Fremont martial arts student becomes his idol's disciple
By Rob Dennis
The Argus
Article Last Updated: 08/25/2008 06:55:35 AM PDT
FREMONT — Jack Tu was only 3 years old when his father's friend Jet Li visited their home in Taiwan. But the youngster was so taken with the Chinese martial arts champion and action film icon that he immediately announced his intention to become a movie star.
"Perhaps someday your dream will come true," replied his father.
Now it has.
Tu, now 23 and a student at USA Wu Chi Kung Fu Academy in Fremont's Irvington neighborhood, was chosen last month from among 200,000 contenders in a worldwide search for the "disciple" of another major Chinese action star, Jackie Chan.
"In China, everyone calls him Big Brother," Tu said of Chan. "He's very caring "... he always gives what he has. That really inspires me."
After speaking Saturday to about 50 fans at the Fremont academy, Tu returned to China on Sunday to begin his tutelage under Chan. Next month he will start shooting his debut movie, "Speedpost 206," produced by Chan. He is scheduled to co-star with Chan in another movie, and has a 30-episode action-drama in the pipeline.
Chan also plans to teach Tu about film editing and post-production — useful training for a budding director who wants to make movies promoting Chinese culture and art, with an environmentally conscious message.
"I grew up in mountains, I grew up in forest, so I feel very close to the environment," Tu said.
Tu's journey began in the mountains of Taiwan's Yangmingshan National Park,
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with its cherry blossoms, hot springs and hiking trails. The same year he met Li, Tu began studying wushu, an exhibition form of kung fu resembling gymnastics with martial arts stances, kicks, jumps and sweeps.
"Wushu is motion art," Tu said. "You're painting the floor with your movement." Tu began training with the Taiwanese national team when he was 5, grinding away at a grueling dawn-to-dusk schedule every day. By age 10, he was wrapping himself in 40- to 80-pound chains as part of his training regimen.
"My original motivation was not to turn my son into a movie star," Tu's father, qigong grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng, said through an interpreter. "It was to make him stronger and better "... enlightened and kind."
The family immigrated to Vancouver when Tu was 10, and then moved to San Jose eight years later. He began training at the Fremont academy two years ago, and also attends De Anza College in Cupertino, where he's studying biochemistry. He trains before and after classes on weekdays and three times a day on weekends.
Still, he was taken aback by the rigorous challenges he had to overcome to become Chan's disciple.
The search took the form of a Chinese reality TV show, "Jackie Chan's The Disciple." Its opening episodes were essentially a talent contest, with Tu displaying his skills at Chinese piano, calligraphy and martial arts.
Once the field had been winnowed from its original 128 to 16, however, things got more strenuous.
The final contestants were put up in a small house together in Beijing, stripped of all their possessions and cut off from the outside world. Then they were presented with one scary challenge after another.
Jump off a 10-meter diving platform? Check. Crash a car? Check. Get set on fire? Um, check.
Every episode "it got more dangerous," Tu said. "They never tell you what you're going to do; they never tell you what you have to prepare for."
Finally, after a year of competition, Tu stood among the final three contestants for a grand ceremony July 26 at the Great Wall of China. Renowned Chinese directors John Woo and Hark Tsui were among the stars present to announce the winners.
Ultimately, a bemused Tu was dragged forward by Chan, who presented him with a dinner plate-sized gold medal and a large scroll that Chan had been given by his own father. Loosely translated, the calligraphy reads, "Never give up." "I was totally blank," Tu said. "I don't even know what I'm thinking. That day was very exciting." It didn't take long, though, for the wheels to start turning again.
"I started planning what I should do in the picture," he said.
"Everything I did paid off there, and I was thinking: This is not the end. This is just the beginning."
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Originally Posted by LaylaConn
) i thought you weren't gonna do any coverage on it because like you mentioned you didn't do anything for K-star(it wasn't newsworthy at all so good call gene). we will see what becomes of these kids hopefully all good things, fame is a b!tch and she's cruel and harsh and and can kick you out of the lime light whenever she see's fit. you personal life if gone(like at ED chen) i hear its way worse in asia than in the states. i can't wait to see the films that jack talked about and if they suck i cn't wait to crucify them and if their good praise them.
