Jackie Chan to get lifetime achievement Oscar

By Reuters

Actor Jackie Chan poses for the cameras at the announcement of the beginning of production for the science fiction action film 'Bleeding Steel' in Sydney

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Martial arts expert and actor Jackie Chan will receive a lifetime achievement Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday.

Chan, 62, the Hong Kong-born star of Hollywood movies such as “Kung Fu Panda,” “The Karate Kid” and the “Rush Hour” franchise, will join documentary maker Frederick Wiseman, British film editor Anne V. Coates and casting director Lynn Stalmaster as recipients of the 2016 Governors Awards.

Each will get an honorary Oscar statuette recognizing their lifetime contribution to film at a gala in Los Angeles in November.

Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs in a statement called them all “true pioneers and legends in their crafts.”

Chan made his movie debut at the age of 8, and has acted and sometimes written and directed more than 30 martial arts movies in Hong Kong. He has never won an Oscar.

In August, he was ranked the second-highest paid actor in the world by Forbes with estimated 2016 earnings of $61 million, just below “Fast and Furious” star Dwayne Johnson.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)