191 Bruce Lee Facts: Everything Covered From His Childhood To His Death

Bruce Lee is one of the most world-famous and influential martial artists and pop culture icons to have lived in the world.

Born in the California part of San Francisco, the United States on November 27, 1940, in a Chinese Hospital. Bruce Lee was born Li Jun Fan, his given Chinese name to a traditional mandarin family.

He grew up to be an actor, director, philosopher, and martial artist, who paved a way for many aspiring young Asian actors making it big in Hollywood. His father was Lee-Hoi Chuen, a Han Chinese man and his mother’s name was Grace Ho, belonging to a Eurasian ancestry.

Bruce Lee grew up to be exceptional in martial arts and acting.

He got his big break in Hollywood in the year 1964 when a well-known celebrity hairstylist discovered him. And the rest is history. Bruce Lee created his own legacy which turned out to be a light beacon to many acting and martial art aspirants.

He was named Bruce because his mother believed that the name meant ‘strong one’ in Gaelic. This article is all about Bruce Lee, his legend. Everything from the great human’s birth to his death.

After reading about his life in San Francisco and Hong Kong, also check Bruce Willis facts and Bruce Springsteen facts.

Fun Facts About Bruce Lee

The birth of Bruce Lee took place on such an occasion that it was predicted that he will be the man of a strong and furious omen. The Chinese zodiac confirms this fact.

Bruce Lee was celebrated for his martial arts prowess throughout the world. Although his career spanned just 30 films, almost all of them were blockbusters. His work was admired by critics, directors, actors, and audiences globally. Some of his famous movies are Enter the Dragon (1973), Tang Shan Da Xiong (1971), and Jing Wu Men (1972).

As his father was a famous Cantonese opera singer, Bruce lee was introduced to the entertainment industry at a very early age. Bruce Lee frequently appeared in numerous movies as a child artist.

He spent most of his teenage years learning kung fu and practicing fighting with gangs. In addition to that, he was also an avid dancer and took up dance lessons, which consequently helped him improve his balance and fighting style.

Bruce Lee was a graceful dancer, at the age of just 14 Lee won the crown colony cha-cha championship! Bruce aspired to fight Muhammed Ali! He was in awe of Ali's fighting and performance! The legend that Bruce Lee left inspired many video game characters! Liu Kang Mortal Kombat was one of those video games that took inspiration!

Did you know? Bruce Lee loved reading! In fact, he was so in love with it that he had an extensive library housing over 2,000 books! Bruce Lee couldn’t swim!

Bruce Lee had a certain dislike for water and hated swimming! In addition to being an actor, martial artist, and philosopher, Bruce Lee was a poet too! He is the author of the book 'The Tao of Jeet Kune Do'! The book also contains many of his poetic excerpts!

Did you know? Jackie Chan was heavily influenced by Bruce Lee! Chan also got a chance to feature alongside Bruce Lee in the movie Enter The Dragon! Bruce Lee was actually a fan of Cannabis! During his autopsy procedure traces of Nepali Hashish were observed!

It is predicted that Bruce Lee might have been one of the first people to ever try out contact lenses! Yes, you heard it right, he had foggy eyesight! Bruce Lee's first objective was never to be an actor, he actually wanted to open a martial arts school across the United States!

Did you know? Bruce Lee was part of German descent! True indeed his grandpa was an orthodox and pure German Catholic! Bruce Lee was known to have practiced 5,000 punches per day! Lee’s fists were indeed furious! Bruce Lee was such an aesthetic that he had his sweat glands removed just because he wanted to!

In addition to being a multi-talented guy in the world of cinema and kung fu, Bruce Lee was an amazing sketch artist! Bruce Lee was not just a multi-talented guy but he was apt at multitasking as well! He easily managed to read a book, watch tv and at the same time do dumbbells!

Did you know Bruce trained quite a number of Hollywood stars! His famous students are Steve McQueen, James Coburn, James Garner, Roman Polanski, and Sharon Tate! He charged 25 dollars per hour for a martial arts lesson! Bruce Lee passed away just a month away from his blockbuster release Enter the Dragon in the year 1973!

Interesting Facts About Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee's first descent into the cinema world took place when he was just a baby. The film's name was Golden Gate Girl.

In the eventual years, he acted in various films of varied genres. In the year 1950, when Bruce Lee was just nine years old he co-starred alongside his father in the movie The Kid. Bruce Lee appeared in about twenty films when he was an 18-year-old teenager.

His parents were quite frustrated when Lee was transferred from school to school for his poor academic performance and his involvement in numerous street fights. They mutually decided that he was to be trained in martial arts.

After much effort, Lee was accepted for Wing Chun training. Bruce Lee trained hard under the guidance of Ip man (also called Yip man was one of the most influential martial artists of all time).

Bruce Lee started training under Wing Chun when he was just thirteen years old! With no formal boxing training, he won twelve boxing tournaments hosted by various Hong Kong schools!

He achieved this feat when he was just 17! Bruce Lee was just twenty years old when he opened a martial arts school called Jun Fan Gung Fu institute! Bruce Lee was so in love with a girl named Amy Sanbo he asked her hand for marriage three times but she turned him down all three times!

Many actors still reminisce about the moments where Bruce Lee had a great sense of humor! Bruce Lee secretly got married to Linda who was then pregnant!

So he had a shotgun wedding with Linda Emery! The back pain Bruce Lee first encountered while shooting for the movie 'The Green Hornet" kept recurring for the rest of his life! Many mentions are keen in Bruce Lee's book Jeet Kune Do that he had anger issues!

Prior to his big acting break, Bruce Lee had financial problems but still, he continued to buy a new Porsche and went racing with Steve McQueen! The budget for the Big Boss movie was just under 1000,000 dollars but it was a box office hit and swooped back much more than what it was made for!

The success of Fist of Fury would change the life of Bruce Lee and the Hong Kong film industry forever!

Bruce Lee ordered a gold-colored Rolls Royce corniche, cause he believed Enter the Dragon would garner huge success but unfortunately he would die before the release of the film! Bruce Lee wrote, produced, directed, and acted in the movie 'Way Of The Dragon'!

He did almost everything for the film! Did you know? Bruce Lee in addition to being part German he was partly British!

Due to his bad eyesight, Bruce Lee apparently made him a terrible driver! To remind his roots, where he came from Bruce Lee wore his old taped-up coke bottle glasses!

Back in those days when cans weren’t soft aluminum Bruce lee used to puncture those cans with just his fingers! Bruce Lee had no formal karate training but he performed all the karate with impeccable tremendous precision!

Bruce Lee wrote a script for a movie called the silent flute which for some reason was never made in his lifetime! There are some reports saying Bruce Lee suffered from epilepsy when was a small kid!

Facts About Bruce Lee’s Career

Bruce Lee after learning kung fu, karate, and other martial arts prowess, never meant to pursue his career in acting.

Lee’s intention was to open as many martial arts schools all over the United States making it affordable to common people. But he was soon discovered by a celebrity hairstylist in West Hollywood in the year 1964 which made Bruce lee to get his first big break.

Bruce Lee was an ardent learner and multi-talented with exceptional skill in martial arts. After being discovered by Dozier he thanked him for starting his career in show business.

In addition to spreading the arts of martial arts in the western world, Bruce Lee also helped many western martial arts stars launch their careers like Jean-Claude van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Chuck Norris. One of the famous philosophies in martial arts, the free verse, reflects his famous quote 'be formless, shapeless, like water'!

The daily workout regimen included 200 leaning twists, 2,000 kicks, 200 frog kicks, 100 sit-up twists, 5,000 punches, and 100 leg raises!

Exactly after 40 years of Bruce Lee's death, he was posthumously awarded the Asian Awards! In the year 1970, Bruce lee injured his back and doctors were against him continuing kung fu but he continued anyway became better and stronger proving the doctors wrong! Bruce Lee was named Time Magazine’s most influential person of the 20th century!

Bruce Lee had the capacity to injure his opponent with just one punch blow. He was strong and was famous for one-inch punches.

The shots in Bruce Lee's moves were deliberately slowed because he was so fast! Did you know Bruce Lee was denied martial arts because he was considered to be not purebred and did not have a Chinese origin?

Lee was so into martial arts that Bruce Lee left college and started his very own martial arts school and he taught many stars to his style!

When Lee was just 13 years old he got in street fights and was beaten badly. He then determined to learn Wing Chun and since then he never lost a fight!

Frustrated with his constant involvement in street fights, Bruce Lee was sent to America! The name Bruce was given to him by his hospital nurse!

Bruce Lee's mother Grace Ho was a traditional Chinese woman, she actually named him a girl's name at first Lee jun-fan. She believed that demons haunt small boys and he will be safe being a girl!

Bruce Lee was a big Muhammed Ali fan and used to watch his fights continuously! According to some sources Bruce Lee inherited the ability to catch a grain of rice in mid-air with chopsticks!

Bruce Lee's first famous film was shot in the USA but it wasn’t released there until five years later it was released in the country of China!

Bruce Lee was known as Hong Kong's most famous child actor, he acted in over 20 movies by the time he was 18! When Chuck Norris was asked if he could beat Bruce Lee in a fight he said nobody can beat him! The last movie of Bruce Lee's Game of Death contains the footage of his actual funeral!

Facts About Bruce Lee's Childhood

Bruce Lee was introduced to the world of cinema at a very early age. Since his father Lee Hoi Chuen was a prominent Cantonese opera star, the perks of being a celebrity’s son opened him new doors to acting and performance.

He appeared in several films as a child actor, he became famous in both China and America, by the time he was 18 he had acted in over 20 movies making him the most notable child artist. In the later years, Bruce Lee acquainted himself with learning about various forms of martial arts and kung fu.

When he was living in China, Bruce Lee got into quite a lot of street fights and he also was not performing well in his school. His parents finally made the decision to move him back to the United States. Bruce Lee grew up with four siblings: Peter Lee, Robert Lee, Phoebe Lee, and Agnes lee.

The most active and flourishing years of Bruce Lee were active between the years 1941-1973! Bruce Lee was circumcised when he was 22 years old! Bruce Lee filmed a fight scene with Kareem Abdul Jabbar with no prior script to the movie they were about to shoot!

Did you know Bruce Lee was not accepted into the army because he was considered physically unacceptable! Bruce Lee during his time in America attended the University of Washington to receive higher education! Bruce Lee was known to follow a routine of strict diet, eating just four to five small meals throughout the day and he was a teetotaller!

Bruce Lee died due to a major cerebral edema issue. His death was ruled by his doctors as ‘death by misadventures’.

Although his time in the world was short-lived, the legacy he left behind was of immense value. Since his death, the legend of Bruce lee influenced many martial arts forms, combats, and kung fu styles. The essence of all Bruce Lee's philosophy can be found in the work he did.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Bruce Lee facts then why not take a look at Bryson Tiller facts, or Bruce Willis facts.