Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, filmmaker and cultural icon whose influence on action cinema continues decades after his death. He was born Lee Jun-fan on 27 November 1940 in San Francisco, California, and was raised largely in Hong Kong, where he appeared in films from an early age.

After returning to the United States as a young man, Lee developed his martial arts career while pursuing acting. His breakthrough with Western audiences came through television, most notably playing Kato in The Green Hornet. However, Hollywood initially offered Lee few substantial leading roles, prompting him to return to Hong Kong, where he became an international movie star.

Lee's starring roles in The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Fury (1972) and The Way of the Dragon (1972) transformed the martial arts movie and established him as one of the most exciting screen performers of his generation. The Way of the Dragon, which Lee also wrote and directed, featured his famous fight with Chuck Norris inside Rome's Colosseum.

His biggest international breakthrough came with Enter the Dragon (1973), produced in association with Warner Bros. The film combined martial arts, action and spy-movie elements and became one of the most influential martial arts films ever made.

Away from acting, Lee developed his martial arts philosophy Jeet Kune Do, emphasising adaptability, efficiency and freedom from rigid styles. His ideas about martial arts, physical conditioning and personal development helped make him an influential figure far beyond cinema.

Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong on 20 July 1973, aged just 32, shortly before the release of Enter the Dragon. Despite his extraordinarily short life and relatively small collection of starring films, his impact was enormous. Lee helped introduce martial arts cinema to a worldwide audience, challenged stereotypes about Asian actors, and influenced generations of performers, filmmakers, athletes, and martial artists.

Today, Bruce Lee remains one of the most recognisable figures in action-movie history and a defining icon of martial arts cinema.