Bruce Lee was born "Lee Jun Fan" in 1940 in San Francisco, the son of Lee Hoi Chuen, a singer with the Cantonese Opera. While he was still a baby the family returned to Kowloon in Hong Kong and at the age of five years, a young Bruce began appearing in minor films. At the age of 12 Bruce commenced attending La Salle College.
Little Lee was later battle torn by a street gang, which inspired him to take up martial arts training under the tutelage of Ip Man who schooled Bruce in the art of Wing Chun for approximately five years. This was the only formalized martial arts training ever undertaken by Bruce Lee and he continued to learn from Ip Man until his death in 1972. In 1958 Bruce won the Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship, then left Hong Kong and returned to America the following year.
In addition to Wing Chun’s teachings of Confucianism etc, Bruce Lee majored in philosophy at the University of Washington.
Hollywood producer, William Dozier, noticed Bruce Lee at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Tournament where he was giving a demonstration. The next day Bruce was hired as the new "Chinese James Bond" for a new TV series. This fell through, but led to a role in the television show The Green Hornet. This developed into more work in Hollywood where he appeared in Marlowe, the TV series Longstreet, Blondie and The Wrecking Crew. He was very conscious of not playing stereotypical roles of "hopping pigtailed Chinaman" and made a major impact on how Chinese were portrayed on western television.
Lee returned to Hong Kong with his wife and two children to work with film maker Raymond Chow. He signed a two movie contracts for "The Big Boss" (known as "Fists of Fury" in the US) and "Fist of Fury" (known as "The Chinese Connection" in the US).
Each film broke all previously known box office records in Hong Kong and gained a wide western following. Lee then directed his first movie - The Way of the Dragon - which blew all previous box office records. Tragically it was to be the last film he completed. As the finishing touches were being made on "Enter the Dragon" in 1973 Lee died.
Bruce Lee left a legacy that continues to inspire people around the world to pursue martial arts skills over brute force.
The style of fighting Bruce Lee used in his movies was one he developed especially for film. While he didn't believe that violence should be the theme of movies, he recognized that it could not be ignored. "I don't call the fighting in my films 'violent', I call it 'action'. An action film borders between fantasy and reality.
Throughout his life Bruce Lee only claimed one Sifu and one style. This was Sifu Ip Man and Wing Chun.
Recognized and idolized mainly for his fighting skills, wing Chun made him the legend that he was and still continues to be. Through martial arts, he knew himself, and stayed humane, and true to himself despite the fame that came with his movies. He symbolises what a person can achieve when they apply themselves and be expressive with what he had previously accomplished.
Martial art is ultimately an athletic expression of the dynamic human body and increases fitness.
Meanwhile he continued his martial arts training and taught Wing Chun, but changed the wing chun name because his students harassed his Wing Chun sifu status. To stop disrespect, Bruce renamed the training"Jeet Kune Do" -- The way of intercepting the fist, one of Wing Chuns tactics. He then qualified Sifu Status and then simply trained people to aid to his return to Hong Kong Sparring and Ip Man lessons.
