ACTOR · BORN 1954
Jackie Chan
- Born
- 7 April 1954, Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
- Known for
- Kung Fu Panda (2008), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), The Karate Kid (2010)
102 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (102)
- #001
During the filming of Armor of God (1986), a stunt accident left Jackie Chan with a permanent hole in his head.
- #002
Jackie Chan not only performs his own stunts, but also expects the actors in his films who are in the foreground to do their own stunts as well.
- #003
In action scenes, Jackie Chan's punches and kicks actually make contact with their targets. To prevent serious injuries, he has his actors wear special padding on their feet and bodies.
- #004
Jackie Chan got the name "Jackie" from coworkers on a construction site in Canberra, Australia, who could not pronounce his real name.
- #005
Jackie Chan was set to star in a film called "Nosebleed," but the project was cancelled after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. He was to play a window washer who had to stop a terrorist plot at the WTC.
- #006
Despite his nearly countless injuries, Jackie Chan admits he still has a deep fear of needles.
- #007
Jackie Chan sings in the Chinese version of Mulan (1998). He performs the Chinese version of "I'll Make a Man Out of You."
- #008
Jackie Chan worked with Bruce Lee as a stunt coordinator.
- #009
Jackie Chan has said that the hardest part of acting is speaking English. Performing is easier for him than speaking English.
- #010
Jackie Chan has a great, long-standing relationship with Mitsubishi Motors. The company has donated many of its cars for his films.
- #011
Jackie Chan's biggest regret in life is not having received a proper education, which inspired him to fund educational institutions around the world.
- #012
According to a 2017 interview, Jackie Chan had gone bowling with Bruce Lee a few days before Lee's death on July 20, 1973.
- #013
In 1976, Jackie Chan had plastic surgery to reshape his eyelids and give him a more "Western" look. The last film featuring the old-looking Chan is Shaolin Wooden Men (1976).
- #014
Although he is known for his extraordinary fighting skills, Jackie Chan hates violence in real life and claims he has been in only one fight in his entire life, and that his friends dragged him into it.
- #015
During the filming of Rush Hour 2 (2001), one of Jackie Chan's fans punched him hard because the fan thought he would block the punch.
- #016
Jackie Chan personally holds two Guinness World Records awarded to him on December 5, 2012. He holds the records for most credits in a film and for most stunts by a living actor. The first record was set by Chan himself with Chinese Zodiac (2012), in which he took on 15 major creative filmmaking roles including Director, Producer, Actor, Fight Choreographer and Composer, breaking Robert Rodriguez's previous record of 11 credits.
- #017
Jackie Chan can speak Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean and English.
- #018
While performing his own stunts, Jackie Chan broke his nose three times, his ankle once, most of the fingers on his hands, his cheekbones and his skull.
- #019
Although he is classified as a martial artist, Jackie Chan has very little formal training and holds no formal belt in any style. The foundation of his martial arts was Peking Opera, which uses a more theatrical interpretation of martial arts and acrobatics. The fighting style he used during filming was a mix of different styles; he primarily used Northern and traditional Kung-Fu as a base, then enhanced it with other fighting styles and slapstick to make the scene work in the funniest way possible.
- #020
Jackie Chan prefers making action films that feature strong comedic lines and physical clowning, in the vein of Buster Keaton.
- #021
His role models were Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd; throughout his childhood all of them mattered more to him than martial arts stars, and he was pushed into that label at a very young age.
- #022
Some of his favorite films are Gone with the Wind (1939), Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The Matrix (1999).
- #023
According to the production diary on the official Shanghai Knights (2003) website, the film's producers wanted to throw him a birthday party, but he asked them not to because his mother had recently died and Chinese custom requires waiting 3 to 12 months after a death before ending the mourning period. The producers threw the party anyway, and Chan did not object, saying that "it is an important part of the American culture to celebrate birthdays."
- #024
He mostly dubs his own voice for the English releases of his Asian films. He also does Mandarin dubbing for his Asian films.
- #025
He was John Carpenter's first choice for the role of Wang Chi in Big Trouble in Little China (1986), but he turned the part down to focus on his career in Hong Kong.
- #026
He trained in the Northern and Southern styles of kung fu as well as other martial arts styles such as Taekwondo, Karate, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Hapkido. Chan also has experience in Jeet Kune Do from working as a stuntman on some of Bruce Lee's films.
- #027
The character 'Hitmonchan' in the Pokemon series is named after him.
- #028
Because of his policy of not playing villains, he turned down Jet Li's roles in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) and The One (2001).
- #029
He is one of Forbes magazine's 10 Most Generous Celebrities.
- #030
He provided the voice and singing for the Beast in the Chinese (Mandarin) dub of Beauty and the Beast (1991).
- #031
His fan club once reached 10,000 members, most of them young girls; one of them committed suicide after learning he was married. Another female fan attempted suicide but was rescued.
- #032
He admits he made Cannonball Run II (1984) purely to fulfill his contract with Warner Brothers.
- #033
He admits he is not very good with technology, especially computers.
- #034
He received the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award at the 12th annual New York Asian Film Festival.
- #035
His film Drunken Master II (1994) was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 best films of all time.
- #036
Despite his minimal formal education, he became an honorary doctor of social sciences at Hong Kong Baptist University and an honorary fellow of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
- #037
He is also a talented singer. He has released numerous albums in Asia. His music is normally heard during the shooting of Hong Kong films. The films are: The Young Master (1980), Project A (1983) (not in the US version), Police Story (1985) (not in the US version), Armor of God (1986) (not in the US version), Project A 2 (1987), Police Story 2 (1988), Dragons Forever (1988), Operation Condor (1991) (not in the US version), Twin Dragons (1992) (not in the US version), Police Story 3: Supercop (1992) (not in the US version), Drunken Master II (1994) (not in the US version), Rumble in the Bronx (1995) (not in the US version), Thunderbolt (1995), First Strike (1996) (not in the US version), Mr. Nice Guy (1997), Who Am I? (1998), The Twins Effect (2003) and New Police Story (2004).
- #038
He has his own stunt team, known as the Jackie Chan Stunt Team (Sing Ga Ban). Members of the team often appear in his films as characters and extras, and they also double for other actors. The team includes Andy Kay, Chung Cheng, Chung-Chi Li (Nicky Li) and Bradley James Allan.
- #039
His wife, Feng-Jiao Lin, was formerly a famous Taiwanese actress.
- #040
Jackie Chan's family worked at the American Embassy in Canberra, Australia. After one of his ventures in the film business failed, he lived with them there for a time.
- #041
Sylvester Stallone offered him the role of Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man (1993). He turned the role down because he did not want to play the villain.
- #042
Fans call out to him, and crew members often refer to him in English as "Dai Gor," meaning "Big brother."
- #043
He was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours for his services to entertainment.
- #044
Jackie Chan helped create a PlayStation game titled Jackie Chan Stuntmaster (2000), for which he provided his voice and performed the motion capture.
- #045
Forbes magazine estimated his earnings that year at 50 million dollars.
- #046
In 2009 he was appointed an anti-drug ambassador by the Chinese government, took an active part in anti-drug campaigns and supported President Xi Jinping's statement that illegal drugs must be eliminated and their users severely punished. In 2014, when his own son Jaycee was arrested for marijuana use, he said he was "angry," "shocked," "heartbroken" and "ashamed" of his son. He also said, "I hope all young people will learn a lesson from Jaycee and stay away from the harms of drugs. I tell Jaycee that when you do something wrong, you have to face the consequences."
- #047
He has said that because of his habit of doing his own stunts and the injuries he has suffered over the years, he is unable to obtain health or life insurance.
- #048
He is good friends with Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal, James Lew, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li.
- #049
He founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation to offer scholarships and active assistance to the youth of Hong Kong and to provide aid to victims of natural disasters or illness.
- #050
Police Story (1985) is his favorite film in the "Police Story" series.
- #051
His Cantonese song "Story of a Hero" (the theme song of Police Story (1985)) was chosen by the Royal Hong Kong Police and included in its recruitment advertisements.
- #052
In 1985 alone he played a police officer in five films: My Lucky Stars (1985), The Protector (1985), Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985), Heart of Dragon (1985) and Police Story (1985). Ironically, Chan has said that if he had not become an actor, he would have become a police officer.
- #053
His films Project A (1983), Rush Hour (1998) and The Myth (2005) were adapted into television series.
- #054
His father is Charles Chan and his mother is Lily Chan (also known as Lee-Lee Chan).
- #055
His family's roots lie in Ningbo, a coastal port city at the southern end of Hangzhou Bay along the eastern coast of China's Zhejiang province.
- #056
He has inspired manga such as Dragon Ball (including a character nicknamed "Jackie Chun"), the character Lei Wulong in Tekken and the fighting-type Pokémon Hitmonchan.
- #057
He ranked 41st on Channel 4's (UK) list of the 100 Greatest Film Stars.
- #058
His first major breakthrough was Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978), filmed while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-film deal. Director Yuen Woo-Ping gave Chan complete freedom in his stunt work. The film created the comedy kung-fu genre and was a breath of fresh air for Hong Kong audiences. Chan then starred in Drunken Master (1978), which finally brought him mainstream success. When Chan returned to Wei Lo's studio, Lo tried to copy the comedic approach of Drunken Master (1978) and produced Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1978) and Spiritual Kung Fu (1978). He also gave Chan the opportunity to direct The Fearless Hyena (1979) together with Kenneth Tsang. When Willie Chan left the company, he advised Jackie to decide for himself whether to stay with Wei Lo. During the shooting of Fearless Hyena 2 (1983), Chan broke his contract and joined Golden Harvest, which led Lo to threaten Chan with triads and to blame Willie for his star's departure. The dispute was resolved with the help of actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu, and Chan was allowed to stay at Golden Harvest.
- #059
Jackie Chan was initially offered the role of Sato in Sir Ridley Scott's Black Rain (1989), but he decided the role did not match his own values or image.
- #060
Kong Sang means "Born In Hong Kong," while Sing Lung means "Already a Dragon."
- #061
There is a Chinese takeaway called 'Jackie Chan's' in Hyde Park, Leeds, in the United Kingdom.
- #062
Referring to his participation in the torch relay for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chan spoke out against protesters who disrupted the run several times to draw attention to a wide range of grievances against the Chinese government. He warned that "publicity seekers" planned to prevent the Olympic Torch from "not get anywhere near" him. Chan also argued that China was trying to reform and that that year's Olympic coverage would be a chance for the country to learn from the outside world.
- #063
Jackie Chan received an honorary degree (Doctor of Social Sciences) from Hong Kong Baptist University in 1996.
- #064
At a press conference held in Shanghai on 28 March 2004, Chan referred to the recently concluded 2004 Republic of China presidential election in Taiwan, in which Democratic Progressive Party candidates Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu were re-elected as President and Vice President, as "the biggest joke in the world." Taiwanese legislator and senior DPP member Parris Chang called on the Taiwanese government to ban his films and bar his right to visit Taiwan. Police and security personnel separated Chan from numerous protesters shouting "Jackie Chan, get out" when he arrived at Taipei airport in June 2008.
- #065
Jackie Chan is a passionate football fan and supports the Hong Kong national football team, the England national football team and Manchester City.
- #066
Jackie Chan ranked sixth on Netscape's Top 10 Hollywood Superheroes list.
- #067
Jackie Chan ranked 15th on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 Greatest Action Heroes.
- #068
Jackie Chan once had a production company called Golden Way Films Ltd. It produced the Police Story films (1985-1992), Project A II (1987) and Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989).
- #069
The exclamation "Duang!" that appeared in a 2004 Bawang shampoo commercial became a meme on Chinese social media in 2015 and, despite having no specific meaning, was one of the most talked-about words of the year.
- #070
The Opera Academy "brothers" include Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Corey Yuen, Wah Yuen and Yuen-Man Meng.
- #071
Elaine Wu gave birth to a daughter named Etta Ng Chok Lam on 19 November 1999. Hong Kong media claimed Jackie Chan was the father, but no confirmation has been made by any of the parties involved.
- #072
Jackie Chan is the godfather of Tin-Chiu Hung.
- #073
Eight directors have cast Jackie Chan in their films at least twice: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Stanley Tong, Gordon Chan, Benny Chan, Brett Ratner, Sheng Ding, Yen-Ping Chu and Wei Lo.
- #074
Jackie Chan shares his birthday with Russell Crowe, Francis Ford Coppola, James Garner, Stan Winston, Alan J. Pakula and Ted Kotcheff.
- #075
In 1999, Jackie Chan was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS) by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for his services to the film industry.
- #076
Jackie Chan was considered for the role of Clouseau's Chinese assistant Cato Fong in The Pink Panther (2006), but the producers decided they did not want to use a politically incorrect character and replaced Cato with the Frenchman Ponton.
- #077
Chan has played many roles in which the character's name is 'Jackie.' Examples include Cannonball Run II (1984), Dragons Forever (1988), Operation Condor (1991), Mr. Nice Guy (1997) and The Twins Effect (2003).
- #078
Jackie Chan was ranked 70th on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 101 Most Influential People.
- #079
In 2007, Jackie Chan recorded and released "We Are Ready," the one-year countdown song for the 2008 Summer Olympics, and performed it at the ceremony marking the one-year countdown to the 2008 Summer Paralympics. Chan also released Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Official Album - Jackie Chan's Version, one of the two official Olympic albums, which featured a number of special guest performers. At the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Chan performed "Hard to Say Goodbye" together with Andy Lau, Liu Huan and Wakin (Emil) Chau.
- #080
Jackie Chan received another honorary doctorate, from the University of Cambodia (2009), and was also awarded an honorary professorship by the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong (2008).
- #081
Jackie Chan was ranked 89th on Premiere magazine's 2001 annual Power 100 list. In 2002 he was 85th.
- #082
Miracles: Canton Father (1989) is Jackie Chan's favorite among his own films.
- #083
On June 10, 2012, Jackie Chan received the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Asian Film Festival. The presentation took place at a special event held at New York's Lincoln Center. Jackie also took part in a Q&A session with Grady Hendrix, one of the founders of Subway Cinema, which launched the annual NYAFF and currently co-presents it. The evening ended with a screening of Jackie's latest film, Chinese Zodiac (2012).
- #084
Jackie Chan was considered for the role of the King in Hero (2002) but turned it down.
- #085
Jackie Chan is mentioned in the song "Kung Fu" by the Irish rock band Ash.
- #086
Because The Medallion (2003) was being filmed in Germany, Jackie Chan was unable to attend Leslie Cheung's funeral.
- #087
Jackie Chan is good friends with the Korean actress Kim Hee-seon.
- #088
Jackie Chan was ranked 94th on Premiere magazine's 2003 annual Power 100 list. In 2002 he was 85th.
- #089
Jackie Chan and Maggie Cheung made six films together: Police Story (1985), Operation Condor (1991), Police Story: Lockdown (2013), Police Story 3: Supercop (1992), Twin Dragons (1992) and Center Stage (1991) (producer and actor). They also appeared together in a music video.
- #090
Jackie Chan grew up in and around Canberra, Australia, where he formed his English name. When he took his first job as a delivery driver, he borrowed the name 'Jack' from another driver.
- #091
Jackie Chan has played seven characters in films more than once: Wong Fei-Hung from the Drunken Master films, Asian Hawk from the Armor of God films, the voice of Monkey from the Kung Fu Panda films, Lee from the Rush Hour films, Chan Ka Kui from the Police Story films, Dragon Ma Yue Lung from the 'A'gai wak films and Muscles from the Lucky Stars films.
- #092
On October 4, 2002, Jackie Chan was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- #093
Jackie Chan had a cameo role in Stephen Chow's King of Comedy (1999), and Stephen Chow had a cameo role as a police officer in Jackie Chan's Gorgeous (1999).
- #094
Jackie Chan was ranked 3rd on E! Entertainment Television's 2002 list of the 25 Toughest Stars.
- #095
Jackie Chan appeared in four films with Andy Lau: Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985), Island of Fire (1991), Drunken Master II (1994) and Shaolin (2011).
- #096
For his services to the film industry, Jackie Chan was awarded the Knight Commander of the Order of the Territorial Crown (PMW) by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah on February 1, 2015. He ultimately received the honorary title Yang Berbahagia Datuk of the Federal Territories of Malaysia.
- #097
Jackie Chan is a frequent collaborator of Stanley Tong.
- #098
Jackie Chan is mentioned in the song "Jackie Chan" by the Japanese female music group Frank Chickens.
- #099
Jackie Chan was given a star on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.
- #100
Jackie Chan is mentioned in the song "Jackie Chan is a Punk Rocker" by the rock group Ağır Sebze.
- #101
On 25 April 2008, in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, South India, Jackie Chan attended as chief guest for the audio launch of the much-anticipated film Dasavatharam starring the great Indian [Tamil] star Kamala Hassan, alongside CM Mr. K. Karunanidhi, Amitab Bachan, Mammootty, Vijay, Hemamalini, Jayaprada, Mallika Shravat, Asin and others.
- #102
Screenwriter Sam Hamm suggested Jackie Chan as the main fight choreographer for Batman (1989).
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