Brandon Lee

Brandon Bruce Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) was an American actor and martial artist.

Brandon was born on February 1, 1965, at East Oakland Hospital in Oakland, California, the son of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee (1940–1973) and Linda Lee Cadwell (née Emery).

From a young age, Lee learned martial arts from his father, who was a well known practitioner and a martial arts movie star.

Lee said the family lived between Hong Kong and the United States, due to his father's career.

While visiting his father's sets, Lee became interested in acting.

Lee also appeared in two spin-offs of the 1970s series Kung Fu, the television film Kung Fu: The Movie (1986) and the pilot Kung Fu: The Next Generation (1987).

During this period, he was approached by casting director Lynn Stalmaster and successfully auditioned for his first credited acting role in Kung Fu: The Movie. It was a feature-length television movie that was a follow-up to the 1970s television series Kung Fu, with David Carradine returning as the lead.

On set Lee reconnected with his former instructor Jeff Imada who worked in the stunt department.

Imada said Lee had to be talked into accepting the role, since the martial arts nature of the film did not appeal to Lee, who avoided any connection with his father's genre of film. In the film, the character of Kwai Chang Caine (Carradine) has a conflict with his illegitimate son (Lee).

Lee's father died suddenly in 1973, leaving a legacy that made him an icon of martial arts and cinema.

Grace Ho (Lee's grandmother) said that by the age of 5, he could kick through an inch board.

Afterwards, Lee's family moved back to California.

Lee began studying with Dan Inosanto, one of his father's students, when he was 9.

Later in his youth, Lee also trained with Richard Bustillo and Jeff Imada.

Imada said that when Lee was in his teens, he struggled with his identity, and having to train in dojos which included large photos of his father troubled him.

According to Imada, this led Lee to leave martial arts in favor of soccer.

Both would reconnect later in their film careers, with Imada working as stunt and fight coordinator in several of Lee's upcoming films.

Meanwhile, Lee was a rebellious high school student.

In 1983, four months prior to his graduation, Lee was asked to leave the Chadwick School for misbehavior.

That year Lee received his GED from Miraleste High School.

Lee pursued his studies in New York City, where he took acting lessons at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

Lee went on to Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, where he majored in theater.

During this time, Lee appeared in several stage productions.

He was part of the Eric Morris American New Theatre, with them he acted in John Lee Hancock's play ''Full Fed Beast.

''

Lee returned to Los Angeles in 1985 and worked as a script reader.

He started his career with leading roles in the Hong Kong action film Legacy of Rage (1986) and the straight-to-video Laser Mission (1989).

Kung Fu: The Movie first aired on ABC on February 1, 1986.

Lee said that he felt there was some justice in being cast for this role in his first feature, since the TV show's pilot had been conceived for his father.

Establishing himself as a rising action star in the early 1990s, he landed his breakthrough role as Eric Draven in the supernatural superhero film The Crow (1994).

However, Lee's career and life were cut short by his accidental death during the film's production.

Lee was the son of martial artist and film star Bruce Lee, who died when Brandon was eight years old.

Lee, who followed in his father's footsteps, trained in martial arts and studied acting at Emerson College and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

Transitioning to Hollywood productions, Lee first starred in the Warner Bros buddy cop film Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), co-starring Dolph Lundgren.

While it did not do well with audiences and critics upon its release, it later became a cult film.

This was followed by a leading role in Rapid Fire (1992) produced by 20th Century Fox.

Though the film was not well-received, critics praised Lee's onscreen presence.

After being cast to headline The Crow, Lee had filmed nearly all of his scenes when he was fatally wounded on set by a prop gun.

Lee posthumously received praise for his performance, while the film became a critical and commercial success.

His career has drawn parallels with his father’s, both men having died young prior to the release of their breakthrough films.