Jackie Chan
He was born on April 7, 1954 in Hong Kong in a poor Chinese family. His parents Charles Chan (1914-2008) and Lily Chan (1916-2002) fled to Hong Kong from the mainland during the civil war, and in 1960 moved to Australia. Before moving, they worked as cooks and maids at the residence of the French consul in Hong Kong.
Jacky studied at Nah-Hwa Primary School, but at the age of 6 he was sent to the Peking Opera School at the Chinese Institute of Opera Studies in Hong Kong. In addition to stage preparation, this helped little Chan learn better control of his body. Jacky was also interested in the martial art of kung fu.
He began acting in episodic roles in the cinema as a child - at the age of 8-10 he starred in the mass classic film in the genre of the Huangmei opera "Eternal Love", in the film "Big and Little Won Tin Bar" as the son of the main heroine in performed by Li Lihua and Peking Opera "The Story of Qin Xianglian". In his teenage years, he participated in stunts, in particular, in the films "Fist of Fury" and "Dragon Rise" with the participation of Bruce Lee. Chan was part of the group "The Lucky Seven" along with Sammo Hong, Yuen Biao and Corey Kwai, who also became popular actors.
In 1976, Jackie Chan moved to live with his parents in Canberra, where he briefly studied at Dickson College and worked as a construction worker.He is widely known for his charitable activities and participates in many different projects. He often acts as a goodwill ambassador in various actions, for example, against animal cruelty, helping victims of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, or flooding in mainland China. In June 2006, he announced that he would bequeath half of his fortune to charity. In 2003, he advocated for the "United Buddy Bears" exhibition, whose participants advocate world peace, to come to Hong Kong in 2004. During the opening of the exhibition, Chan handed UNICEF and two other children's organizations a check for a total of 4.14 million Hong Kong dollars.
On November 12, 2016, Jacky was awarded the honorary Oscar for his contribution to cinematography.
In addition, Jacky twice got into the Guinness Book of Records for "the greatest number of stunts in a career" and "the greatest number mentioned in the credits of one film." So, in the film "Armor of God 3: Mission Zodiac" Jacky was involved in 15 positions (actor, director, screenwriter, producer, cameraman, lighting, stunt director, singer, responsible for feeding the crew, etc.), which he beat Robert Rodriguez's record.
In 2020, a new species of hymenoptera was named in his honor: Acrotaphus jackiechani.
