Here's How Much Money Jackie Chan Is Actually Worth
Jackie Chan is one of the world's most famous and long-tenured martial arts superstars and, for that matter, actors in general. According to his IMDb page, the venerable Kung Fu movie innovator made his film debut in 1963. He has kept steadily going ever since, and holds over 140 acting credits. Apart from starring in a few franchises of his own (Rush Hour, Police Story), he has been in movies with the likes of fellow martial artist Jet Li, Ian McShane and Arnold Schwarzenegger — or rather, they have been in movies with him. When he was a young stuntman, South China Morning Post tells us that Chan even had the honor of working with Bruce Lee himself. Chan says he liked Lee, who treated him and other "lowly" crew members very respectfully, but on the other hand the future Drunken Master also decided to do his own stunts because he was annoyed to see Lee using a body double in some complex Northern Kung Fu style moves. Yeah, Jackie Chan is the kind of guy who started his movie career by deciding to one-up Bruce Lee.
Combine that attitude and expertise at both martial arts acting and stunt work with a significant amount of producing, and writing and directing credits, and the fact that Chan has even performed some of the songs on his movies' soundtracks, and you see what a massive multi-talent he is. With a career as long, diverse and acrobatic as his, it's no surprise that Chan has managed to build himself into a massively bankable star. In fact, Western audiences can't even fathom how popular he truly is: While his blend of physical comedy and martial arts is popular in the West, South China Morning Post tells us he is as unstoppable as they come on his native stomping grounds of east Asia. How big is he, you ask? Well, in 2015, he was the second highest-paid actor in the whole world, with only the Marvel-empowered Robert Downey Jr. inching ahead of him. Knowing all this, we almost dread to inquire: How much money does Jackie Chan actually have?
Jackie Chan is worth $400 million
Lots of money, that's how much. Turns out, a career that spans over six decades has left Jackie Chan with plenty of petty cash, as sites like Celebrity Net Worth and Men's Health report his net worth at somewhere in the $400 million region. Of course, that's probably a guesstimate at best; Jackie Chan has a ridiculously large income even at an age where most people start slowly winding down and looking for their slippers. The man was born in 1954, yet he remains such a huge name and active presence that he could probably put together another $400 million before he gets around to retiring, whenever that sad day will come. After all, Forbes tells us that Chan earned an absurd $58 million in 2019 alone.
Where does Jackie Chan's money come from?
If his vast fortune came from acting alone, Chan's earnings would amount to an average of a little under $3 million per movie. However, he has several other sources of income. As one of the world's biggest superstars, he has plenty of endorsement deals. He also has his hands on a great many aspects of film making, from co-owning several production companies to operating his own chain of cinemas.
According to Forbes, a lot of this has to do with the fact that Chan is basically "the Mickey Mouse of Chinese culture," and his name is a massive brand that makes money wherever he sees fit to stamp it. As one of the few people with massive film industry accolades in both East and West, he's also in an incredibly powerful position in the current media atmosphere where China is an increasingly important market. Oh, and he also has a seat in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which gives him no small amount of political clout.
Oh, and remember those songs we mentioned he performs on his soundtracks? As World Kings tells us, Jackie Chan is both a classically trained Chinese opera singer and a hugely popular pop singer in China. This is not just a vanity project or backup career he took up for the inevitable day when he can't beat twenty people up with a spinning stepladder anymore — he released his first pop record, Love Me, in 1984. This means he has juggled a dual career of pop stardom and martial arts superstardom all these decades, while also building a giant media empire on the side. Let's see Jet Li do that.