Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was a Chinese-American Hong Kong actor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, founder of Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement, and martial arts instructor. He was born in San Francisco on November 27, 1940 but was raised in Hong Kong for most of his teenage years. His mother was half Asian and half Caucasian, while his father was a full Asian. It wasn’t until 1958, when he moved back to the United States at the age of 19. Bruce Lee was known as one of the most influential artist of the 20^th century and was put on the top 100 most influential people of the 20^th century.

Initially, Bruce Lee trained in a form of martial arts called Wing Chun, but later started the movement of Jeet Kune Do, which incorporated martial arts from many different sources. He began teaching martial arts one year after he returned to the United States and believed in the philosophy of having fewer numbers of students but teaching each of them with great quality. Throughout his fighting and teaching career, he settled in many different areas all across the United States.

Lee had a lot of confidence in his fighting abilities and was not afraid of anyone who challenged him to a fight. He had an extreme fighting history where he defeated all of his opponents and left most in critical condition. He was named as his high school’s Boxing Champion and as Crown Colony Cha Cha Champion of Hong Kong. One of his most memorable fights lasted exactly 11 seconds where he hit his opponent 15 times and kicked him once. This event showed how fast and strong Bruce Lee actually was.

By the age of 18, Bruce Lee appeared in at least 20 different films. In 1967, he slowly started making guest appearances in films and television shows such as Ironside (1967), Here Come the Brides (1969) and Blondie (1969). He also played Kato on the show Batman in 3 crossover episodes. In 1969, he not only appeared in a film called Marlow, he began choreographing fight scenes for different films. From 1969 onward, Bruce Lee also participated in the making of other renowned movies.

Bruce Lee exemplified that hard-work and self-determination can bring a person very far in life and to reach his own goals. He was a model to Asian Americans, and brought pride and hope to many Chinese communities. Not only was he famous to the Asian society, Americans were impressed by his martial arts skills and sought to learn from him. 




Submitted by: Tanya Luc