On This Day

Birthday of Jackie Chan

April 7th 1954

08:42 7 April 2024

Hong Kong-born Chinese actor, filmmaker, martial artist and stuntman Jackie Chan was born on this day in 1954. Chan made his film debut aged eight in 'Big and Little Wong Tin Bar' (1962). He had minor roles in the Bruce Lee films 'Fist of Fury' (1972) and 'Enter the Dragon' (1973).

His breakthrough role came in 'Snake in the Eagle's Shadow' (1978) which established the comedic kung fu genre and was hugely popular with Hong Kong audiences. It was followed the same year by 'Drunken Master' (1978) which finally gave him mainstream recognition.

His first Hollywood film was ‘The Big Brawl’ (1980) which was a moderate success and was followed by a minor role in ‘The Cannonball Run’ (1981). Chan attempted to crack the American market again with ‘The Protector’ (1985) but this too failed to live up to expectations and he returned his focus to Hong Kong films where he had box office hits with ‘Police Story’ (1985) and ‘Armour of God’ (1986). ‘Rumble in the Bronx’ (1995) gained a cult following in the US and he scored his first huge blockbuster, co-starring with Chris Tucker, with the buddy cop action comedy ‘Rush Hour’ (1998) which made him a Hollywood star. 

Other notable film credits include ‘Shanghai Noon’ (2000), ‘Rush Hour 2’ (2001), ‘The Tuxedo’ (2002), ‘The Medallion’ (2003), ‘Shanghai Knights’ (2003), ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ (2004), ‘Rob-B-Hood’ (2006), ‘Rush Hour 3’ (2007), ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ (2008), ‘Kung Fu Panda’ (2008), ‘The Karate Kid’ (2010), ‘Dragon Blade’ (2015), ‘Kung Fu Yoga’ (2017), ‘The Foreigner’ (2017), 'Good Night Beijing' (2019), 'The Iron Mask' (2019), 'Vanguard' (2020), 'Hidden Strike' (2023) and 'Ride On' (2023). 

Jackie Chan is one of the most popular action film stars of all time, having performed in more than 150 movies. His films have grossed more than US$5 billion at the worldwide box office and he is considered to be the most recognised film star in the world. Happy Birthday Jackie.