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Jackie Chan is a true action movie great. He has appeared in dozens of movies and is a screen legend. He had a simple beginning as a Chinese refugee in Hong Kong. His early years were, perhaps, a sign of things to come. His parents nicknamed him ‘Pao-Pao’, which means cannonball, because he had so much energy.
Chan enrolled in the China Drama Academy to study opera while still in his teens. He spent ten years there and worked part-time as a stuntman in the kung fu movie industry. He soon earned the reputation as Hong Kong’s most fearless stuntman. He moved into acting, but his first two films were both flops. He quit the movie business and moved to Australia.
Several years later, director Ng Than Chan asked Jackie to appear in the movies ‘Snake in Eagle's Shadow’ and ‘Drunken Master’. Both were smash hits at the box office and Jackie Chan was now a star in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, a former director tried to tie Chan to an old contract. He sent the Hong Kong mafia to Chan’s movie sets to frighten him. Chan moved to Hollywood.
He was not successful in Hollywood, so he returned to Hong Kong. He learnt a lot about movie-making while in America and used this knowledge to make many successful movies for the Chinese market. He also became a pop star. He returned to Hollywood and made the movie ‘Rush Hour’ in 1998. It made him a worldwide star. |
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