The action-comedy legend Jackie Chan has finally won an Oscar!
After an outstanding career of over 200 films and decades of action-packed fun, martial artist and actor Jackie Chan has been given an Oscar. The 62-year-old actor was given the honorary statuette by his Rush Hour co-star Chris Tucker, alongside Tom Hanks and Michelle Yeoh, at the 8th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on Saturday, symbolizing his “extraordinary achievements”.
Even though the action star has been acting for several decades, and has appeared in a record of over 200 films, his movie just never fell into the categories of Academy Award nominations.
“After 56 years in the film industry, making more than 200 films, after so many bones, finally…” the actor said.
Jackie Chan was born as Chan Kong-sang, on 7 April, 1954, to Chinese parents in British Hong Kong. He has become world known for his parts in movies like Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon and The Tuxedo, but he has actually much more than just an actor. He is a martial artist, hence all his Kung Fu roles, as well as an actor, director, producer, stuntman and singer. He has several albums, and is a Cantopop and Mandopop star.
In fact, Chan started performing early on in life. In 1960, Chan was sent to attend the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School run by Master Yu Jim-yuen. There he trained rigorously for the next decade, learning both martial arts like Kung Fu and Wing Chun, as well as hapkido, karate, judo, taekwondo and Jeet Kune Do, and acrobatics.
His first film appearance was at the age of 5, and he kept appearing in small roles regularly since. At the age of 17, he was a stuntman in Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon, but in 1975, due to trouble finding work, he starred in an adult-rated film. It was his first role that did not involved fighting, and his first of two nude sex scenes.
Today, Jackie Chan is one of the world’s most iconic martial arts and action-comedy actors. He is known for his “good guy” personality, always on the path of righteousness, and even though always fighting, never carries a weapon.
