“Do not let circumstances control you. You change your circumstances”-Jackie Chan

The eminent person I choose is Jackie Chan; comedian, actor, singer, and a stunts man. I got to know him in summer 2017 when my dad showed me one of Jackie Chans movies. It was called ‘The Drunken Master’, and it was one of my dad’s favorites, and from then on, it also became one of my favorite movies because it was an action-packed movie, but it also incorporated comedy, which made it very fun to watch. I found out that Jackie Chan was a martial artist and he did Hapkido, Taekwondo, Judo, and Kung-Fu. I have done Taekwondo a long time ago, even though I stopped once I got my brown belt. Jackie Chan knows eight languages, while I speak four if you count French. But Jackie Chan had something I didn’t have, ambition. The ambition he had was the thing that drove Jackie Chan, and what made him so famous. It got him to become a comedian, actor, stunts man, and even a singer. It was also what made him learn eight whole languages. I want to learn from Jackie Chan and try to become more of an ambitious learner at school.

Even though it looks like Jackie Chan had everything handed to him, that’s not what happened. Jackie Chan had to go through many different hardships, and one of the difficulties he had was that he was born with parents who were both refugees from the Chinese Civil War and were suffering from poverty. Since his family was very poor, they couldn’t support his dreams of stardom. He was also dyslexic, which made him fail ‘normal’ school, and he had to enroll in a Chinese drama academy instead. Even with all these disadvantages, he became a world-famous actor and a role model for many different people. I think a barrier I might have connecting to Jackie Chan will be how we were born in different generations and how our culture is different in our countries.

Jackie Chan was one of the first famous Asian actors in the North American big screen. You can see him show up in other movies like the Karate Kid, and The Foreiner. I think he opened up the way for many other Asian actors, and he also made action-comedy a big thing. You can see an example of this by looking at some famous actors/movies we have today. Dawne Johnson, for example, plays in many action movies, but he also includes comedy in all his movies. I think Jackie Chan will be remembered for a long time because even though he has money and fame, he always remained humble and because he was a good entertainer that many people look up to. He will also be remembered for his movies, which are still watched, even to this day. I think a want Jackie Chan had was to become famous. I think he tried to achieve this by looking for jobs that made him stand out like acting and singing. A fear he probably had was that he was going to be forgotten once he stopped making movies, and an obstacle he faced was that he was often compared to his role model; Bruce Lee. I think Jackie Chan overcame this obstacle by learning from Bruce Lee’s mistakes and achievements.

A goal I made from researching about Jackie Chan is that I want to become more of an ambitious learner like him.

Picture sites:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2015/06/29/big-bucks-for-big-brother-why-jackie-chan-is-the-worlds-second-highest-paid-actor/#1af6f4931fde

https://www.watchmojo.com/video/id/15419