Jackie Chan is one of the most famous martial artists in the world and has been in the film industry for decades, using his fame to popularize multiple forms of martial arts.
Despite having countless hit films, Chan did not receive an Academy Award until much later in his career.
Without actors like Chan, martial arts such as hapkido and kung fu might never have reached the level of popularity seen in the United States today.
Jackie Chan has generations of fans who are also eager to see his latest film, making him the perfect actor for the whole family to enjoy.
What Did Jackie Chan Win An Oscar For?
Jackie Chan won an honorary Oscar for his decades of “extraordinary achievements,” including his work in martial arts and action-comedy films.
When Chan was given his honorary Oscar, he was joined by editor Anne V. Coates, casting director Lynn Stalmaster, and documentary creator Frederick Wiseman.
These awardees were chosen for being pioneers in their respective crafts, which especially applies to Chan.
This legendary actor was 62 years old by the time he was awarded his honorary Academy Award after years of his work being overlooked.
According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Jackie Chan spent more than 40 years “charming audiences with his dazzling athleticism, inventive stunt work, and boundless charisma.”
Not only was Chan acting and performing his own stunts during this time, but he was also writing, directing, producing, and choreographing his films as well.
After Chan received his first Oscar, he was incredibly grateful to be awarded such a high honor while he was still “young.”
He was excited to be the first Chinese person to be given the award. While Chan acknowledged all the physical pain he had to go through to make his films, he felt that having his stunt work acknowledged was worth the pain.
Although Jackie Chan has earned one of the highest honors in the film industry, he doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.
Chan made a goal for himself to earn at least one more Academy Award for one of his upcoming films.
As Chan has gotten older, he turned his focus toward his voice acting work and animation work, including Kung-Fu Panda and Wish Dragon.
Despite originally being an action and comedy actor, Chan has shown that he is capable of thriving in any genre of film.
Jackie Chan is the perfect example of how far perseverance can take you if you stay determined unconditionally.
What Is An Honorary Oscar?
Honorary Oscars are awards given to filmmakers who don’t fit into one particular category but have clearly had a massive impact on the film industry.
These awards are given out at the discretion of the Board of Governors and handed out on an irregular basis.
The Academy’s Honorary Awards aren’t always the iconic statuettes that most of the public know or see presented during the Academy Awards Ceremony.
When an Honorary Award is given as a statuette, it is required to be a part of the Awards Ceremony.
The Honorary Oscar isn’t considered to be a lifetime achievement award by the Academy, but they are often presented for a person’s entire life’s work in the film industry.
When the Honorary Award isn’t given out in the form of a statuette, it can also take the form of a lifetime membership in the Academy, a medal, a scroll, a certificate, or any other design that has been chosen by the Board of Governors.
One of the strangest examples of an Honorary Award was given to Edgar Bergan in 1937 “for his outstanding comedy creation Charlie McCarthy,” which featured a wooden statuette with a movable mouth.
Only one year later, Walt Disney was given the second most unique Honorary Award “for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon.”
Disney’s statuette featured the traditional design, but the award featured seven miniature statuettes on a stepped base.
The base of the statuette measured 20 inches long and is still considered to be one of the most unique pieces in Walt Disney’s collection.
Jackie Chan was awarded his Honorary Oscar at the 89th Academy Award Ceremony and plans to win another.
What Is Jackie Chan’s Fighting Style?
Jackie Chan has experience in multiple martial art styles such as Chinese Opera, Hapkido, and Wing Chun.
He is also trained in karate, judo, tae kwon do, multiple forms of kung fu, and even boxing.
Chinese Opera is the foundation of Chan’s martial art knowledge and is considered to be one of the strictest forms of fighting.
This martial art form focuses on putting on an entertaining fight as well as being able to use different tools around the fighters.
Examples of Chinese Opera can be found across nearly all of Jackie Chan’s films.
Whenever Chan fluidly picks up a household item like a broomstick or a chair during a fight, you can see the Chinese Opera influence peeking through.
Chinese stuntmen are known for being dedicated enough to withstand being hit in the face or falling from great heights without support to make the fight scenes look as realistic as possible.
Jackie Chan was trained in Hapkido by legendary South Korean grandmaster Kim Jin Pal, who also trained Carter Wong, Sammo Hung, and Angela Mao.
This fighting style consists of striking, wrestling, throws, and a variety of weapons training.
Chan’s favorite parts of hapkido are the high level of flair and the flying kicks, which he frequently uses in his films.
He was awarded his black belt in this martial art by Kim Jin Pal.
One of the martial art styles that Jackie Chan likes to incorporate into his films is Wing Chun, which is best seen in Rumble in the Bronx and The Big Brawl.
Although there is no documentation of how Chan learned Wing Chun, most fans theorize that his friend Leung Ting was the one who taught him since Ting was the last student of Yip Man.
How Did Jackie Chan Learn To Fight?
Jackie Chan spent his early childhood at a Hong Kong boarding school, called the Chinese Opera Research Institute, which taught its students how to sing, dance, perform acrobatics, and fight.
Chan has described his early training as “very painful,” but there was no other choice for young Chan.
According to the actor, he and the other students would have to wake up at 5:00 am to practice 1,000 punches and 1,000 kicks.
The training was so difficult that Chan watched many other students drop out of the program during his 10 years at the school.
No matter how hard the training got, Jackie Chan couldn’t leave the school because he had nowhere else to go.
His parents had moved to Australia to look for work, and Chan was told that his father had become a cook in the United States Embassy.
In reality, Chan’s father was actually a spy for Taiwan against China, and Jackie didn’t learn the truth until his father was 80 years old.
Without a home to return to, Chan was forced to experience corporal punishment for poor performance even from a young age.
Even after Jackie Chan became a movie star, he continued training under Master Yu Jim-yuen.
Yu is best known for training Chan alongside his Three Dragons co-stars Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung, but this Chinese martial arts master has often gone under-recognized for his contributions to modern action films.
When Chan’s parents moved to Australia, Yu Jim-yuen became Chan’s godfather.
In Jackie Chan’s eyes, “Charles Chan was the father of Chan Kong-sang, Yu Jim-yuen was the father of Jackie Chan.”
Despite their relationship, Jim-yuen put Chan through the same strict training as any other student.
Chan regularly thought about running away but decided that he needed to finish his training.
How Long Has Jackie Chan Been An Actor?
Jackie Chan starred in his first movie in 1962 when he was only eight years old.
It was a Cantonese film called Big and Little Wong Tin Bar and was followed up by a variety of musical films.
After Chan graduated in 1971, he became an acrobat and movie stuntman for the 1972 Bruce Lee film Fist of Fury.
During this film, Jackie Chan completed the highest fall in the history of the Chinese film industry and earned the respect of Lee among other major Chinese filmmakers.
When Bruce Lee tragically died in 1973, Chan became the new leading man of Hong Kong and began working with many of the directors and producers who had previously favored Bruce Lee.
Sadly, a majority of these movies ended up being flops, and the collaborations ended by the late 1970s.
It was at this point in Chan’s career that he realized that he could never be the next Bruce Lee, and he needed to create his own identity.
While trying to figure out how he could continue to use his martial arts in films without being seen as a Bruce Lee replacement, Chan turned to his inspiration, Buster Keaton.
Keaton was best known for his screwball use of physical comedy, which helped guide Chan to his next career plan.
Jackie Chan released Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow in 1978 and pioneered his own new genre of movie, which he called “kung fu comedy.”
Some of the biggest early films of this genre that Chan created include the classic Drunken Master from 1978, The Fearless Hyena from 1979, Half a Loaf of Kung Fu from 1980, and Young Master from 1980.
Chan didn’t try his hand in Hollywood’s film industry until 1980 when he released The Big Brawl, which was a flop at the time.
Why Is Jackie Chan Donating His Money After He Dies?
Jackie Chan is planning to donate half of his money to charity after he passes away because he feels that his only son should be capable enough to earn his own wealth by the time he dies.
According to the actor, “If he is capable, he can make his own money.
If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money.”
Chan has always been known for his dedication to philanthropic work, having started the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation back in 1988.
His foundation offers scholarships and medical services, assists with natural disasters, and helps with widespread medical emergencies for Hong Kong residents.
The Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation focuses on helping the less fortunate communities in China by raising millions of dollars for education and building a dozen schools since its founding.
The foundation has also donated warm clothing and wheelchairs for the elderly.
Jackie Chan also founded the Dragon Heart Foundation in October of 2002, which is an organization that focuses on offering better life opportunities to citizens of all ages across Europe and Africa.
The Dragon Heart Foundation has massive goals, including alleviating poverty and offering proper social support to the elderly.
It also offers funding to allow young people under the age of 25 to have access to healthy recreational activities that they couldn’t normally afford.
Some of the organization’s most recent projects have been offering a disability accessible martial arts class in London, delivering food parcels to the United Kingdom’s most unemployed city, funding a day camp for the elderly in the Netherlands, and helping fulfill the basic and educational needs for orphans of Rwanda.
The Dragon Heart Foundation is hoping to help connect people who have struggled similarly while also giving them a place to heal and achieve their needs.
Did Jackie Chan Have A Heart Attack?
No, Jackie Chan has never had a heart attack or been at risk of dying, despite the rumors that began randomly surrounding the actor in 2011.
That year there was an internet hoax that took the world by storm and used the hashtag “#RIPJackieChan.”
Shortly after the rumors began to get out of control, Chan took to Facebook to assure his fans that he was completely fine and was simply busy working on his next movie.
To prove that he was okay, the actor posted a photo of himself from the Japan Relief Concert Press Conference from the week prior.
The only near-death experience that Jackie Chan endured during his decades in the film industry occurred on the set of the 1987 film Armour of God.
Chan went to leap from a cliffside into a tree, but on his second attempt of the stunt, he fell straight back and smashed his head into a rock.
This resulted in a piece of bone being pushed into his brain and caused him to go into a coma for seven days.
They were filming in Yugoslavia, and the crew was afraid that Chan was going to die, but Chan was able to make it out alive.
It was that injury that taught Jackie Chan that he needed to be careful if he wanted to continue being able to do his own stunts.
Other than this moment, Chan claims to be in excellent health and as capable of filmmaking as ever.
