Each of us may have a different attitude to his work, but we are all united in respect for the good-natured Chinese shorty named Jackie Chan. At the same time, for many it may be a surprise that, in addition to a career in film and music, several literary works have come out of Jackie’s pen. What are they like? Let's find out about it, and also look at the most famous books about Jackie Chan.
Who is Jackie, and why do we all love him so much?
"Who enters the house with a good fairy tale? Who has everyone known since childhood? Who is not a scientist, not a poet, but conquered the whole world? Who is recognized everywhere? Tell me what his name is ..."
Paradoxical as it sounds, these words can be used as a description not only of Pinocchio, but also of Jackie Chan. After all, most of his projects are good movies about life, in which good always triumphs, and the main character never kills anyone, despite the huge number of incredible fights.
That is why in childhood everyone watched with enthusiasm films or cartoons with his participation and still love to revise them. And although today they seem somewhat naive to us, those fantastic dizzying tricks that Jackie Chan invented and performed without any understudies still delight and make him applause again and again.
Although the actor has long exceeded sixty, despite this, he continues to act in film. After all, he knows that we always expect new and amazing works from him.
short biography
The future actor was born on April 7, 1954 in Hong Kong. At an early age he was given to study opera singing. Although he succeeded in this, he soon became interested in kung fu, and this determined his fate.
He began acting in films at the age of ten. At first, these were roles in extras, but then they began to invite him to play the villains who were beaten by the main characters of the militants. In particular, Jackie "lucky" more than once to grab the cinematic cuffs from the most legendary Bruce Lee in "Fist of Fury" and "Exit of the Dragon."
In those days, all the artists in the Chinese action films sought to imitate Lee, and only Chan decided to create his own unique image of a lazy good-natured fool who somehow miraculously gets into trouble and then gets out of it alive and almost unscathed.
The first breakthrough for Jackie was the “Drunken Master”, after which his stage image was finally formed, and in his homeland he becomes incredibly famous. Not surprisingly, the sequel was soon filmed.
In future years, the artist is removed a lot, while all the stunts and battle scenes are set and performed by himself. Moreover, he organizes a stunt team with which he works on most of his subsequent projects.
Chan came to prominence in the USA in 1995 after his role in the film "Disassembly in the Bronx." In the future, he often starred in America and other countries of the world. His most famous western works are Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Knights, Tuxedo, Medallion, Forbidden Kingdom, Karate Boy, Spy Next Door, Around the World for eighty days ", etc.
In 2000, the animated series "The Adventures of Jackie Chan" was released, which, no doubt, each of us at least once watched in childhood. He stayed on the air for five seasons.
In addition to filming a movie, the artist recorded twenty albums of songs in his own performance. Moreover, he sings not only in his native language, but also in Japanese and English.
In addition to all of the above, Chan is known for his charity and is a goodwill ambassador.
He has his own personalized stars on the “Walk of Fame” in Hollywood, “Avenue of Stars” in Hong Kong, and even on Old Arbat in Moscow.
In 2016, one more was added to all Chan's achievements. He was awarded an honorary Oscar for his contribution to world cinema.
List of books about Jackie Chan's biography written by himself
Among the many talents of this outstanding actor, singer and stuntman, there is also a writer. But, not having enough experience in this area, the artist constantly asked for help from professionals. In this regard, all the biographical books of Jackie Chan are written in collaboration with someone.
Thus, the list of his works includes such books:
- "I, Jackie Chan," co-authored with Jeff Young.
- "I'm happy," Zhu Mo helped create the book for the actor.
What "Me Jackie Chan" About
This work is an autobiography of the artist. In it, Jackie reveals many family secrets and talks about his childhood, youth and a difficult path to the spotlights.
Please note that the Russian-language edition is called "I, Jackie Chan", but in the original English book is called I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action ("I, Jackie Chan: my life is in motion").
The book was first published in Cantonese, and then in English in 1998.
After the success of the "Rush Hour" tape in 1999, the second, revised edition of "I, Jackie Chan" was released. It appeared a story about the work on the aforementioned picture, as well as the complete filmography of the artist at that time and the top 10 Jackie's favorite movie stunts.
A special edition was dedicated to the artist's parents. There is evidence that the writer Long Cheng had a hand in working on it.
It is worth adding an interesting fact. In 2010, while participating in The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, the actor said that he wanted to make a musical based on his book. However, so far this desire of his has not been realized. But this is Jackie Chan, which means that if he sets a goal, he will achieve his goal. That proved to the world more than once.
Reader Reviews on "I, Jackie Chan"
Having learned what this work is about, it is worth considering how readers have met it. Namely, discuss the reviews of "I, Jackie Chan" by Jackie Chan and Jeff Young.
It is worth remembering that this book is designed for a specific circle of readers who are not just sympathetic to the author, but so passionate about his work that they are ready to spend time and hard-earned money reading his memoirs.
Most reviews on numerous forums praise this work, indicating that the book is written easily and very interesting. And this is precisely what prompted those who read the electronic version to become interested in acquiring its paper counterpart. And this in our digital era can be considered the highest praise.
Also often in reviews and comments you can find sympathy for the author of the work and genuine admiration for his courage and heroism, which allowed him to proudly call his biography "I, Jackie Chan."
Reviews of books of not every professional writer, not to mention a lover, are so good. So the drunken master, apparently, won in this battle.
By the way, in English forums this work is as popular as in domestic ones. There, on average, it has a readership rating of 4.5 points out of a maximum of five. So, if you like the stories of modern Cinderella who became princesses not thanks to dad and mom, but having achieved recognition by their work, try at your own leisure and flip through Chan's memoirs yourself.
Features of the book "I am happy"
The second in Jackie Chan's bibliography is the book "I'm Happy," published in English on his sixty-first birthday.
Those who want to read it should pay attention to such a nuance. In the original, it is called Never Grow Up, Only Get Older ("I grew up before I grew up"), but her Russian translation came out under the title "I am happy." So these are not two different books by Jackie, but one.
As with Chan’s first autobiography, soon after the second, he received an honorary Oscar and decided to reflect this fact in it. Therefore, after a couple of months in the capital of China, the second edition of the book of actor Jackie Chan was released. The Hong Kong version was distinguished by new sections and photographs.
Our fans of the drunken master decided to make a gift for themselves and translated this augmented edition, putting it in open access under the original name.
A few words are worth mentioning about co-author Jackie - writer and his fan Zhu Mo. The appearance of this book is largely its merit. Since Zhu was the initiator of its creation, and for three years, collected and edited materials for her. So Chan was clearly lucky with the fans.
Reader reviews
Like the first, the second work was also well received all over the world. This can be judged by reviewing reviews of Jackie Chan's book "I Am Happy" on various resources, including foreign ones.
Some readers write that after reading this work, they took a fresh look at the artist and his achievements. Also, the book is considered more mature than the first. Although not all reviewers agree with this opinion. Some call Jackie a choleric and a workaholic, but at the same time note that it was the last quality that helped him to earn his Oscar and the love of the audience. In addition to the content of praise, the design of the first edition was also awarded, which has more than once been called "decoration of any bookshelf."
1999 Jackie Chan Book
Having examined the works of the artist himself, it is worthwhile to find out what others wrote about him.
So, along with I, Jackie Chan, in 1999, Inside Kung-fu published a book with the title Jackie Chan. Probably, in this way they hoped that the autobiography of the actor would become a kind of advertisement for their work, or that readers would buy it, having mixed it up.
What is this publication dedicated to? To sports, to be exact kung fu. Based on examples from the life and work of Jackie, collected over twenty years of Inside Kung-fu magazine, John Little and Curtis Wong told readers about this amazing martial art. So this is more of a book about kung fu, not Chan. Although lovers of this struggle, we think, will be interested in its content.
"Death for action" (1997)
A year before the appearance of Jackie's first autobiography, another book was written about his difficult fate - Dying for Action: The Life and Films of Jackie Chan. Its author was a journalist Rene Whiterstetter, enchanted by Chan's work.
In addition to the artist’s biography, you can find many pictures of Jackie in it.
It is likely that it was this publication that prompted the actor himself to take up the pen. Judge for yourself, the title of his first book is clearly a parody of Whiterstetter.
1994 Memories
In 1994, when Chan was just beginning to conquer the Western public, a small book with photographs was published about him.
It was published only in English and today is considered a bibliographic rarity.
Jackie Comics
In parallel with the appearance on the screens of the animated series about Chan, English-language books with comics related to him began to be published.
Unlike the series, they did not gain such tremendous popularity, since teenagers like to watch cartoons more than read.
Jackie Chan Chronicles by Vasily Moskalenko
In addition to foreign authors of the book about Jackie Chan, the young Ukrainian writer Vasily Moskalenko also writes. As a child, he simply went crazy for films with this artist. So it is not surprising that when he grew up, he decided to devote a novel to him. And not ordinary, but in the fantasy genre.
After two years of negotiations with lawyers and producers of the famous actor in 2011, Moskalenko obtained official permission to make Jackie Chan the hero of his books.
At the moment, two novels have been published in this series: The Fourth Kind of Magic and The Dragon Quarter.
The works are written in Russian and are available for reading on the Internet.
As for the plot, the action "The Jackie Chan Chronicle" takes place both on Earth and in a fictional universe called the Deep World, where there is magic, dragons and other fantasy "tricks".
Those readers who are fortunate enough to read these books about Jackie Chan praise The Fourth Kind of Magic in their reviews, while the Dragon Quarter is considered a weaker piece.
Will Moskalenko continue to write about his favorite actor? We will find out soon.
Why Jackie Chan got into the Guinness Book of Records
Besides the fact that this artist is both a writer and a hero of books written by others, Jackie managed to become part of the history of the most outstanding achievements in the history of mankind. Simply put, he got into the Guinness Book of Records.
Jackie Chan earned this honor in 2012. Moreover, in two categories at once:
- "The greatest number of mentions in the credits of one movie." We are talking about his painting "Armor of God-3: The Zodiac Mission", during the work on which the artist combined at once fifteen positions at once.
- "The greatest number of stunts performed in my entire career." By the way, this nomination was a complete surprise for Jackie Chan.
The Guinness Book of Records, therefore, now also belongs to the category of publications dedicated to Jackie. What can I say, probably all of us should imitate this outstanding actor and live in such a way that you do not strive to be described in books, and writers lined up in an attempt to make you the hero of their works.