Amazon.co.uk Review
Jackie Chan is not only the biggest martial arts star in the world; due to his massive fame in the Far East he is probably the most popular movie star on the planet. This authorised biography tells a classic rags-to-riches story of how he got there. Born in Hong Kong to a poor Migrant family, Chan was sent to Chinese Opera school to study under a disciplinarian teacher. He acquired a solid grounding in physical expression and left aged 16 to become a stuntman in the Hong King film industry. By sheer force of personality, tenacity and some genuinely impressive stunts, he quickly became a box-office favourite and a star. Chan is just starting to break through in Hollywood and this is obviously where his considerable energies are now being directed. "I've been on Letterman and Jay Leno", he proudly claims, "I've gotten an award on MTV. Lionel Richie came to visit me on the set". But despite his new friends Chan has never forgotten how far he has come and ends the book with a poetic statement of his achievement. "I was a useless child./ A ragged boy./ A reckless teen./ And now --/ Look who I am now!". --
Nick Wroe
Product Description
Jackie Chan is a martial arts superstar. The star of some 40 movies, for decades his adrenaline-charged moves won fans; in 1995, with the release of "Rumble in the Bronx", the mainstream caught on - and now he ranks alongside Bruce Lee. Despite widespread media exposure (from chat shows to men's magazines and a host of Internet websites), Jackie has never told his own story in his own words. He relates his story from an almost Dickensian childhood (his parents nearly sold him to the doctor who delivered him!) apprenticed to a Chinese opera master, to his glory days today following hsi "discovery" as a stuntman by the director John Woo.