Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong American martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy/school that was formed from Lee’s experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense as well as Zen Buddhist and Taoist ideas. 

With a film career in Hong Kong and the United States, Lee is regarded as the first global Chinese film star and one of the most influential martial artists in the history of cinema. Known for his roles in five feature martial arts films, Lee is credited with helping to popularize the genre in the 1970s, initiating the “kung fu” craze, and breaking down racist stereotypes of Asian men. 

Born Lee Jun-fan in San Francisco and raised in British Hong Kong, Lee was introduced to the Hong Kong film industry as a child actor by his father. He studied drama at the University of Washington in Seattle (1961–1964) and set up martial arts schools. He drew the attention of a television producer after giving a kung fu demonstration at a Los Angeles–area karate tournament, and was cast as the sidekick Kato in the television series The Green Hornet (1966–1967). He returned to Hong Kong in the early 1970s, and starred in two films that broke box-office records throughout Asia and found success in the United States: Tang shan da xiong (1971; Fists of Fury in the United States) and Jing wu men (1972; The Chinese Connection). 

Lee leveraged his sudden box-office fame to form his own production company, and coproduced, directed, wrote, and starred in his next film, Meng long guo jiang (1972; Return of the Dragon). Lee’s film Enter the Dragon (1973) was the first joint venture between Hong Kong- and U.S.-based production companies, and it became a worldwide success, launching Lee into international movie stardom. After Lee’s death, his films gained a large cult following, with Enter the Dragon being cited as one of the most influential action films of all time.