Jackie Chan utilized a great American sitcom gimmick as a tool to propel his career. Growing up in the Peking Opera Academy, Jackie Chan would begin his career in movies as a stuntman, even having his neck memorably broken by Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. With his back-to-back hits of Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master in 1978, Jackie Chan became Hong Kong’s biggest star in the ensuing years and gradually made himself into a household name worldwide.
Despite some early struggles in breaking into the Hollywood industry, Chan eventually succeeded in doing so with the 1996 release of Rumble in the Bronx, followed by Jackie Chan’s 1998 mega-hit Rush Hour. While Jackie Chan’s style of action and unique brand of comedy has been key components of his winning formula to success, he has also utilized a few tried and true tricks to achieve stardom. One trick in particular that Chan has long relied on is often a staple of American sitcoms.
Jackie Chan Has Used His Real Name For Many Movies
Throughout his Hong Kong career, Jackie Chan’s characters have frequently carried the name Jackie Chan. Often, this has been done through the English dubs of movies like the Armour of God films, with Chan almost always dubbing his own voice in English as well. However, this has also been a notable practice in Chan’s Hong Kong movies filmed in English (or partially in English), such as Police Story IV: First Strike, Mr. Nice Guy, Jackie Chan’s Who Am I?. Others, like Dragons Forever and Gorgeous, have given either “Jackie” or “Chan” individually to his character’s names.
This is a practice often put to use in American sitcoms, in which the lead character bears the name of whoever is portraying them. Will Smith playing the Will Smith character on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a prime example, as is Jerry Seinfeld on Seinfeld. Others like The Nanny, Kenan and Kel, and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper have taken the halfway approach of using their lead actor’s first name for their characters, but the effect is still the same. By employing this trick in his Hong Kong work, it was a more important factor in Jackie Chan’s career in Hollywood movies than it seems.
Why This Trick Helped Jackie Chan Establish Himself In Hollywood
Jackie Chan movies are renowned for their blend of comedy and action and incredible stunt work, with many Jackie Chan films featuring outtakes of stunts gone wrong during the end credits. While this helped position Chan as a truly unique on-screen hero in his early Hollywood career, his Hong Kong movies frequently featuring heroes named Jackie Chan cemented the Jackie Chan formula in the minds of millions even more. With Chan often playing “Jackie Chan”, it made him inseparable on a subconscious level from the on-screen style of action and comedy that made up his brand.
Chan’s practice of dubbing his own voice in his Hong Kong movies would help drive this perception even more, enabling him to take far more direct control of the persona he was seeking to embody on-screen. Of course, Chan has played other memorable heroes like Inspector Lee of the Rush Hour movies and Chon Wang of the Shanghai Noon films. Still, by often naming characters in his Hong Kong movies after himself, Chan was able to send a message to the West about just what it means to be a Jackie Chan movie.
