November 27 – Happy Birthday, Bruce Lee!

Posted on November 27, 2017

Is Bruce Lee one of the most influential martial artists who ever lived, or is he one of the most influential Asian American actors who ever lived?

Yes!



It's not an either-or; Bruce Lee was both. He gets credit as an actor, director, martial artist, martial arts teacher, and founder of a particular martial art (Lee Hoi-chuen). Not only did his martial arts movies spark interest in Chinese martial arts in the West, but also Lee helped to change the way Asian actors were presented in American movies!

Bruce Lee is considered an icon - and both during his life and after he died, he was considered a source of pride for Chinese people everywhere.

Did you know...?

  • Bruce Lee was born in the U.S. (in San Francisco's Chinatown) but raised in Hong Kong.
  • Lee came back to the U.S. in order to escape possible trouble with Chinese gangs and to attend college.
  • Lee's first roles in martial arts movies were in Hong Kong cinema, when he was just a teen.
  • Lee is best known for his five feature-length films - three from Hong Kong film companies, and two created by a collaboration between Golden Harvest, a Hong Kong company, and Warner Brothers, a Hollywood film company.
Lee got married and had
two kids during his short
life.
  • Tragically, Lee died when he was just 32 years old. He had a cerebral edema, but his death is categorized as "death by misadventure" because he had a reaction to a medicine he took for a headache.







Take a look at some of these pearls of wisdom from Bruce Lee:







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