Born in San Francisco in 1940, Bruce Lee was the son of a Chinese opera star and a mother who was of Chinese and German ancestry. His family moved to Hong Kong when he was three months old.
When Lee was a teenager, his parents decided he needed to train in martial arts after becoming involved in several street fights. In 1959, his parents sent him to the United States.
In 1961, Lee enrolled at the University of Washington where he met Linda Emery, who he married in 1964. Lee and Emery (who was white) had two children. Of the kids' mixed heritage, Lee once said: "Brandon is being brought up in the midst of two cultures. There are good points in Chinese culture; there are good points in Occidental culture. He will be taught to take some principles from one, some from the other. Brandon will learn that Oriental culture and Occidental culture are not mutally exclusive, but mutually dependent. Neither would be remarkable if it were not for the existence of the other." (Brandon died young in a tragic movie set accident.)
Lee started teaching martial arts once he was in the United States. He taught a style he called Jeet Kune Do. He taught martial arts to non-Asians which was considered taboo at the time.
Lee was cast as Kato in the TV show Green Hornet in 1966. A natural in front of the camera, he would go on to guest star in many TV shows and films.
Lee died in 1973 from a brain edema. He was 32-years-old. In his short life, Lee became a leading martial artist and a cultural icon. As Lee once said: "Basically, I have always been a martial artist by choice, and an actor by profession. But, above all, I am hoping to actualize myself to be an artist of life along the way . . . Therefore, to be a martial artist also means to be an artist of life. Since life is an ever-evolving pricess, one should flow in this process and discover how to actualize and expand oneself."
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Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to show that there is a long history of achievements of those involved in the Mixed experience. Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog! Thanks for reading. And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.
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