Bruce Lee was more than merely a 20th-century pop culture icon and world-famous martial artist. Born in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee would go on to become a mega-star of an actor, a director, a philosopher, and a master of the martial arts, going as far as to invent his hybrid philosophy of martial arts known as Jeet Kune Do. The son of a Cantonese opera singer, Lee was sent back to the United States at the age of 18 after a childhood marked by extreme street fighting. While back in America, Lee was able to use that experience in martial arts to launch a successful career as both a fighter and later an instructor. It was his performance in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships that landed him his first role in Hollywood: Kato in The Green Hornet. After this role, Bruce Lee launched into a wildly popular career as a fight choreographer and actor in movies such as 1972’s Fists of Fury and most importantly, 1973’s Enter the Dragon. While Lee was poised to take his stardom even higher, he, unfortunately, passed away in late 1973 at the age of 32. Bruce Lee’s career may have been cut short, but he will forever remain synonymous with martial arts and the genre of entertainment that surrounds it.

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