The Spy Next Door and other unlikely agents

The Spy Next Door - Jackie Chan stars in the family action film as an undercover CIA agent Bob Ho

The sight of Jackie Chan as an undercover CIA agent in The Spy Next Door has got us thinking about cinema's unlikely spies. The martial arts legend's character, Bob Ho, isn't your typical screen superspy - he's an agent who wants to give up his career in espionage and settle down with girlfriend Amber Valletta, but he winds up trying to juggle top-secret skullduggery with childcare after he volunteers to babysit her three kids.

Chan's Bob isn't the most far-fetched cinematic spy by a long shot. Our Top Ten Unlikely Spies range from Frankie Muniz's pint-sized teenage agent Cody Banks to Robert Redford's bookish CIA researcher in Three Days of the Condor and Gene Hackman's grizzled bugging expert in Enemy of the State. We've found room for the Charlie's Angels trio and Mike Myers's International Man of Mystery, and of course Raquel Welch's bikini clad skydiver in Fathom.

Is there anyone we've left out?

The Spy Next Door is on general release.

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.