Sometimes our most beloved actors‘ personal lives can be stranger than fiction. Many fans may think they know all about the life of Jackie Chan, but do they? The movie Traces of a Dragon says different.
Jackie Chan unraveled a new story of his childhood
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— Mike McGranaghan (@AisleSeat) December 2, 2022It is believed that Jackie Chan was born on April 7, 1954, to his parents, Charles and Lee-Lee Chan, on Hong Kong’s famous Victoria Peak, according to IMDb. The family immigrated to Canberra, Australia, in early 1960. Young Chan was not the best student, so his father sent him back to Hong Kong to study at the China Drama Academy. Chan found his niche in acrobatics, singing, and martial arts. Chan joined the performing troupe “Seven Little Fortunes” and developed lifelong friendships with other actors and martial artists.
Chan traveled between Hong Kong and Australia to work and visit family but eventually settled permanently in Hong Kong. It was in the early 1970s that Chan started his film career. He appeared in two minor roles in films starring superstar Bruce Lee. This set him up for success after the untimely demise of Lee. Chan appeared in many low-budget martial arts movies and worked his way up to much bigger movies and great success.
According to The Guardian, the common narrative of Chan’s early life is not accurate. It was not until he was an adult that Chan learned that his father, Charles, was a former spy and his mother was a drug dealer. The truth of his past was uncovered when Chan went to Australia to visit his father and learned that he had two brothers living in China. Charles revealed to his son that he was once a Nationalist spy and a gangland boss, and his mother was an opium dealer and a well-known underground gambler in Shanghai.
Charles fled from China to Hong Kong to avoid the Communist Party and hid in Australia for several years. Charles also had two sons with his first wife, who died in 1947. When Chan’s parents left mainland China, they left those children behind. Sadly, it was not an uncommon thing to do at the time.
Charles also met Chan’s mother, Lee-Lee, when he arrested her for dealing opium. She took up opium dealing to support her two daughters from her previous husband, who died in a Japanese bombing raid, according to NextShark.
During his conversation with his son, Charles also told his son that their family name was not Chan but Fang.
Jackie Chan commissioned a movie
In the late 1990s, Jackie Chan invited filmmaker Mabel Cheung to Australia to meet his father. Cheung got to aquatint herself with Charles and enjoyed his company. However, it was when Chan arrived that the real truth-telling started. Chan learned that his father invited him to Australia to set the family history straight; that is how Chan learned about his spy father, his drug dealer/gambler mother, and his previously unknown brothers and sisters. He saw archival footage of what happened during the Communist Revolution in China, making him weep.
The truth-telling documentary that Chan commissioned is called Traces of a Dragon: Jackie Chan and His Lost Family (2003). Cheung expected the documentary to be popular among those interested in 20th Century China. She says, “It’s not just Jackie’s story but the story of every Chinese family.”
Chan will not give his fortune to his children
Jackie Chan has two children. He has a son, Jaycee (age 40), and an estranged daughter, Etta Ng Chok Lam (age 23). Lam is not a part of Chan’s life. As for his wealth, Chan has a net worth of $400 million, but he has no intentions of sharing his fortune with either of his children.
Chan told the Hindustan Times that he would rather donate his fortune to charity than give it to his son. He said, “If he is capable, he can make his own money. If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money.”
In 2014, Jaycee was arrested for marijuana possession while Chan served as an anti-drug ambassador in China. TMZ reports that Chan wrote on his website, “When I first heard the news, I was absolutely enraged. As a public figure, I feel very ashamed; as his dad, I’m very sad and disappointed. But the person who feels heartbroken the most is his mom.” He went on to suggest that Jaycee’s “mistake” is a cautionary tale and that he’s partly to blame for not teaching Jaycee well.
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