One way to get your kicks...
(Visiting school children in China)Jackie Chan is in the news; he says he wants to be a role model.
Jackie was born in Hong Kong on April 7, 1954 as Chan Kong-sang...his father's name is actually Charles Chan, not to be confused with Charlie Chan.
(But I digress. Yet again)
Mr. Chan has said that he does not want to promote violence and sex in his movies. "I have a lot of action but no violence. I have a lot of comedy but it's not dirty comedy," he told reporters during a visit to Manila, where he signed a franchise agreement for his coffee shop chain Jackie Chan's Java Coffee.
He also doesn't want profanity in his movies. "I never say the 'F' word," said Chan. "I have to be very careful because I'm a role mode for many young children."
Chan said a portion of the profits from his businesses (a clothing label, fitness clubs, restaurants and a line of cookies) go to charity.
Long before he became famous, Mr. Chan was a poor boy who remembers receiving food, clothes and other gifts from the Red Cross and a priest, who asked him to help less fortunate children when he grew up...which he does, apparently.
I first became aware of Jackie Chan in 1980, when I saw him in The Big Brawl. He had been performing in cut-rate films produced in Hong Kong for awhile by then, but that was his first major motion picture that was given a wide distribution in the U.S. I recall being impressed, not only by his obvious martial arts prowess, but also by his personality.
I'm still impressed by the fact that he does his own stunts.
(Although he's gotten hurt at it a few times)
He seems to be a genuinely nice, yet humble person. I don't think it's an act, I believe he's the "real deal"...
posted by camojack | 01:29
10 Comments:
I love most of his movies! The stunts are incredible no matter who is doing them, the fact the he does them himself is all the more impressive. He can laugh at himself, always a good trait as well.
I too think he's the "real deal"... and a great artist.
I think his dad sold him to one of those performing circus schools... Given or sold he was there until his late teens or early twenties...They beat you until you get it right... Real nice childhood... So now you know why he is a perfectionist and wants to be a good role model to children...
boberin:
I love most of his movies, too; he always injects humor into them. I read somewhere that his role models were Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
Hawkeye®:
He's definitely a great martial artist...the "real deal" in that respect as well.
JR:
You think?! Well, according to Jackie's biography at Wikipedia:
Chan is the son of Lee-Lee and Charles Chan, who emigrated to Canberra, Australia in 1960 as refugees from the Chinese Civil War. Prior to leaving China, Lee-Lee and Charles had worked as a maid and butler, respectively, for the French ambassador to Hong Kong. Chan's Chinese name at birth was Chan Kong-Sang, meaning "born in Hong Kong".
Maggie:
A lot of good things have come out of China, just not their Communist government. I have a friend from China, and she hates the corruption of it all, something about which I was all too well aware already...
Jackie Chan is a fun artist to watch. His movies, even with the crummy translations, are never dull.
He seems a genuine good guy. Thanks, for posting this, camo!
My son (number 2 son) and I enjoy the occasional martial art film and Jackie Chan's are always entertaining. My wife, on the other hand, just hates them.
As a martial artist/actor, Jackie Chan is great. Now that I know a little more about him he also seems like a great human being!
I saw this special where, he talked about his childhood... I could not remember the school...
When Jackie was seven years old Charles took a job as the head cook at the American embassy in Australia. He felt that it would be best for Jackie to stay behind in Hong Kong to learn a skill and so enrolled him in the China Drama Academy where Jackie would live for the next 10 years of his life.
During Jackie's time at the school, he learned martial arts, acrobatics, singing, and acting. The school was meant to prepare boys for a life in the Peking Opera. Chinese opera was very different from any other kind of opera. It included singing, tumbling, and acrobatics as well as martial arts skills and acting. Students at the school were severely disciplined and were beaten if they disobeyed or made mistakes. It was a very harsh and difficult life but Jackie had nowhere else to go, so he stayed. He rarely saw his parents for many years
benning:
Jackie Chan is quite enjoyable to watch; some of his movies tend to be formulaic, but as you said, never dull.
Yes, he seems to be a genuine good guy, indeed.
Beerme:
That number 2 son reference came from Charlie Chan, a fictional character. No relation to Jackie (Kong-Sang) Chan, who is a real (down-to-earth) person.
Anyway, Mr. Chan is the man!
darth_meister:
Those outtakes at the end of all his movies are something else; some of it obviously hurt...a lot.
JR:
All well and good, but what's your source? There's a lot of bad information out the on "da 'Net", too. I know Wikipedia ain't perfect, but it does get fact-checked. More from the entry on Jackie Chan includes the following:
"He was educated at Nan Hua Elementary Academy, but his parents felt he didn't fit in at school so they sent him to the Chinese Opera Research Institute (1961-1971) and Peking Opera School. Chan was in the Seven Little Fortunes Chinese opera troupe as a youth, along with Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Corey Kwai."
Whether he was severely disciplined/beaten there or not it doesn't say...
Camo, Your link to Jackie's web site, then to about, then bio... I cut and pasted it from there... I could not and still can not get the a href= to work???
http://www.jackiechan.com/about/about_bio.html
OK, I read it now, thanks.
The URL HTML seems to be working for me...
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