Jackie Chan probably has one of the most interesting backgrounds in Hollywood today. He is probably also one of the most talented people in the industry. He can perform in three different languages, and also does stunt coordination and fight choreography. He organizes and runs his own stunt team too!
All that without mentioning that he is a very accomplished singer in Asia in both the Cantopop and Mandopop genres, as well as singing in English and many other languages. What we're trying to say is that Jackie Chan is super interesting and there is a lot that we feel people should know about the man.
From the Guinness world record he holds to his interesting time as a child there is a lot of material to work with if anyone ever tries to make a documentary about his life. With that being said let's go over a few bits of information about Jackie Chan we think you should know.
15 His Mother Was An Opium Smuggler
Chan's childhood was a lot sadder than most people would probably think. Chan's parents left him in Hong Kong at the age of seven, putting him in a boarding school while they worked in Australia. Chan didn't know much about this work until much later in life, where he discovered his mother was arrested for opium smuggling and that his father may have been a spy.
14 Martial Arts Styles
Jackie Chan is easily most well known for his martial arts action films and he's been in them for a long time. It's most widely known that Jackie is a Kung Fu practitioner but there are a lot of styles of Kung Fu. Jackie knows, Southern Style and Northern Style, Kung Fu and Wing Chun, Karate and Hapkido.
13 He Met Bruce Lee
In Jackie's early days in film, he took a lot of jobs as extras in Kung Fu films. Most of the early films that Chan worked on he was one of the guys that got beat up by the movie's hero. Jackie did this for one of Bruce Lee's films and commented that Bruce accidentally hit Jackie for real with a weapon.
12 He Had His Own Cartoon Series
You know that you've done a good job of entering into the public mind when you are given your own kids' Saturday mourning cartoon show. Jackie Chan accomplished this at the turn of the century in the year 2000. The show actually went on for 5 seasons airing from 2000 to 2005.
11 Does His Own Stunts
It's a pretty well-known fact that Jackie Chan does his own stunts and it shouldn't surprise anyone given his extensive background in martial arts. What some might not know is that he has his own stunt team named the Jackie Chan Stunt Team who he pays for himself, as they are not able to get insurance.
10 On-Set Injuries
As you can see if you watch any of his films, Jackie Chan's stunts can be pretty dangerous, and not all of them go as planned. Chan is reported to have suffered at least 70 different on-set injuries. Some of these failed stunts have ended really badly, including a time where Jackie Chan almost drowned on set.
9 Long List Of Awards
Due to all of the roles that he plays, being an actor, stunt coordinator, fight choreographer and stuntman, Jackie Chan has been able to accumulate a lot of different awards and has over 50 film awards for acting, personal stunt work, or the stunt work of his team.
8 He Speaks A Lot Of Languages
Jackie Chan has lived in a lot of different parts of the world like Hong Kong, Mainland China, Australia, and the United States. This lead to Jackie speaking many languages including Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and some German, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Thai - even American Sign Language.
7 Loves Soccer
When he isn't being one of the craziest stuntmen in all of Hollywood history on movie sets, Chan likes to spend his time watching soccer. Chan is an avid soccer fan and supports the Hong Kong national football team, the England national football team, and Manchester City.
6 Boarding School
As mentioned in the first entry of this list, Chan was put into boarding school at the young age of 7 when his parents went abroad. Chan first attended the Nah-Hwa Primary School but then switched to the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School run by Master Yu Jim-yuen.
5 He Can Sing Opera
Since Jackie attended an Opera school for most of his childhood it shouldn't come as a surprise that he is able to sing in that style. Chan began producing records professionally in the 80s and has gone on to become a successful singer in Hong Kong and Asia. He has released 20 albums and has performed in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Taiwanese, and English.
4 Guinness World Records
Chan has been in so many films and has played so many roles both in front and behind the camera for these films that he actually has done that more than anyone else. He actually holds a Guinness world record for most credits in a single movie. He was credited for 15 individual roles in 2012's Chinese Zodiac.
3 He Doesn't Like MMA
Despite being a life long martial artist and promoter of the benefits of martial arts in all aspects of life, he isn't a fan of the sport of MMA. Chan has stated that MMA is not the pinnacle of martial arts and that he finds it too violent to put two people into a cage and have them fight for entertainment.
2 His Wife
In 1982, Chan married Joan Lin. Lin is from Taiwan and worked as an actress in the '70s, appearing in her first film at the age of 19. She actually had to drop out of school at the age of 12 due to her family's poverty. She met Chan in January 1981 and they secretly married in Los Angeles in 1982.
1 Illegitimate Child
At some point, Jackie engaged in an extra-marital affair with Elaine Ng Yi-Lei, a Hong Kong actress and the winner of Miss Asia 1990. This affair gave birth to Chan's illegitimate daughter named Etta Ng Chok Lam, who was born on 18 January 1999. It quickly turned into a scandal within the media.