Jackie Chan Net Worth

How much is Jackie Chan worth?

About Jackie Chan

Chan Kong-Sang, famously known by his professional name Jackie Chan, was born in Victoria Peak, British Hong Kong. He is the son of Charles Chan and Lee-Lee Chan, both of whom are deceased. He has a lot of titles to his name. He is an actor, film director, martial artist, stuntman, and singer. He is also probably the most prestigious celebrity in Asia.

His parents were refugees from the Chinese Civil war, and they nicknamed him Chan Pao-Pao which literally means “Cannonball” since he was an energetic child. Growing up, Jackie Chan’s family lived within the grounds of the Consul’s residence in the Victoria Park district, where his parents worked for the French ambassador in Hong Kong.

Today, Chan is one of the most influential and well-known personalities in cinema around the world. He has a huge fan base both in the West and also in the East, which have led him to receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and another on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars.

Throughout his career, he has received references in video games, cartoons, and pop songs. He has also theme songs since he is an operatically trained vocalist. Chan is a Mandopop and Cantopop star and he’s also released a number of albums.

Jackie Chan has won a number of awards including a lifetime achievement award at the Taurus World Stunt Awards, the innovator award at the American Choreography, as well as an honorary award at the Academy Awards. Forbes magazine recognized him as one of the top 10 most charitable celebrities, due to his philanthropic works. He has also been named as one of the most well-known stars in the world.

Jackie Chan went to Nah-Hwa primary school in Hong Kong Island. He later got transferred to China Drama Academy after his father immigrated to Canberra Australia in 1960. While at China Drama Academy he trained and performed well in martial arts and acrobatics for a decade. His excellent performance gained him a spot in the Seven Little Fortunes, which was a performance group that consisted of the best students from different schools. In recognition of his master, he was given the stage name, Yuen Lo.

While in the group, Chan created a strong bond with two of his friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. They later got the name the Three Brothers or the Three Dragons. Jackie Chan and his friend Sammo Hung joined the film industry and began training like Bruce Lee, earning the opportunity to train under the grand-master Jin Pal Kim in Hapkido. Eventually, Chan attained a black belt. While at Hapkido he trained for other numerous forms of martial arts including Taekwondo, Judo, Karate, and Jeet Kune Do.

In 1976 Chan moved to Canberra to join his parents. He worked as a construction worker there and also briefly went to Dickson College. He earned the nickname “Jack” from a fellow construction worker who was hosting him. When Chan decided to change his Chinese name to Fong Si-lung in the late 1990s, it was beginning of great things for the Jeet Kune Do master in the making.

Recognition and Success

Chan has always wanted to be a great role model to children and therefore he avoided villain roles and using swear words. Chan appears in public service announcements since he is a spokesperson for the Government of Hong Kong. There is a museum in Shanghai dedicated to him, and there is also a statue in front of JC Contemporary in Hong Kong. Jackie Chan was awarded the honor of knight commander of the Order of the Territorial Crown by the Yang di-pertuan Agong.

Forbes estimated his net worth to have been $350 million in 2015 and Chan was the second-highest-paid actor in the world in 2016. Jackie Chan has always earned phenomenal income during his career. For example, back in 2015, despite him not having an American action hit in five years, Chan still managed to earn an estimated $50 million dollars that year.

Jackie Chan became a household name in America with the Rush Hour film franchise. Starring alongside an also hilarious Chris Tucker the movies have grossed a total of $850 million dollars. And they still have Netflix deals today.

His knowledge of the film business has enabled him to make a number of lucrative deals. In 2015, he featured in the film Dragon Blade, which grossed $122.6 million box office earnings. Jackie Chan earned an undisclosed amount for his role in the movie as well as a backend deal worth $10-20 million. Then in 2016, when he was named the second-highest-paid actor in the world, he hit it big with his appearances in Kung Fu Panda 3, Skiptrace, The Master: A Lego Ninjago Short, and Railroad Tigers.

Chan also has endorsements deals outside of his busy acting career. He endorsed a product produced by Subor called “Little Tyrant”. A Nintendo Entertainment System hardware clone marketed as a “learning machine” to get around China’s then-ban on video game consoles. He has also served as brand ambassador for Kaspersky Lab’s antivirus software in Asia, in 2010.

Chan’s fame has earned him an endorsement deal with Mitsubishi Motors. As part of the deal, Mitsubishi cars have often appeared in Jackie Chan’s films. He also helped customize a limited series of the model, Evolution.

Jackie Chan’s influence led to the creation of Rotten Tomatoes a review aggregation site. The founder of the website Senh Duong was a huge fan of his. The website’s idea was influenced by the collection of reviews from Jackie Chan’s Hong Kong action movies that were being reviewed in the United States.

He has also launched his own clothing line in 2004. They use a Chinese dragon logo and with the word “Jackie”, or the initials “JC”. That same year, Chan founded JCE Movies Limited. A film distribution and production company based in Wan Chai, Hong Kong and has released movies New Police Story (2004), The Myth (2005) and Rob-B-Hood (2006) among others.

In politics he has obtained a membership to the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference, a political advisory body in the People’s Republic of China. This is a useful body to be a member of because all films released in China are green-lighted by Beijing. With the Chinese cinema growing fast, that is a powerful position to have.

In 1988 Jackie founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation with the mission to help young people. Their work includes helping with medical services, aid to victims of natural disaster or illness, scholarships and youth activities.

Jackie Chan is also a singer and in 2007 released the song “We Are Ready”, which was the official one-year countdown song to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Jackie also teaches tourism management at Hong Kong Polytechnic.

Chan’s Total Net Worth

Jackie Chan was the second highest earning actor in the world, in 2016, with $61 million dollars in earnings that year. He has since earned around another $200 million, and in total, Chan has career earnings of around $450 million dollars. That figure also includes his appearances in advertising and his endorsement deals.

Of that amount, around $36-50 million is expected to have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $407 million, will have been taxed at around 35% as Chan has been residing in Hong Kong but has likely still had to pay some tax in the United States. After tax, it is estimated that his career earnings are at around $264.55 million dollars, having paid $142.45 million dollars in taxes.

Jackie Chan married Joan Lin in 1982 and they remain together. They have one child together, Jaycee Chan. Jackie also has another child, Etta Ng Chok Lam, with Elaine Ng Yi-Lei.

In his personal life, it is estimated that Chan may have spent $21-30 million dollars of his career earnings but also probably possesses assets valued at around $10-15 million, not including investment assets. In his investments, he may have earned investment returns of around $150-170 million dollars. Therefore, it is estimated that Jackie Chan has a net worth of over $400 million dollars.

Jackie Chan has a great personality which comes across in almost all of his films. He’s as popular in America as he is in China, Hong Kong and Thailand. With his perfect comedic timing and his slapstick acrobatic fighting style he is loved by every member of the family and often for different reasons.

“I now have two different audiences. There’s the one that has been watching my action films for 20 years, and the American family audience. American jokes, less fighting.” Jackie Chan

Chan’s skills include a real genuine martial arts knowledge and training. It may look funny the way he performs in the movies but actually this man is trained in Chinese martial arts which has a deep philosophy intertwined into it. If you remember Bruce Lee saying “be like water” well Jackie Chan has mastered these Daoist teachings, as well.

Jackie Chan has also become ‘style-less’ but his base is of Chinese martial arts combined with moves and techniques from Judo, Taekwondo and Hapkido. Perhaps most influential to his style is Jeet Kune Do which is almost completely Daoism based and is not fixed to any pattern at all.

It is primarily based only on the teaching of “casting off what is useless” and the Daoist attainment of ‘naturalness’. It is intended for advanced practitioners who have long left styles behind.

Chan is also known to use improvised weapons which can take a hilarious turn in the so often comedy movies that we have come to remember him by. He started his acting career in the 1960s appearing in titles like Big and Little Wong Tin Bar and The Story of Ching Hsian-Lien. He has since appeared in over 135 films and produced over 60 films.

In Daoism there are also the Three Treasures which it seems Jackie Chan may hold close and could have contributed to his success. They are “compassion”, “frugality”, and “humility”, these and other teachings may have helped him in his life and work.

Summing-Up

Jackie Chan continues to have a successful career in acting, and also earns large sums from his other endeavors. Being involved in business projects in China and around the world his exact net worth is hard to pinpoint, however it is likely over $400 million dollars. Jackie is currently a UNICEF and UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador.