Though Jackie Chan is certainly a celebrity in North America, it's hard to grasp just how popular he is in Asia.

So popular, in fact, that despite releasing multiple films every year, his fans were still hungry for more. So he moved to music.

Pursuing a multi-field artistic career actually lines up with Chan's background. His education came not from a general elementary school or an acting conservatory, but from the Hong Kong-China Opera Institute, a small private school that taught its students the many skills involved in Chinese opera. These skills included singing and acting, but also acrobatics, martial arts and dance.

So, having attained success in the rest of those skills (provided you take a pretty loose definition of "dance"), he returned to singing. He has released more than 20 albums, in multiple languages, and sold millions of copies.

His musical output, like his screen output, has been prolific. He debuted as a singer in 1984, releasing two different albums -- "Thank You" and "Love Me." His productive peak came in 1988, when he released four albums (though two were labeled "best of" -- impressive on its own after a musical career of just four years).

Much of his musical success has been directly tied to his acting success -- he has performed the themes and other songs for many of his films, including Hong Kong hits such as "Police Story 3" (1992) and "Drunken Master 2" (1994), as well as songs in his American films such as "The Spy Next Door" (2010) and "Rush Hour 3" (2007).

He had a huge hit with the official song of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, "We Are Ready," released a year before the Games. That song also led up to the less-inspirationally titled "Official Album for the Beijing 2008 Olympics -- Jackie Chan's Version," a whole album of songs related to the event.

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