Lee Jun-fan, known professionally as Bruce Lee, was a Hong Kong-American martial artist, actor, philosopher, filmmaker, and founder of the martial art Jeet Kune Do

Bruce Lee was foremost a philosopher and teacher, and martial artist second. He sought to educate as much as inspire – he is revered as probably the greatest, and certainly the most influential, Chinese martial artist of all time, and a pop culture icon of the 20th century. Lee is often credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films.

Lee was born in Chinatown, San Francisco, on November 27, 1940, to parents from Hong Kong and was raised in Kowloon, Hong Kong, with his family until his late teens. He was introduced to the film industry by his father and appeared in several films as a child actor. Lee moved to the United States at the age of 18 to receive his higher education, at the University of Washington, at Seattle and it was during this time that he began teaching martial arts. His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in the US, Hong Kong and the rest of the world.

Shortly before the release of his film Enter the Dragon, he died at the age of 32 on July 20, 1973.

“The martial arts are ultimately self-knowledge. A punch or a kick is not to knock the hell out of the guy in front, but to knock the hell out of your ego, your fear, or your hang-ups.”