Bruce Lee

'With nothing but his hands, feet and a lot of attitude, he turned the little guy into a tough guy'. This was the statement used by Time magazine to describe Bruce Lee. Lee was an exceptional martial artist who synthesized various national martial techniques and sparked a new emerging trend in unarmed combat martial art movies. He shifted his talent form being a martial art director to a martial arts actor. Born on November 27, 1940 Bruce Lee was an American Chinese martial artist and martial arts actor known as one of the most influential martial artists of the 20th century. His films and specially his performance in Enter the Dragon raised the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a completely new level. His pioneering efforts gave way to the future martial artists and actors such as Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris. His movies aggravated the first major movement in interest of Chinese martial arts in the Western world. The tone and direction of his films influenced and changed martial arts and martial art films in China, Hong Kong and the rest of the world. Bruce lee became an icon, particularly to Chinese people as he portrayed Chinese nationalism and national pride in his movies. Lee was the redeemer, not only for the Chinese crowd but for all dorks, pimpled teenagers and geeks that flooded the theaters to see his action movies. Many consider Lee as a model blueprint for getting an efficient and strong body as well as developing hand to hand combat and martial arts skills. Lee created his own fighting process known as Jeet Kune Do. His cinematic success spawned a global martial arts industry and schools that flourished worldwide.