HOW TO BE HAPPY, RICH & ROMANTIC

Everybody knows Jackie Chan as the successor to the legendary  kung-fu screen hero Bruce Lee.  Jackie Chan is now also a world-wide stardom. But how many of us know his story and how he became so rich ?  This is his story…..

Long long time ago…..

Chan was born on 7th. April ,1954 as Chan Kong Sang . Later in his life he changed his name to Fong Si Lung, taking on his father’s original surname of Fung. His parents were not rich and in fact they , his father Charles and his mother Lee-Lee Chan, did not have enough money to pay for the medical expenses during her pregnancy. It was thus reported that  Chan stayed in his mother’s womb for 12 months and had had to be caesarean born.  His parents had to borrow money from friends to pay for the operation expenses.  It was said  that the doctor who operated on his mother had offered to take the child in lieu of the payment  and was of course refused by the parents as it was their first born son. At birth Chan weighed a solid 12 pounds and because he was such a cute and bumpy child always rolling around, his parents called him Pao Pao meaning Cannonball.

Chan started his life in a one-room apartment flat in Hong Kong. He trained in tae-kwondo, judo, and  Wing Chung and many other Chinese martial art forms. Chan would trained rigorously for long hours excelling in martial arts and acrobatics.

In 1960, his father emigrated to Canberra, Australia in search for better life . Since the age of 8 , Chan had acted in numerous cameo roles in the Chinese Opera. He also acted in small roles in numerous films and eventually at the age of 17 , he worked as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and  Enter the Dragon .He had never looked back since. He received his first starring role later in 1973 in the film Little Tiger of Canton which unfortunately had a limited success in  Hong Kong.

After having gone through some commercial failures in his early ventures into films and having trouble finding stunt job, Chan decided to join his parents in Canberra . In Australia he worked as a construction worker. At work he was commonly called by his nickname of “Little Jack” which was later changed to “Jackie” and the name Jackie Chan stuck with him ever since.

Following the death of martial arts legend Bruce Lee , the Hong Kong film industry was then frantically searching for an actor to take over Bruce Lee’s role as the next kung fu icon.  Jackie’s luck came when he was given an acting role in the film New Fist of Fury . However the film was unsuccessful because the director Lo Wei had wanted to emulate and model Jackie to Bruce Lee’s martial art style. Jackie could not fit into Bruce Lee’s shoe and so even when  director Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, the box office showed little improvement  .

Chan’s first major breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow.  Chan was allowed complete freedom over his stunt work. The film established the comedic  kung-fu genre, and proved to be a breath of fresh air for the Hong Kong audience. Chan then starred in Drunken Master, which finally propelled him to mainstream success.  Jackie Chan effectively combined comedy and slapstick humor with high-energy martial arts action which set the tone for many of his future successful films.

Jackie Chan acted, produced and directed numerous films since 1980s to the 1990s and his new style kung-fu films began to reach a larger audience in East Asia, with early successes in the lucrative Japanese market . In 1987, Chan played “Asian Hawk”, an Indiana Jones-esque character, in the film Armour of God. The film was Chan’s biggest domestic box office success to date, grossing over HK $35 million.

With the opening up of China, Jackie knew that Hollywood is trying to penetrate into the Chinese movie markets. He saw new opportunities in Hollywood for Eastern style action movies. With his Super-brand name , Jackie Chan took on Hollywood, the birth place of all American movies. He finally succeeded in establishing a foothold in the North American market in 1995 with a worldwide release of Rumble in the Bronx, attaining a cult following in the United States that was rare for Hong Kong movie stars . In the 1998 Chan co-starred in the action comedy Rush Hour, grossing US$130 million in the United States alone. Further success with Shanghai Noon in 2000,   Rush Hour 2  in 2001 and Shanghai Knights in 2003,  Jackie Chan became the first Chinese actor to made films both in Hong Kong and Hollywood.

Jackie also tried to offshoot into the singing arena , but he was not cut to be a singer . He stayed on in the film making industry and became one of the richest man in the world of film making ! Success did not come to Jackie Chan the easy way. The price he paid to become so rich was enormous. Because he had wanted to be master of his own style, he had to perform all his own stunts ,quite often at his own peril. He nearly died several times during the filming of high energy action adventures. He had broken his nose three times , his ankle once , most of his fingers, both cheekbones, and even his skull. He is understandably the number one on the insurance blacklist.

Today Jackie Chan is worth billions and so what made him so rich ? To begin with , Jackie has the deep passion for acting and understands that without pain there is going to be no gain.  Also the harsh circumstances then did help him to stand up to all odds. He never gave up and he knew how to change to circumstances. He once said ” Do not let circumstances control you. You change your circumstances. “  He did not emulate Bruce Lee but formulate his own brand of comedy kung-fu . He looked at things and performed differently. He dares to take the jump, he has the guts to take the plunge . He knows no failures. It is always the fear of failures and the fear of the uncertainties  that  kill the entrepreneur spirit and ultimately kill the opportunist.  To the Chinese , Guts is considered  as one of the traits that every entrepreneurs and businessmen must have. To the Chinese -”No Guts, No Luck.”

Jackie has an eye for opportunities in the entertainment world and he was quick to grab them.  He knew the saying , ” There Is No Business Like Show Business ”

It is interesting to note that Jakie Chan did not create any products. He just changed the Bruce Lee’s style and repackaged it with his own style -”The Jackie Chan’s Style.“  And because Jackie dare to innovate , dare to change when opportunities need changing, he has thus changed his destiny and transformed his whole life, from a poor stunt man to a world known billionaire kung-fu actor.

So you see , you can be rich too….

Tags: Wealth //