Bruce Lee Print

Chinese American Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco and grew up in Hong Kong. Lee founded a martial art called Jet Kun Do. It emphasized being able to adapt to any situation in combat or daily life.

Lee is widely considered to be the most influential martial artist in history. However, he wasn’t an instant success. He had a difficult time finding roles in movies due to his skin color and the shape of his eyes.  So, Lee moved to Hong Kong to pursue a film career. In Hong Kong he made three films, which broke box office records and showed martial arts in an entirely new way.

Hollywood took notice and soon Bruce was making a Hollywood/Hong Kong coproduction with the film, “Enter the Dragon.” Sadly, Lee died in 1973 before this film was released. It was Hollywood’s highest grossing film in 1973. Despite being discriminated against, Lee was one of the first Asian American martial arts instructor to open his school and teach people of all ethnicities