Jae-Ha Kim

Jet Li. Jackie Chan. Donnie Yen. Quick. Which one of these action film stars grew up in the United States? Or, more appropriately, which one of these stars had to leave the United States before he could make a name for himself in Hollywood? That would be Yen. Sure, while he’s not as famous in the United States as either Li or Chan, he has a loyal following worldwide and an impressive resume of films — the best of which were made in Hong Kong.

Two decades before Jet Li and DMX joined forces for “Cradle 2 the Grave”–which opens Friday–Bruce Lee was kicking it with Jim Kelly in “Enter the Dragon.” Back then, pairing an Asian-American martial arts star (Lee was born in the United States and raised in Hong Kong) with a black karate champ-turned-actor was a novelty. These days, it’s good business to keep faith with the audience that first embraced martial arts films in the United States–African Americans.

Though Jackie Chan is hesitant to show off his dexterous martial arts moves when he’s not on set filming, he’s game for just about anything else. Last week, the popular actor helped Fox news anchor Tamron Hall celebrate her birthday by presenting her with a cake. Later that day when a reporter asked him to sing, he broke into a pitch perfect rendition of “Always on My Mind” that was more Willie Nelson than Elvis Presley.

Crouching tiger, not-so-hidden Madonna. That’s the vibe Madonna wanted for the “Sky Fits Heaven” number of her Drowned World Tour. Never mind she had never taken a kung fu, tae kwon do or karate class.

Who would’ve thought that a turtle could go up against Jackie Chan and hold his own? Not long after battling evil as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, former Chicagoan Ho-Sung Pak found himself playing the heavy opposite Jackie Chan in “The Legend of Drunken Master.”

Jackie Chan’s stunt man has the easiest job in film. All of Chan’s action films are full of dangerous free falls, explosions and rapid-fire kung fu fighting, but the stunt man doesn’t have to participate in any of them. Chan insists on doing all the stunts himself and uses his stunt man more as a double. “I believe all the people who come to my movies buy tickets not to see the double,” said Chan. “They want to see me do everything, which is why I do all my own stunts. My double does things like run from a car into a store.”