Bruce Jun Fan Lee was born in San Francisco in the hour and the year of the Dragon, a powerful symbol in Chinese astrology and a strong omen of the life he was to live.
Raised in Hong Kong, Bruce began diligently studying Chinese gung Fu at the age of 13. He soon realized that the value of martial arts training was found in the confidence it instilled instead of the need to defend one’s honor through fighting.
During that time, he also developed interests in dancing and acting. The graceful movements he’d mastered in martial arts lent themselves to him being a terrific dancer, and Bruce’s early love of acting led to appearances in 20 films before leaving Hong Kong.
In 1959, at the age of 18 with $100 in his pocket, Bruce headed back to San Francisco. In the years that followed, he majored in philosophy at University of Washington, supported himself as a dance instructor and gung Fu teacher, met and married his wife Linda, and opened multiple martial arts schools on the west coast.
