Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan entered the Beijing Dramatic Academy at the age of 7, where he spent his days training kung fu. He began his career very young as a stuntman, then as an extra. In 1972, he rubbed shoulders with his model Bruce Lee in The Fury of Vanquishing, which he would find in some of his successes (Operation dragon, New Fist of Fury), always in minor roles.

Jackie Chan is quickly gaining ground. He toured with the confirmed Lo Wei and the newbies John Woo and Yuen Woo Ping, the latter giving him two of his greatest hits: Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagle's Shadow. In these films, Jackie Chan begins to develop a particular style combining action and comedy, style which will become his trademark. Now a star, he began to direct some of his films himself from 1977 and The 36 Crazy Fists.

Superstar in Hong Kong, Jackie Chan tries, like Bruce Lee, to seduce the United States. First with The Big Brawl, in 1980, then with L 'Equipée du cannonball and The Protector. The experience is very mixed, while in Asia, its popularity is undeniable. He tours with the greats like Sammo Hung and Jing Wong and directs some of his best films, where his style excels (the Police Story series).

In the early 1990s, the elastic actor's tug-of-war between Hong Kong and the United States became more and more explicit in his films. He plays two twins, each living on one side of the Pacific without knowing each other in Double Dragon (1992), is split between Western forces and Eastern loyalists in Drunken Master II (1994), and will help an uncle in New York in Jackie Chan. in the Bronx by Stanley Tong (1996), a filmmaker he will meet again for Counterattack.

Jackie Chan transforms the difficult gamble of being popular both in Asia and in the Western world. Its success in the United States takes a triumphant form with the detective film Rush hour (1998), which will have two sequels (Rush Hour 2 in 2001 and Rush Hour 3 in 2007). Shanghai kid, Le Smoking or Le Tour du monde en 80 jours, a film adaptation of Jules Verne's work in which he plays Passepartout, prove that in the 2000s, despite the passage of time, the actor still displayed boundless energy. and communicative. He did not forget his native country, however, since he also appeared in 2004 in The Myth, where he played an archaeologist, a sort of modern-day Indiana Jones, where again New police story, in which he played a legend. of the Hong Kong Police Force. After the success of Rush Hour 3, he went behind the camera for Operation Condor 3: Chinese Zodiac. In 2008, he co-starred for the first time with Jet Li, another Asian star, in The Forbidden Kingdom and lent his voice in Kung Fu Panda, where he played the Monkey.

An essential reference in martial arts, it is not surprising to find him in 2010, on the poster for Karate Kid, a remake of the genre classic released in 1984. He occupies a rare role in his filmography, playing the wise master of Jaden Smith, son of Will producer, in a performance (almost) deprived of fights, a first. Jackie then continues to have fun in animated films reprising his role of the Monkey in Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3. He also gives voice in Operation The Nutcracker 2 or Lego Ninjago The movie.

The actor, however, continues to star in action films despite his age, proving that he still holds Olympic form. He thus connects Chinese Zodiac, Police Story Lockdown and Dragon Blade. In 2017, Jackie found a role that allowed him to showcase both his athleticism and his acting in Martin Campbell's The Foreigner alongside Pierce Brosnan. He plays a modest restaurant owner in London's Chinatown who will try to find the Irish terrorists responsible for the death of his daughter.