Ang Lee

QUICK FACTS

• born in Taiwan
• lives in New York
• graduated from the National Taiwan University of Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and New York University
• nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
• received Academy Award for Best Director for Brokeback Mountain (2005) along with seven other nominations
• has also won awards at the Berlin Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, British Academy Film Awards, among others
• latest films are Lust, Caution (2007), Taking Woodstock (2009), and Life of Pi (2012)
  

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Ang Lee was born in 1954 to parents who had come to Taiwan after the Communist victory in the Mainland. His father wanted him to become a professor, but Ang failed the the University Entrance Examination and later studied at an arts university in Taiwan. In 1979 he went to the US to study theatre at UIUC and did his MFA at NYU.

Daniel Wu

QUICK FACTS

• born in Berkeley, California
• parents immigrated from Shanghai and met in the US
• has been a student of kungfu since age 5
• studied architecture at University of Ohio
• upon friends'/sisters' suggestion began modeling, thus beginning his career in Asia
• first movie role was in an HK gay romance Bishonen alongside Stephen Fung and Shu Qi in 1998
• has since starred in more than 40 movies
• is signed onto Jackie Chan's company
• has been nominated for the Golden Horse and Hong Kong Film Awards
• won best new director at Hong Kong Film Awards for his mockumentary The Heavenly Kings
• has homes in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Beijing
• married to VJ and model Lisa Selesner

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"Shanghai is my hometown."

"When I'm in the United States, they do not think of me as an American. In Hong Kong, Hong Kong people do not feel that I am Chinese. So I would always tell myself, I am a citizen of the world"

-- Daniel Wu, Shanghai Times interview



Young Daniel Wu trained in kungfu as his Shanghainese parents reminded him to never forget that he was Chinese. After graduating from college, he went backpacking in Asia to feel connected to his roots. Then he became a model in Hong Kong:


Note: This is actually a 2009 Men's Vogue cover and not from his early modeling days.

And now, he lives in China making his career as an actor, a director, and--more recently--as a producer.

Bruce Lee

QUICK FACTS

• born in San Francisco
• went to Seattle Central Community College and University of Washington
• founded his own martial arts schools
• established his own form of martial arts and philosophy called Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do
• trained students such as Joe Lewis and Chuck Norris
• did 32 movies, including Fists of Fury and Way of the Dragon (1972)
• could throw grains of rice into the air and catch them using chopsticks
• is totally world-famous and a pop culture icon
• in Time Magazine's "100 Most Important People of the Century"

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baby Bruce with his parents

Bruce Lee was born in 1940 in San Francisco. His parents moved back to Hong Kong when he was a baby and were stuck there during the Japanese occupation. They sent Bruce back to the United States when he was 18 to escape the dangerous environment of HK in the 40s and 50s (he was getting into a lot of street fights) and to go for his higher education.

"All types of knowledge ultimately mean self-knowledge."
-- Bruce Lee, Pierre Berton interview (1971)