, Chan plays well-meaning, slightly foolish regular guys (often at the mercy of their friends, girlfriends or families) who always triumph in the end despite the odds.
