What Is Jaycee Chan's Net Worth?
Jaycee Chan is an actor and singer who has a net worth of $2 million. Jaycee Chan is the son of action and martial arts star Jackie Chan and actress Lin Feng-Jiao. Some of his notable film appearances include "No Problem" (2010), "The Drummer" (2007), "2 Young" (2005), "The Twins Effect II" (2004), "Invisible Target" (2007), "Break Up Club" (2010), "1911" (2011), and "Kung Fu Yoga" (2017). Jaycee was arrested in August 2014 in Beijing for drug possession and faces criminal charges up to the death penalty for having more than 100 grams of marijuana.
Father's Estate
While accepting an award in Beijing in 2012, Jackie Chan was asked if Jaycee will inherit his massive fortune some day. Jackie stated that he was originally intending to donate half of his wealth to charity and leaving his family the other half but had recently changed his will to leave 100% for charitable causes. The elder Chan explained:
"If he is capable, he can make his own money. If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money."
Jackie also expressed regret for not sending Jaycee to the army, where his son would have received "life experience and character."
Other very wealthy celebrities who famously are not leaving, or did not leave, their fortunes to charity include comedian Jerry Lewis and musician Sting.
Early Life
Jaycee Chan was born on December 3, 1982 in Los Angeles, California. His father is famed Chinese martial artist and actor Jackie Chan, and his mother is Taiwanese actress Joan Lin. After finishing high school, Jaycee briefly attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was enrolled for two semesters but ultimately did not graduate. During his youth, he had a taste for luxury cars and nightlife. He ultimately left Virginia to pursue more exciting opportunities elsewhere.
Career
After leaving school, Chan moved to Hong Kong in 2003 to pursue a career in entertainment. He began working on his first album, "Jaycee," which was released in 2004. He composed the music and wrote the lyrics for 10 of the 13 tracks on the album. He also began appearing in films. His film debut was in "The Twins Effect II," in which his father had a cameo role. Jaycee then appeared in the Hong Kong romance film, "2 Young," in which he starred opposite Hong Kong Cantopop singer Fiona Sit. The two later worked again together on the film "Break Up Club." In 2007, Chan appeared in the film "Invisible Target" alongside Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue.
Despite all his work, neither Chan's music nor his acting career were very commercially successful. In 2009, he gave up his United States citizenship in favor of Chinese citizenship in order to better appeal to local audiences.
Jaycee has done some voice work in animated films. He voiced the younger version of his father's character, Master Monkey, in "Secrets of the Furious Five." He also voiced the character of Master Crane in the Cantonese version of "Kung Fu Panda" and its sequel "Kung Fu Panda 2."
In 2011, Jaycee appeared alongside Jackie in his father's 100th film, "1911." However, the film was a flop and resulted in Jackie Chan's least profitable and worst-reviewed film to date. Jaycee then starred in the film "Whoever," which was meant to satirize his life as a playboy who has a famous father. In order to appeal to his non-Chinese audiences, his studios hired promoters from South Korea and Singapore to promote the film. However, the film was a box office failure. It did not make it into the Chinese top ten chart, even despite the existence of a government mandate that required the film to be played at half of the nation's theaters. The studio later decided not to theatrically release the film in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
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Personal Life and Controversies
Jaycee Chan's interest in luxury items, women, and money has contributed to his reputation of being a playboy and spendthrift. He has also had some trouble with law enforcement. In August 2014, he was arrested by Beijing police on a drug possession charge. The police later found over 100 grams of marijuana in his apartment. While he was supposed to be released from jail 14 days after his arrest, he subsequently faced criminal charges and sentences up to the death penalty for allegedly encouraging others to consume marijuana. Chan admitted to having taken drugs for eight years. This was especially shocking as his father, Jackie Chan, had been China's anti-drug goodwill ambassador since 2009. His father issued a public apology for his son's drug use.
Jaycee spent his 32nd birthday in police custody. Four months after his arrest, he was indicted by Chinese police, and his trial finally began in January 2015 after he had spent 148 days in jail. He was sentenced to six months in prison. His father had publicly said he would not make use of his connections to lessen his son's sentence. Chan was released in mid-February. The following day, he held a press conference to make a public apology and to promise to be a law-abiding citizen in the future.
After his release from prison, Jaycee lived with his mother in Taipei and kept a low profile, often wearing a mask in public to avoid being recognized. In early 2020, he returned to Los Angeles just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout much of his adult life, Chan had a challenging and distant relationship with his father, who did not approve of his son's choices or lifestyle. In April 2011, Jackie Chan stated at an awards ceremony that he would donate half of his money to charity when he died rather than his son. However, after serving his prison sentence, their relationship improved. The two met in Taiwan after a long time of not speaking. His father stated that he felt like his son had matured and their relationship had improved because of his time spent in prison.
