In 1961, when Jackie was 7 years old, he was put into Yu Jim-Yuen's Chinese Opera Institute, an incredibly strict training school. There he would wake at 5:00 am, and practive dancing, singing, tumbling, and martial arts until nearly midnight. Common punishments were beatings and food deprivation.

Jackie, known by his school name of Yuen Lo, soon became a member of a performing group called "The Seven little Wonders." Also included in this group were be Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. This trio would later work on several projects together. I feel the need to mention that Jackie got the crap kicked out of him all the time by Sammo, who was the oldest student at the school.

Jackie appeared in several films with small roles until his graduation in 1971. He worked as a stuntman for two years before returning home. He only stayed a few months before going back to Hong Kong to try to break back into the movie business.

Jackie's first movie was called "Little Tiger from Canton," called "Snake Fist Fighter" in the states. The movie was so incredibly bad that he used Sammo Hung's school name, Yuen Lung, instead of his own. Sammo had by then given up his school name, so someone might as well use it.

Jackie played several roles, and tried many new things from 1971-1977. In 1972, he received his first credit as a choreographer in Police Woman, and also served as a stunt double in Lo Wei’s Fist of Fury, also known as "The Chinese Connection (I was confused until I learned this. I thought the movie they were talking about was Fists of Fury, which is completely different). He did stunts for Mr. Suzuki, and successfully executed what was at that time the highest fall ever attempted in Asian cinema.

His first credit as a martial arts director came in 1973 with the movie The Heroine.

Right around this time Jackie began working for Lo Wei, one of the most successfull directors, and biggest retards, of Hong Kong cinema. Lo wanted to turn Jackie into the next Bruce Lee. So his plan was to have Jackie try to mimick Bruce in every way. This didn't suit Jackie, because he has a giant nose and isn't very imposing like Bruce was.

So Jackie decided to make his own movie, called Half a Loaf of Kung Fu. This was a parody of a martial arts movie, and a great one. Lo Wei gave himself credit as a director, even though he didn't do jack. He didn't even see the movie until it was finished, and he hated it. He shelved it for two years, only taking it out after Jackie's carreer was doing better in a pathetic attempt to exploit Jackie.

Jackie went through a lot of crap during his years with Lo, the coolest of which would be Lo sicking the Chinese Mafia on him. To learn more, I'd buy his book, I am Jackie Chan. It freaking rules.

In 1978, Jackie starred in another more successful comedy, Drunken Master. This was one of the first Hong Kong films to break into the Japanese market. This was the year Jackie became known as the most popular martial arts star in Asia since Bruce Lee.

1980 marked his American film debut, when he starred in Golden Harvest’s The Big Brawl with Jose Ferrer. This film also marked the end of his standard country bumpkin characters in his previous films. Later that year, he played a supporting role in Cannonball Run, starring Burt Reynolds.

In 1985, Jackie directed and starred in Police Story. During the filming of this film, many stuntmen were seriously injured. In light of this, Jackie formed the Jackie Chan Stuntman Association.

In 1986 he directed and starred in Armor of God, a parody on Indiana Jones. During a upposedly routine fall, Jackie fractured his skull, and a bone fragment became lodged in his brain. He was rushed to a hospital, received brain surgery, and now has a permanent hole in his skull. He also suffers some hearing loss.

Throughout the rest of the 80’s, he was in several films, turned down an offer to play the villian in Micheal Douglas’ Black Rain, and formed his own production company, entitled Golden Way. Golden Way teamed up with Raymond Chow to produce many films, such as Rogue in 1988.

In 1992 Jackie, along with over 300 others, marched to Hong Kong’s police headquarters to protest the increasing influence of the Triads, which were groups of organized crime. This inspired him to create Crime Story the following year. Crime Story was a melodrama, and one of Jackie’s few dramatic roles.

In 1995, Jackie was awarded MTV’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the MTV Movie Awards. This was also the year that he created a character for Jackie Chan’s Spartan X, a six-issue comic book series from Topps. This hit that stands in ’96.

In 1996, Jackie relaunched his US film career with Rumble in the Bronx. It took in $10 million it’s opening day, making it the top film of that week.