How was the early life of Jackie Chan?

Jackie Chan's early life was not good at all. Born to parents who fled the Chinese civil war, he was a very agile child, rolling around so much, he was nicknamed "Cannonball". He was not a good student in school and endured a lot of bullying. Chan had a beautiful voice though and pursued opra for a time. He also took up martial arts. He and his friends were in movie which birthed his love for acting. And so it all began.

Chan was determined to make it into acting, despite his hardships as a child. He worked so hard in his action filming that he suffered injuries such as a broken nose. Finally, the actor arrived. He made a paradigm shift from being bullied and not being good in school to becoming one of the most famous martial arts actors ever.

Jackie Chan was born Datuk Chan Kong-sang on April 7, 1954 in Hong Kong. He was born to Charles Chan and Lee – Lee Chan. He was nicknamed Pao – pao (meaning cannonball in Chinese) this is because of his energetic behaviour as a child. Jackie Chan attended Nah – Hwa Primary School on Hong Kong Island. His parents later withdrew him from the school because he failed his first year. His father moved to Australia and sent Jackie Chan to China Drama Academy (Peking Opera School) run by Master Yu Jim- yuen. Jackie Chan spent the next decade of his life learning martial arts & acrobatics and he excelled at it.

Jackie Chan joined his parents in Canberra, Australia in 1976 and he briefly attended Dickson College. He also worked as a construction worker. A fellow builder named Jack took Chan with him and this earned his the title “little Jack” which was later shorten to “Jackie”.