Jackie Chan didn’t always play the lead role, especially in the beginning of his career.

He started out as a stuntman and often played one of the bad guys that the main character would knock out with a single punch or kick, and most of the time, had little to no lines in the film.

In one of his earliest roles, he played a corpse on set. Jackie was so good at holding his breath and not moving that the director pointed at him and announced “That guy is the best corpse, make sure we get him in tomorrow as well.”

No matter how big or small the role, Jackie would always give his best because he knew that although he wasn’t the best actor around, he would at least be the hardest working one.

Jackie writes that he became known “as the first to arrive on set and the last to leave. My attitude was enthusiastic and committed. I got into the habit of volunteering to do the most difficult or dangerous jobs...and never let on about how much pain I was in.”

It didn’t matter whether the pay was low or none at all, nor did the size of the role matter, Jackie was determined to get as much experience under his belt as possible and each gig got him one step closer to becoming a global movie star.

Even when things got difficult and Jackie had to move back in with his parents, who lived in Australia, and work construction, he didn’t give up on his dream. When the opportunity arose to play a lead character in a small movie, he decided to go back to China and continue to pursue his dream.

Years of hard work and commitment soon paid off, as Jackie writes, “After fifteen years of hard training, I was an overnight success.”

3) Jackie Sacrifices Himself For His Art