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HONG KONG (AP) - Jackie Chan has flexed his vocal muscles for the Olympics. The 53-year-old actor, best known for his daredevil stunts, has recorded ”We Are Ready,” the official countdown song to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

He spent three hours recording the song during a recent trip to Beijing, Chan said in a blog entry on his Web site Wednesday.

Chan, star of the ”Rush Hour” movies, dabbles in music and has released several albums.

He praised the lyrics of the Mandarin Chinese song composed by Peter Kam, who won a Silver Bear award for best film music at the Berlin Film Festival last year.

”Waiting year after year/ We can see into the future/ Together with hard work and sweat, we’ve created the five different (Olympic) colors,” says one refrain.

Olympic organizers have also recorded a second Chinese version sung by more than 100 pop stars, Kam said.

He told The Associated Press in a phone interview that an English version of the song may be recorded.

Chan said in an earlier blog entry that he got goose bumps when he attended the official one-year countdown event in Beijing on Aug. 8.

”The ceremony made me very emotional and I said to myself, ‘That’s our China, that’s our day!’ I felt this moment belonged to our China, this moment belonged to us,” he wrote.

Chan was educated at Nan Hua Elementary Academy, but his parents felt he didn’t fit in at school so they sent him to the Chinese Opera Research Institute (1961-1971) and later, due to financial difficulties, they enrolled him at the Peking Opera School. While there, he was taught skills in acrobatics and kung fu under an extremely strict regime. It was here that Chan joined a number of other students who would become members of the Seven Little Fortunes (the Opera school’s best students), and ultimately his Hong Kong film industry compatriots. They included Yuen Wah, Corey Yuen (Yuen Kwai) and Yuen Qiu. He also became firm friends with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, and the three of them would later come to be known as the Three Brothers / Three Dragons.

Upon finishing at the Opera school, and a brief spell in Australia, Chan returned to Hong Kong and like his fellow former students, found work as a film stuntman, before ultimately being offered acting roles. Very early in his career, in 1975, he was in an adult film called “All in the Family”. “I had to do anything I could to make a living 31 years ago, but I don’t think it’s a big deal, even Marlon Brando used to be exposed in his movies,” Chan said. “The porn movie at that time was more conservative than the current films,” he said. Chan got his first international success in 1978, with the film Drunken Master. The movie depicted Wong Fei Hung, played by Chan, as a young and mischievous rascal instead of the venerable Kung fu master that other films had represented him as. Together with the on-screen antics and charm of Chan and Yuen Siu Tien (also known as Simon Yuen), father of renowned martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, Drunken Master was a radical film for its time. The film was a success and led the way for other international hits.

· While not afraid to do his own stunts, he confesses that, like many, he is afraid of needles and hates taking shots. Unlike injuries that may come from a failed stunt, with a shot he “knows that it’s coming.”

* Was voted 41st in a poll of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars on Channel 4 in the UK.Chan appeared with, and was quickly “killed” by martial arts legend Bruce Lee in 1973’s Enter the Dragon in a very short scene where Chan plays one of Kahn’s guards.The character Lei Wulong from the Tekken video game series is heavily based on Jackie Chan, due to his looks and similar fighting style.

· A videogame called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster for the Playstation was made, of course with his name. Previously, an NES game called Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu was released.

· A television show, Jackie Chan Adventures, was based on Jackie Chan, his niece, and his uncle, as well as a shopkeeper. Videogames have also been made based on the show.

· He is the central subject of UK band Ash’s song Kung Fu, which is used for the end credits of the UK and US versions of Rumble in the Bronx.

· The Pokémon Hitmonchan is named after him (similar in style to how the Pokémon Hitmonlee is named after Bruce Lee).

· He helped to open Hong Kong Disneyland Resort in 2005.

· Chan had planned to star as Vin Diesel’s role in the movie The Pacifier, but due to busy arrangements, did not take the role.

· He was asked to play Wah Sing Ku in the Mel Gibson film Lethal Weapon 4 but turned down the part as he would have to play a criminal, Chan often says he doesn’t like to play real criminals as it is bad for his image, although he doesn’t mind playing either comical criminals or anti-heroes as in his newest film Rob-B-Hood. The part of Wah Sing Ku was later played by Jet Li.

· Although he did not voice the part, a likeness of him appeared in the Family Guy episode, Breaking Out Is Hard to Do, when Peter Griffin said, “Oh my god, it’s Jackie Chan!” three different times to three different asian people in Asiantown.

· He has appeared along side bodybuilder turned actor turned governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger in a government advert to combat piracy, which can be viewed here.In both the anime and manga series of Dragon Ball, a martial artist named Master Roshi disguises himself and uses the alias “Jackie Chun” to take part in a few martial arts tournaments to secretly test out the powers and abilities of Goku, the main character of the series.

· Appeared in 2 Diet Pepsi commercial in 2006.

· In the Internet movie The Ultimate Showdown, a likeness of him fought Shaquille O’ Neal, but was defeated by a Care Bear.

· Sung a duet of the Nat King Cole song Unforgettable with Ani DiFranco.

· He has declared that it is almost certain that he will, for the first time, partner another kung fu cinema legend Jet Li in an upcoming film that will start filming in spring 2007. The film has be dubbed The J&J Project.

· His nickname to the people of Hong Kong is Big Brother .

· He holds the record for the most number of takes for a single shot in a film, over 2900. (Dragon Lord for the marathon 20 minute fight that is the grand finale of the film.)

· In an interview unlocked in the videogame Jackie Chan Stunt master (A game where he was motion captured for game animations), Chan stated that he likes to play video games .

Chan continued his Hollywood success with sequels Rush Hour 2 and Shanghai Knights and in 2004 Chan returned to Hong Kong box office success with the films New Police Story, in which Chan plays a troubled police officer, and in The Myth where we see Chan as a modern archaeologist who has dreamt he has been re-encarnated from an ancient Chinese Warrior. These are two examples of Chan’s growing wish to play a new style of character and to include more dramatic scenes into his films. In 2007 Chan will be starring along side another Chinese action star, Jet Li in a film that is rumored to be based on the Chinese folk story Journey to the West. Chan also helped to create a Playstation game based on him called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster. Jackie did the voice over and motion capture for the game.

As well as many on-going projects Chan is also a keen philanthropist and has worked tirelessly to champion many charity works and causes. As a well-respected figure of the Hong Kong entertainment industry, he is often one of the leaders in such works, speaking up for conservation, against animal abuse as well as promoting disaster relief efforts for flooding in mainland China and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Chan helped raise thousands of US dollars, however this money was later stolen by a third party. In June, 2006, he announced that he would donate half of his assets to charity when he dies. He stated that he admired the efforts by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to help those in need.