Chan Kong-sang (born 7 April 1954), also known as Fang Shilong and known professionally as Jackie Chan and Sing Lung, is a Hong Kong martial artist, actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically performs himself. With a film career spanning seven decades, he is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential martial artists in the history of cinema. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $6 billion worldwide.
Starting as one of the Seven Little Fortunes at the China Drama Academy, where he was trained in acrobatics, martial arts and acting, Chan entered the Hong Kong film industry as a stuntman before making the transition to acting. His breakthrough came with the action comedy Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978). He then starred in similar action comedies such as Drunken Master (1978) and The Young Master (1980). He made his directorial debut with The Fearless Hyena (1979), which was a box office success. Throughout the 1980s, he was part of the "Three Dragons" along with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao; the three starred in six Hong Kong films together. Project A (1983) saw the official formation of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and established Chan's signature style of elaborate, dangerous stunts combined with martial arts and slapstick humor, a style he further developed in a more modern setting with Wheels on Meals (1984) and Police Story (1985). Rumble in the Bronx (1995), which had a successful worldwide theatrical run, brought Chan into the North American mainstream. By the mid-1990s, he was the most popular action movie star in Eurasia.
Chan gained Hollywood success for portraying Chief Inspector Lee in the American buddy cop action comedy film Rush Hour (1998), a role he reprised in two sequels. He went on to work both in American and Chinese films, appearing in the Shanghai film series (2000–2003), New Police Story (2004), Rob-B-Hood (2006), Little Big Soldier (2010), Shaolin (2011), and The Shadow's Edge (2025), among others. The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) marked his first collaboration with fellow martial arts star Jet Li. He has played martial arts mentor Mr. Han in two Karate Kid films, the 2010 remake The Karate Kid and Karate Kid: Legends (2025). For CZ12 (2012), he earned two Guinness World Records for "Most Stunts Performed by a Living Actor" and "Most Credits in One Movie". He played against type in Shinjuku Incident (2009) and The Foreigner (2017). His voice acting work includes all three Chinese versions of Mulan (1998), the first three films in the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008–2016), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023).
One of the most recognizable and influential film personalities in the world, Chan was described by film scholar Andrew Willis in 2004 as perhaps "the most recognized star in the world." He has received fame stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as well as an honorary Academy Award in 2016. Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, films, television series, and video games. He has an award named after him, the Jackie Chan Action Movie Awards. He is an operatically trained vocalist who has released several pop music albums and performed theme songs for some of the films in which he starred. He is also a philanthropist and was named one of the top 10 most charitable celebrities by Forbes in 2011. In 2016, Forbes ranked him the second-highest-paid actor in the world.
Chan was born on 7 April 1954 in British Hong Kong as Chan Kong-sang to Charles and Lee-lee Chan, political refugees from the Chinese Civil War. In circa 1937, Chan's father, originally named Fang Daolong, briefly worked as a secret agent for Lieutenant General Dai Li, the chief spy in Kuomintang-ruled China. For fear of being arrested by the communist government, Chan's father fled to British Hong Kong in the 1940s and changed his surname from Fang to Chan. Chan was his wife Chan Lee-lee's surname. Chan discovered his father's identity and adopted Fang Shilong (房仕龍) as his Chinese name in the late 1990s, the name he would have been named according to his kin's genealogy book, which allegedly traces back to Tang dynasty statesman Fang Xuanling. Chan's ancestral roots are located in Wuhu, Anhui.
Chan spent his formative years within the grounds of the French consul's residence in the Victoria Peak, British Hong Kong, as his father worked as a cook there. Chan attended the Nah-Hwa Primary School on Hong Kong Island, where he failed his first year, after which his parents withdrew him from the school. In 1960, his father emigrated to Canberra, Australia to work as the head cook for the American embassy, and Chan was sent to the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School run by Master Yu Jim-yuen. Chan trained rigorously for the next decade, excelling in martial arts and acrobatics. He eventually became part of the Seven Little Fortunes, a performance group made up of the school's best students, gaining the stage name Yuen Lo (元樓) in homage to his master. Chan became close friends with fellow group members Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, and the three of them later became known as the Three Brothers or Three Dragons. After entering the film industry, Chan along with Sammo Hung got the opportunity to train in hapkido under the grand master Jin Pal Kim, and Chan eventually attained a black belt. As a martial artist, Chan is also skilled in multiple forms of Kung fu. He is also known to have trained in other martial art forms such as Karate, Judo, Boxing, Taekwondo, and Jeet Kune Do.
Chan joined his parents in Canberra, Australia in 1971, where he briefly attended Dickson College and worked as a construction worker. A fellow builder named Jack took Chan under his wing, thus earning Chan the nickname of "Little Jack", later shortened to "Jacky". In the 1980s, the spelling of his nickname became "Jackie", which has stuck with him ever since.
1962–1975: Early small appearances
He began his film career by appearing in small roles at the age of five as a child actor. At age eight, he appeared with some of his fellow "Little Fortunes" in the film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962) with Li Li-Hua playing his mother. The following year, the young actor appeared in extras of Yen Chun's 1964 film Liang Shan Po and Chu Ying Tai and had a small role in King Hu's 1966 film Come Drink with Me. In 1971, after an appearance as an extra in another kung Fu film, A Touch of Zen, Chan was signed to Chu Mu's Great Earth Film Company.
Chan appeared in the Bruce Lee film Fist of Fury (1972), both as an extra and as a stunt double for the Japanese villain Hiroshi Suzuki (portrayed by Chikara Hashimoto), particularly during the final fight scene where Lee kicks him and he flies through the air. Chan again appeared in another Bruce Lee film, Enter the Dragon (1973), as a minor henchman who gets killed by Lee's character. Sammo Hung helped Chan get minor roles in both of the Bruce Lee films. Chan also worked as a martial arts choreographer for John Woo's The Young Dragons (1974).
1976–1980: Start-up leading roles
In 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan, a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stunt choreography work. Willie Chan offered him an acting role in a film directed by Lo Wei. Lo saw Chan's performance in the John Woo film Hand of Death (1976) and planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury. His stage name was changed to 成龍 (literally "becoming the dragon", Sing4 Lung4 in Jyutping or rarely as Cheng Long in pinyin), to emphasize his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name meant "Lee the Little Dragon" in Chinese. (Note that "dragon" in Lee's name referred to Lee's birth year being the Dragon zodiac, not the Chinese dragon.) The film was unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to Lee's martial arts style. Despite the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, but with little improvement at the box office.