Apprenticed to a Beijing opera troupe at the age of six, Jackie Chan was trained in all aspects of traditional operatic performance including acting, singing and the martial arts.  He began his film career as a stuntman.  His talent and enthusiasm for film-making enabled him to advance from a stunt coordinator to a movie star, a director and a producer.

Jackie’s devotion to the movie industry has brought him fortune and fame.  His movies have always been box office hits in the territory and he has successfully established his Chinese kung fu hero image worldwide.  Jackie is very popular in Japan where he was voted Best Actor by Japan’s RoadShow Magazine for seven consecutive years, from 1982 to 1989, and was awarded Best Action Director by the same magazine in 1988.  Hong Kong Artists’Guild gave him the Best Actor award in 1989 and twice he won the Best Actor prize at the Golden Horse Awards in 1992 and 1993.  In 1990, he received the award of the Insignes de Chevalier des Arts et des Letters from the Cinematheque Francaise.

In recognition of his contribution to social services, Jackie was chosen as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong in 1986 and The Outstanding Young Persons of the World by Jaycees International in 1988.  In 1992, the Taiwan Government honoured him as one of the Five Most Outstanding Young Chinese of the World.  He was made a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1989 and conferred the Honorary Doctorate of Social Science by the Hong Kong Baptist University in 1996.

Jackie is actively involved in charities, public service and education.  He founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation in 1988 to provide annual scholarships to students of performing and technical arts, to support youth projects and to assist performing artists who have suffered hardship and injury.  Over the years, hundreds of the Academy’s students have benefited from the fund.