BIOGRAPHY

    Name : Jackie Chan
Birth name : born in Hong Kong
Cantonese : Sing Lung
Mandarin : Already a dragon
Born : April 7th, 1954
Zodiac Sign : Horse
Height : 5'9"

          THE FOLLOWING IS TAKEN FROM JACKIECHAN.COM

Jackie Chan was born Chan Kong-sang (which means "Born in Hong Kong" Chan), April 7th, 1954, the Year of the Horse. Jackie was the only son of Charles and Lee-lee Chan, who were very poor and worked for the French ambassador to Hong Kong. Charles was a cook and a handyman, while Lee-Lee worked as a housekeeper. They lived in a room in the mansion of the French ambassador on the exclusive slopes of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong.

 Most babies are born nine months after being conceived. Jackie, on the other hand, stuck around an extra three months, so his mother had to have surgery to bring him into the world. Because Chan Kong-sang weighed 12 pounds at birth, his mother nicknamed him "Pao-pao", wich is Chinese for "cannonball". The bill for his mother's surgery came to HK$500 (about $26 US), and his parents' savings didn't come close to covering the cost. But the lady doctor who performed the surgery approached Jackie's nervous father with a deal. She had no kids of her own, she explained to him, and she knew he and Jackie's mother, Lee-lee, had no money. If Charles would allow her to "adopt" him, she would be willing to pay for the costs of the surgery and his mother's hospital stay. But Jackie was his parents' only son. He was their symbol of their new start in Hong Kong. Charles' friends lent him the money to pay off the hospital dept, and thanked the doctor for her generous offer.

Jackie's trip to America was not a total waste, as he was first exposed to early American silent film stars like Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. Admiring their movement and timing, as well as their stunts, he realized that movement and physical control could lead to spectacular action scenes and communicate often better than words. His 1984 film Project A, set in early 1900's Hong Kong about rivalries between the police and coast guard, took him away from the traditional Kung-Fu genre and into a new direction. The film delivers tightly choreographed martial arts and physical humor as well as stunts. Jackie goes so far as to recreate Harold Lloyd's "hanging from the clock tower" stunt, falling three stories afterward. It was around this time that Jackie's stunts begin to get more spectacular, and to connect with the audience, Jackie performs most of them himself, which would eventually become one of his trademarks.

 In 1983 Jackie appeared in the Samo Hung directed comedy Winners and Sinners. Jackie, Samo, and Yeun Biao had become good friends studying at the Peking Opera together, and each achieved individual stardom in the Hong Kong movie scene. Jackie considered Samo to be his "big brother" and Biao to be his "little brother". The three would go on to make seven movies together. In 1987 after the film Dragons Forever the group had a bit of a falling out over their direction, and have not appeared together in a film since. In 1996 however, Jackie and Samo reunited to make the film Mr. Nice Guy.

 In 1985, Jackie again attempted to break into the American market with the film The Protector. The director attempted to make Jackie into a Clint Eastwood type character, and the film wasted not only Jackie's comic abilities, but his martial arts abilities as well. Disillusioned with the American style of filmmaking, Jackie returned to Hong Kong and directed and starred in the smash hit Police Story. This was a huge smash-hit, and the film featured the most dangerous stunts attempted up until that time, as well as incredible fight scenes, smashing unbelievable amounts of glass. Jackie would go on to make 4 sequels.

 From there came hit after hit, including Armour of God, Project A II, Dragons Forever, Police Story II, Miracles: Mr. Canton and Lady Rose. All these films feature fast, tightly choreographed fight scenes and dangerous stunts. While filming The Armour of God Jackie fell from a tree and hit his head on a rock causing a hole in his skull, a wound which he carries to this day.

Numerous hits followed cementing Jackie's position as Hong Kong's premier action star. In the mid 1980's Jackie formed his own production company "Golden Way", which in addition to Jackie's own movies, has produced such films as Stanley Kwan's "Rouge".

 Jackie continued to make hits throughout the 90's, despite competition from more Hong Kong and American films. Jackie's films have taken on different directions, including teaming with action star Michelle Khan (Yeoh) in 1992's Police Story III: Supercop, and taking a more dramatic turn in 1993's Crime Story, based on the true story of a Hong Kong detective.  In 1994, he starred in the film Drunken Master II, an in name only sequel which returned him to his early film making days. The final fight scene took months to film, and the result was spectacular. The film broke all box office records for Hong Kong, and reinvigorated Jackie's career. Taking a chance, American film company New Line Cinema bought the rights to distribute Jackie's next film in the United States. Titled Rumble in the Bronx, the film opened in February 1996. Heavily promoted by New Line, the film opened to excellent reviews and went to #1 at the box office the week it debuted. The film created a huge impact finally exposing the American public to martial arts moviemaking of a caliber they had never seen before, and winning Jackie Chan legions of new fans. Jackie had finally broken into the American market and was on his way to becoming a household name.

Following the success of Rumble in the Bronx, New line bought rights to Chan's successive works, while Miramax films bought up Jackie's recent 90's work to distribute in the U.S. Later on, he got another US box office hit with co-star Chris Tucker, with the action comedy Rush Hour. Then followed another US movie with Owen Wilson, Shanghai Noon. Meanwhile making US movies, Jackie always returned to Asia and made Hong Kong movies. He feels it's important to cover both markets, since he means Western and Asian fans have a too different taste to please both with one type of movie. He later returned with Chris Tucker to make Rush Hour 2, which broke all records and made over 200 million US dollars world wide.

Jackie has numerous projects ahead of him, and even more developing in his head. But since a lifetime doing stunts, fights and movies, Jackie's body is aching - he simply can't do the same amount of action he did a decade ago. That's why he wants to focus more on acting and possibly use computers to make stunts and action sequences safer.

Enjoying his newfound fame, Jackie has traveled to the United States often to promote his films, as well as continuing to promote his films around the world. After a lifetime in film, Jackie has developed his own unique style, impossible to capture in words, and visible only in the magic of his films. Concerning his place in film history, Jackie says- "I want to be remembered like I remember Buster Keaton. When they talk about Buster Keaton or Gene Kelly, people say 'Ah yes, they good'. Maybe one day they remember Jackie Chan that way. That's all".