Bruce Lee was a groundbreaking actor, director, and martial arts expert known for his roles in movies such as The Chinese Connection and Enter the Dragon. Born in the United States before becoming a child actor in Hong Kong, Lee later returned to America and taught martial arts. In 1966, he began starring in the TV series The Green Hornet and later became a major box-office draw. Shortly before the release of Enter the Dragon in 1973, Lee died at age 32 from a cerebral edema.
Bruce Lee, center, with his father and mother
Bruce Lee was born Lee Jun Fan on November 27, 1940, in San Francisco in both the hour and year of the Dragon. His father, a Hong Kong opera singer named Lee Hoi Chuen, moved with his mother, Grace Ho, and three children to the United States in 1939. Lee Jun Fan was born while his father was on tour in San Francisco.
Lee received the name “Bruce” from a nurse at his birthing hospital, but his family never used it during his preschool years. The future star appeared in his first movie at the age of 3 months. He served as the stand-in for an American baby in Golden Gate Girl (1941).
In the early 1940s, the Lees moved back to Hong Kong, which was then occupied by the Japanese. Apparently a natural in front of the camera, Bruce appeared in roughly 20 movies as a child actor beginning in 1946. He also studied dance, winning Hong Kong’s cha-cha competition, and also became known for his poetry.
As a teenager, Lee was taunted by British students for his Chinese background and later joined a street gang. In 1953, he began to hone his passions into a discipline, studying kung fu (referred to as “gung fu” in Cantonese) under the tutelage of Master Yip Man. By the end of the decade, Lee moved back to the United States to live with family friends outside Seattle, initially taking up work as a dance instructor.
