Biography

Bruce Jun Fan Lee (Lee Siu Loong) was born in 1940 in San Francisco, California, while his parents were touring with the Chinese Opera. Ultimately raised in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee was a child actor who appeared in over 20 films. At the age of 13, Bruce began studying Kung Fu under the Wing Chun master Yip Man. Bruce left Hong Kong at the age of 18 and moved to the United States, settling in Seattle, Washington, where he worked at a family friend’s restaurant. He soon enrolled at the University of Washington, where he studied philosophy. Bruce began teaching Kung Fu in Seattle and soon opened his first school, the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, followed by two more schools in Oakland and Los Angeles. Around the same time, Bruce married his wife Linda, and they had two children, Brandon and Shannon. In the mid-1960s, Bruce was discovered during a demonstration at the Long Beach Internationals and soon appeared as Kato in the television series The Green Hornet. During this period, Bruce was also developing his own martial art, which he eventually named Jeet Kune Do (translated as “the way of the intercepting fist”).

Bruce’s martial art was deeply rooted in philosophical principles and did not adhere to long-standing martial traditions. Instead, it emphasized simplicity, directness, and personal freedom.

After The Green Hornet was canceled, Bruce faced resistance while working in Hollywood and moved to Hong Kong to pursue a film career. There, he made three films that broke all box office records and presented martial arts in a completely new way. Hollywood took notice, and soon Bruce was working on the first Hollywood/Hong Kong co-production, a film called Enter the Dragon.

Tragically, Bruce Lee died in 1973 before the film was released. The movie catapulted him to international fame. Today, Bruce Lee’s legacy of self-expression, equality, and groundbreaking innovation continues to inspire people around the world.. ( read more..)

Bruce's family

„Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”