Community Corner
Jackie Chan Will Make History on Thursday in Hollywood
Chan will be the first Chinese actor to be honored at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
Action film star Jackie Chan will become the first Chinese actor to sink his hands and feet into wet cement in front of the TCL Chinese Theatre today, according to organizers.
Chan has starred in more than 100 films and directed 20, including "Rumble in the Bronx,'' the "Rush Hour'' and "Shanghai'' films and the 2010 remake of "The Karate Kid.''
Born Chan Kong-sang on April 7, 1954, in Hong Kong to parents who worked
in the French diplomatic mission, Chan's father, Charles, became the head cook in the American embassy in Australia when he was 7 years old.
The elder Chan felt it was best if his son remained in Hong Kong to learn a skill, so he enrolled him in the China Drama Academy, where he would live for the next 10 years. The school prepared boys for a career in the Peking Opera and included instruction in martial arts, acrobatics, singing and acting.
Chan made his acting debut when he was 8 years old in the Cantonese film, "Seven Little Valiant Fighters: Big and Little Wong Tin Bar.''
Chan graduated from the school when he was 17. With the Chinese opera having dropped in popularity, he became a movie stuntman, until the decline in Hong Kong's film industry forced him to move to Australia to live with his
parents.
In Australia, Chan worked at a restaurant and a construction site. A co- worker in construction named Jack had trouble pronouncing Kong-Sang and started calling Chan "Little Jack,'' which soon became Jackie and the name stuck.
A man who worked in Hong Kong's film industry who remembered Chan's work as a stuntman sent him a telegram, saying he was looking for someone to star in "New Fist of Fury.'' Chan was cast in the film, which was released in 1976.
He had his breakthrough as an international star two years later in "Drunken Master.''
- City News Service
