Jackie Chan, the latest star to be plagued by a 'death hoax'

The Sun reported that Jackie Chan has recently been trending as if he were dead. He's the latest celebrity to be plagued by a death hoax in 2023.

Jackie Chan is a household name everywhere thanks to his fame as a martial artist, actor, and director. His rise to fame, however, has not been smooth sailing; he has been dogged by scandals throughout his career.

Born in Hong Kong on April 7, 1954, as Chan Kong-sang, Jackie Chan changed his name to 'Chen Long,' which means "Becoming the Dragon," after making an interesting discovery about his family history.

Image: jackiechan / Instagram

According to a BBC report, when Jackie Chan discovered that his family had ties to the Kuomintang, he decided to change his name to what it is now. Previously known as Steve Chan after being named by his English teacher, Jackie Chan decided to change his name to 'Jackie' after befriending a Taiwanese man in Canberra, Australia, according to Yahoo.

According to StarPulse, Jackie Chan studied martial arts at the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School.

Image: Golden Harvest

TalkTalk reported that life at the China Drama Academy proved fortuitous for Jackie Chan, as he gained not only acting but also martial arts skills that paved the way for his future success as the school would regularly send him to work as TV and film extras.

Image: Golden Harvest

There, he too met lifelong colleagues and future fellow A-listers like Sammo Hung, and they formed what was the school’s ‘Seven Little Fortunes’, a performance troupe that consisted of China Drama Academy’s best students.

Image: Golden Harvest

Jackie Chan's first job as a stuntman and actor began when he was eight years old, in the 1960s, when the China Drama Academy sent him and other members of the 'Seven Little Fortunes' to work on-set. According to Hong Kong Cinemagic, his formal stuntman career began later in the 1970s.

Image: Lo Wei Motion Film Productions

Did you know?: Jackie Chan had the opportunity to work with the legendary Bruce Lee? Back in the 1970s, Jackie Chan had worked as a stunt double for two Bruce Lee films, ‘Fist of Fury’ and ‘Enter the Dragon’.

Image: Golden Harvest

Willie Chan, a film producer, saw Jackie Chan's stunt performances and advocated for him to be the successor to the deceased Bruce Lee, making him the star of the 'New Fist of Fury' and marketing him as Bruce Lee's successor!

Image: Lo Wei Motion Film Productions

However, 'New Fist of Fury' was a commercial failure because Jackie Chan's attempt to imitate Bruce Lee's style was nowhere near as good as the original.

Image: Lo Wei Motion Film Productions

According to the South China Morning Post, Jackie Chan rose to prominence only later with 'Drunken Master,' where he discovered his own style by mixing comedic elements into his martial stunts.

Image: Seasonal Film Corporation

Since ‘Drunken Master’, Jackie Chan received massive success in the Chinese film industry as a martial arts legend. What indeed made Jackie Chan the international star he is today is undoubtedly his Hollywood debut in ‘Rush Hour’ in 1998.

The success of 'Rush Hour' catapulted Jackie Chan to Hollywood stardom. The success of 'Rush Hour' led to two more sequels, as well as a jump start in his career as an action movie actor in his own right in the Western market.

Image: New Line Cinema

Some of Jackie Chan’s other famous works include ‘Police Story’, ‘Shanghai Noon’ and ‘Rumble in the Bronx’.

Image: Buena Vista Pictures

According to his biography, Jackie Chan was dissatisfied with his formulaic action-comedy roles and started his own film production company to give him more creative freedom and access to more dramatic and serious roles like ‘The Myth’ and ‘Shinjuku Incident’.

Image: Emperor Motion Pictures

Despite his professional success, Jackie Chan faced personal struggles, including strained relationships with family members.

According to The Straits Times, Jackie Chan's career took a hit due to a 2011 scandal involving an extramarital affair where it was discovered he had a daughter, Etta Ng, out of wedlock in a 1999 affair with beauty queen Elaine Ng.

Given the shocking news and the nature of it in comparison to his 'good guy' onscreen persona, BBC reports that Jackie Chan's reputation was tarnished and he lost several endorsement deals.

The same BBC report notes that Jackie Chan’s reputation took a major hit particularly because he lied about consistently supporting Elaine and Etta Ng, only to be buffed with evidence by Elaine Ng's lawyer to disprove his claims.

In 2015, The Guardian reported that Jackie Chan's son, Jaycee Chan, was arrested and imprisoned on drug-related charges, which impacted the family’s reputation. Jackie Chan has spoken out in regards to the matter, saying that he was ashamed of his son.

What was also shocking about Jackie Chan was that, in his autobiography published in 2018, he revealed that, in addition to actively soliciting prostitutes, he had abused his son Jaycee Chan as a toddler, according to Nextshark. The revelation stunned many because it contradicted what the media and public thought of the star.

Image: Netflix

Other than familial drama, Yahoo reports that Jackie Chan had also made controversial political remarks, expressing support for authoritarian regimes and a desire to join the Chinese Communist Party in 2021.

According to the same Yahoo report, this was heavily criticised by netizens, who joked that his "moral failings" as a person in his personal life already made him unfit to join the Chinese Communist Party, making it ironic that he thought himself worthy of such a role.

Image: Netflix

Despite his scandals and tarnished reputation, Jackie Chan's contribution to martial arts cinema is unrivalled, and he remains one of China's top action movie stars.

Image: Sony Pictures

According to a South China Morning Post opinion piece on one of his most recent films, 'Hidden Strike,' Jackie Chan's recent works have been panned for being of poor quality and falling behind "in a fast-changing action-cinema landscape." Despite his legacy, it appears that Jackie Chan is struggling to maintain and revitalise his glory days.

Image: Netflix

His most recent attempt to revitalise his career has been to work on a 'Karate Kid' sequel. According to Yahoo, Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio have started an open call for actors to star in the new 'The Karate Kid' installment. If the film is successful, it will be the third installment in the 'Karate Kid' series.

Image: Sony Pictures

The open calls for a new 'Karate Kid' star were not the only big news to come out for Jackie Chan this year. The Sun reports that just on December 23, the star was the victim of the latest viral celebrity death hoaxes trending on Twitter/X.

Image: Sony Pictures

The same report from The Sun clarifies that Jackie Chan is thankfully well and alive, but adds that the star had a close call with death earlier in 2020 while filming 'Vanguard,' and had only revealed this information in July 2023.

Image: Golden Screen Cinemas