Born name

Lee Jun-Fan

nickname

Bruce Lee, little dragon

Alter

Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940.

Died

Bruce Lee died on July 20, 1973 at the age of 32 in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong from cerebral edema.

Sun sign

Protect

Place of birth

Chinatown, San Francisco, California, USA

nationality

training

Bruce Lee went to Tak Sun School in Hong Kong. At the age of 12 he was enrolled at secondary school, La Salle College . However, his poor academic performance forced him to move to St. Francis Xavier’s College .

After moving to the United States, he enrolled at Edison Technical School (later known as Seattle Central Community College). In December 1960 he graduated from high school.

In March 1961 he was admitted to the University of Washington . He graduated from university with a major in drama. He also studied Western and Asian philosophy at the university.

At the age of 16 he began training in Wing Chun martial arts with the legendary martial artist Yip Man.

occupation

Martial artist, philosopher, actor, director, screenwriter and producer

family

• Father – Lee Hoi-chuen (Opera and Film Actor)
• Mutter – Grace Ho
• Siblings – Phoebe Lee (Older Sister), Agnes Lee (Older Sister), Peter Lee (Older Brother), Robert Lee (Younger Brother) (Musicians)

Manager

none

To build

Athletic

Height

5 feet 7½ inches or 171 cm

weight

64 kg or 141 lbs

girlfriend/spouse

Bruce Lee dated –

• Linda Lee Cadwell (1964-1973) – Bruce Lee first met his wife Linda Lee Cadwell at the University of Washington where she was studying to be a teacher. She began attending Lee’s martial arts classes and shortly after they started dating. In August 1964, they were married in a small and intimate wedding ceremony. In 1965 she gave birth to a son, Brandon Lee. Their daughter Shannon Lee was born in 1969. After his death, she worked tirelessly to promote his martial arts style and popularize his legacy.

race/ethnicity

multiracial

He had Cantonese ancestry on his father’s side, while on his mother’s side he was of Cantonese and German ancestry.

hair colour

Schwarz

eye color

Schwarz

sexual orientation

Just

distinguishing features

• toned body
• Fast reflexes

measurements

His body measurements may have been –

• Chest – 104 cm or 41 inches
• Arms/biceps – 37 cm or 14.5 inches
• Waist – 81 cm or 32 inches

shoe size

unknown

brand promotion

In 2008, Nokia used Bruce Lee’s old footage to title their web-based campaign.

Car giant Mazda did the same for their 2013 TV commercial.

However, when Whiskey brand, Johnnie Walker released their new TV commercials in which they used Lee reincarnated (who had risen from old movies), causing quite a controversy.

Religion

Atheist

Known for

• As one of the most popular and influential martial artists.
• In a number of commercially successful films such as The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Rage (1971) and Enter the Dragon (1973).
• Considered one of the most enduring pop icons of the 20th ^century .
• He created the infamous one-inch punch, which allowed him to deliver a brutal punch while his fist only extended an inch.

first movie

In 1969, Bruce made his first film appearance in a starring role in neo-noir film, Marlowe .

First TV show

From 1966 to 1977, Lee appeared in 26 episodes as the superhero Kato on the ABC action series. The Green Hornet .

Personal trainer

Bruce Lee’s fanaticism about his fitness and conditioning is well known. He focused on all facets of fitness to develop into a well-rounded and complete athlete. Like every top athlete of his time, he attached great importance to running. He ran about four miles in 20 to 25 minutes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Just like modern interval training, he varied the pace and speed of the run to get a better cardio workout.

He was a big fan of jumping rope, which not only helped him improve his stamina but also kept him light on his feet. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays he would jump rope for about 30 minutes.

The skipping was followed by cycling, giving his leg muscles even more exercise. He drove at high speed for about a quarter of an hour.

In terms of incorporating weightlifting into his regimen, Bruce Lee was way ahead of the curve. He relied heavily on backward-grip curls to develop his forearms. However, he didn’t like to focus on a single body part and instead trained his whole body in alternate day training.

According to his diet, he ate 4 to 5 times a day. Also, he didn’t shy away from carbs for protein, believing that carbs were very important for a man as physically active as he was. He had also developed his own version of protein shakes to supplement his weight training.

Bruce Lee favorite things

His favorite things are not known.

Bruce Lee Facts

1. Lee was an accomplished cha-cha dancer and had even won the Hong Kong championship in 1958. While traveling to America on a boat, he taught his fellow passengers cha-cha to earn some extra money.
2. His martial arts center in Los Angeles was very popular. Apparently he was charging a whopping $250 an hour. He trained some leading actors like James Bond actor George Lazenby and also gave tips to Chuck Norris.
3. In his teenage years, he was notorious for getting involved in street fights. He was forced to leave Hong Kong for brutally beating a son of the feared triad mobster.
4. The Mortal Kombat game creators had created Liu Kang as a tribute to Lee. There was also a character inspired by the Super Street Fighter II: The New Contenders video game.
5. He was able to do push-ups while holding a 250-pound man on his back. He could also do push-ups with just one finger.
6. In 2014, the Houston Boxing Hall of Fame declared him the greatest film fighter of all time after a voting process involving former and current fighters associated with them.
7. It is often believed that his struggle with WongJack Man, who objected to Lee teaching non-Chinese students, had influenced the formation of Jeet Kune Do. He wanted to develop more flexible and practical forms of martial arts.
8. His untimely and shocking death gave birth to many wild rumors including that they were murdered by the Chinese mafia and cursed by the evil spirits. The former gained more following after the untimely death of his son Brandon.
9. In January 2009, it was announced that his Hong Kong children’s home would be preserved and opened as a tourist attraction. The conservation and restoration project was funded by philanthropist Yu Pang-lin.
10. He was not a fan of traditional martial arts stunts like breaking wooden planks, believing there was no connection between martial arts and such stunts.
11. During his training under Yip Man’s tutelage, he was regularly discriminated against by Yip’s other students due to his mixed parentage. Some of them even refused to train with him.
12. In October 1997 Empire UK Magazine ranked him 100th in their list of “Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time”.
13. He didn’t create his legendary nunchaku routine. He had adapted it from another famous karate master, Hidehiko “Hidy” Ochiai. He had met him during a martial arts competition at the YMCA in Los Angeles.
14. In November 2005, a bronze statue honoring Lee’s 65th birthday was unveiled in Hong Kong. His statue was also erected in Bosnia in September 2004.
15. In 1963 he published his first book, Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense.
16. Visit his official website @ brucelee.com run by his family.
17. Bruce Lee’s updates can be found through his family’s account on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.