He has a permanent hole in his head as a result of a stunt accident during the filming of Armor of God (1986).
Not only does he do his own stunts, he also expects the man in the lead and the actors in his films to do their own stunts.
He says the most painful of all the injuries he has suffered throughout his career occurred on Enter the Dragon (1973), when Bruce Lee accidentally hit him in the face with a nunchaku.
In action scenes, his punches and kicks actually connect with their targets. To prevent serious injuries, he has his actors wear special padding on their feet and bodies.
He got the name "Jackie" from coworkers at a construction site in Canberra, Australia, who could not pronounce his real name.
He was 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 has to stop a terrorist plot in the WTC.
Despite his nearly countless injuries, he admits he still has a deep fear of needles.
He sings in the Chinese version of Mulan (1998). He sings the Chinese version of "I'll Make a Man Out of You."
He worked with Bruce Lee as a stunt coordinator.
He has said the hardest thing about acting is speaking English. Compared with speaking English, performing stunts is easier for him.
He has a great and long-standing relationship with Mitsubishi Motors. The company has donated many of its cars for his films.
His greatest regret in life is not having received a proper education, which inspired him to fund educational institutions around the world.
According to a 2017 interview, a few days before Bruce Lee died on July 20, 1973, he had gone bowling with him.
In 1976 he underwent 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).
Although he is known for his extraordinary fighting skills, Jackie hates violence in real life and claims he has been involved in only one fight in his entire life, and that his friends dragged him into it.
During the filming of Rush Hour 2 (2001), one of his fans punched him hard because the fan thought he would block the punch.
Jackie Chan personally holds the two Guinness World Records awarded to him on December 5, 2012. He holds the record for the most credits on a film and for the most stunts by a living actor. The first record was set by himself with Chinese Zodiac (2012), in which he took on 15 major creative filmmaking roles for the film, including Director, Producer, Actor, Fight Choreographer and Composer, breaking Robert Rodriguez's previous record of 11 credits.
He can speak Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean and English.
While performing his own stunts, he has broken his nose three times, his ankle once, most of the fingers on his hand, his cheekbones and his skull.
Although he is classified as a martial artist, he 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 mixture 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.
He prefers to make action films with strong comedy lines and physical clowning, like Buster Keaton.
His role models were Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd; in his childhood they were all more important to him than martial arts stars, a label that was forced on him at a very young age.
Some of his favorite films are Gone with the Wind (1939), Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The Matrix (1999).
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, according to Chinese customs, you must wait 3 to 12 months after a death before ending the mourning period. The producers threw the party anyway, and Chan did not object because he said "it is an important part of the American culture to celebrate birthdays."
He mostly dubs his own voice in English-language releases of Asian films. He also dubs Asian films in Mandarin.
He was John Carpenter's first choice for the role of Wang Chi in Big Trouble in Little China (1986), but he turned the role down to focus on his career in Hong Kong.
He has 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.
The character 'Hitmonchan' in the Pokemon series is named after him.
Because of his policy of not playing villains, he turned down roles in Jet Li's Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) and The One (2001).
He is one of Forbes magazine's 10 Most Generous Celebrities.
He voiced and sang for the Beast in the Chinese (Mandarin) dub of Beauty and the Beast (1991).
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 saved.
He admits he made Cannonball Run II (1984) purely to fulfill his contract with Warner Brothers.
He admits he is not particularly good with technology, especially computers.
He received the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award at the 12th New York Asian Film Festival.
His film Drunken Master II (1994) was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time.
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.
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).
He has his own stunt team known as the Jackie Chan Stunt Team (Sing Ga Ban). The team's members frequently appear in his films as characters and extras, and also double for other actors. The team includes Andy Kay, Chung Cheng, Chung-Chi Li (Nicky Li) and Bradley James Allan.
His wife, Feng-Jiao Lin, was formerly a famous Taiwanese actress.
His family was working at the American Embassy in Canberra, Australia. Jackie lived with them there for a while after one of his ventures in the film business ended in failure.
Sylvester Stallone offered him the role of Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man (1993). However, he turned the role down because he did not want to play the villain.
Fans call him, and the crew often call him, "Dai Gor," which means "Big brother" in English.
For his services to entertainment, he was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours List.
He helped create a PlayStation game called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster (2000), and provided his voice and performed motion capture for the game.
During the kung-fu phase, he was John Woo's stunt/fight coordinator.
Forbes magazine estimated his earnings this year at 50 million dollars.
In 2009 he was appointed as 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 should 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."
He has said that he cannot get health or life insurance because of his habit of doing his own stunts and the injuries he has sustained over the years.
He is good friends with Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal, James Lew, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li.
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.
Police Story (1985) is his favorite film in the "Police Story" series.
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 recruitment advertisements.
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 been an actor, he would have become a police officer.
His films Project A (1983), Rush Hour (1998) and The Myth (2005) were adapted into television series.
His father is Charles Chan and his mother is Lily Chan (also known as Lee-Lee Chan).
His family's roots come from Ningbo, a coastal port city at the southern end of Hangzhou Bay along the eastern coast of China's Zhejiang province.
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.
He ranked 41st on Channel 4's (UK) list of the 100 Greatest Film Stars.
His first major breakthrough was Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978), filmed while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal. Director Yuen Woo-Ping gave Chan complete freedom in his stunt work. The film created the comedy kung-fu genre and came as a breath of fresh air to 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 comedy approach of Drunken Master 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.
He was first offered the role of Sato in Sir Ridley Scott's Black Rain (1989), but decided the role did not match his own values/image.
Kong Sang means "Born In Hong Kong." Sing Lung means "Already a Dragon."
In 1990, he was awarded the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture and Communication for his services to the film industry.
There is a Chinese takeaway called 'Jackie Chan's' in Hyde Park, Leeds, United Kingdom.
Referring to his participation in the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay 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.
He received an honorary degree (Doctor of Social Sciences) from Hong Kong Baptist University (1996).
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.
He is a passionate football fan and supports the Hong Kong national football team, the England national football team and Manchester City.
He ranked 6th on Netscape's Top 10 Hollywood Superheroes list.
He ranked 15th on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 Greatest Action Heroes.
He 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).
The exclamation "Duang!" that appeared in a Bawang shampoo commercial in 2004 spread as a meme on Chinese social media in 2015 and, although it had no particular meaning, became one of the most talked-about words of the year.
The Opera Academy "brothers" include Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Corey Yuen, Wah Yuen and Yuen-Man Meng.
Elaine Wu gave birth to a daughter named Etta Ng Chok Lam on 19 November 1999. The Hong Kong media claimed he was the father, but no confirmation has yet been made by any of the parties involved.
He is the godfather of Tin-Chiu Hung.
Eight directors have cast him at least twice in their films: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Stanley Tong, Gordon Chan, Benny Chan, Brett Ratner, Sheng Ding, Yen-Ping Chu and Wei Lo.
He shares his birthday with Russell Crowe, Francis Ford Coppola, James Garner, Stan Winston, Alan J. Pakula and Ted Kotcheff.
In 1999, he 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.
He 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 French Ponton.
Chan has played many roles with the character name 'Jackie'. Examples include Cannonball Run II (1984), Dragons Forever (1988), Operation Condor (1991), Mr. Nice Guy (1997) and The Twins Effect (2003).
He ranked 70th on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 101 Most Influential People.
In 2007, he recorded and released "We Are Ready," the one-year official countdown song for the 2008 Summer Olympics, and performed the song at the ceremony celebrating the one-year countdown to the 2008 Summer Paralympics. Chan also released the 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.
He 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).
He ranked 89th on Premiere magazine's 2001 annual Power 100 list. In 2002 he was 85th.
Miracles: Canton Father (1989) is his favorite among his own films.
On June 10, 2012, he received the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Asian Film Festival. The presentation was made 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).
He was considered for the role of the King in Hero (2002) but turned it down.
He is mentioned in the song "Kung Fu" by the Irish rock band Ash.
Because The Medallion (2003) was being shot in Germany, he could not attend Leslie Cheung's funeral.
Along with Brooke Shields, Jerry Lewis, A. V. Shankardass, he was appointed an Honorary Peace Ambassador of the Harvey Ball Foundation, together with Prince Albert of Monaco, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Phil Collins, Jimmy Buffett, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip, Heather Mills, Yoko Ono, Patch Adams, Sergei Khrushchev and Winnie Mandela.
He is good friends with Korean actress Kim Hee-seon.
He ranked 94th on Premiere magazine's 2003 annual Power 100 list. In 2002 he was 85th.
He 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.
Jackie Chan grew up in and around Canberra, Australia, where he formed his English name. When he got his first job as a delivery driver, he borrowed the name 'Jack' from another driver.
He has played seven characters more than once in films: 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.
On October 4, 2002, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
He had a bit part in Stephen Chow's King of Comedy (1999), and Stephen Chow had a cameo as a police officer in Jackie Chan's Gorgeous (1999).
He ranked 3rd on E! Entertainment Television's 2002 list of the 25 Toughest Stars.
He appeared in four films with Andy Lau: Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985), Island of Fire (1991), Drunken Master II (1994) and Shaolin (2011).
For his services to the film industry, he 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 in the Federal Territories of Malaysia.
He is a frequent collaborator of Stanley Tong.
He is mentioned in the song "Jackie Chan" by the Japanese female music group Frank Chickens.
He was given a star on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.
He is mentioned in the song "Jackie Chan is a Punk Rocker" by the rock group Heavy Vegetable.
On April 25, 2008, in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, South India, he attended as chief guest for the audio release of the hugely anticipated film Dasavatharam by the great Indian [Tamil] star Kamal Haasan, along with CM Mr. K. Karunanidhi, Amitabh Bachchan, Mammootty, Vijay, Hemamalini, Jayaprada, Mallika Sherawat, Asin, etc.
He was suggested by screenwriter Sam Hamm to be Batman's main fight choreographer (1989).