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Bruce was living with a friend of his fathers, Ruby Chow, who owned a restaurant. Bruce worked in the restaurant and lived in the attic. When he finished High School, he was still constantly training and developing his martial arts. For Bruce it wasn't good enough to be a good martial artist, he had to be the BEST. Bruce grew tired of the restaurant and headed for Seattle to learn Philosophy. In 1959, he met a Japanese guy called Taki Kimura, he was twice Bruce's age and had suffered many years of racial abuse. Bruce persuaded him to take pride in his Asian identity and taught him martial arts. Another guy was Roy Hollingsworth, Eventually they suggested that he opened a school to make money. In Hong Kong kung fu was a secret Chinese deadly weapon and was never taught to outsiders, but Bruce welcomed ANYONE. In 1960, he opened a school called "Bruce Lee's Tao of Chinese Gung Fu. In 1961 when was showing some fellow university students a demonstration, he met a girl called Linda Emery. They got talking and had a date at the space needle, they soon got married, and Brandon was born followed by Shannon.
By now Bruce had become a national hero and started up his own company called "Concord Productions " and decided that he would write, direct, and star in his next film. He went to Europe location hunting, finally deciding on Rome. He brought in 3 top martial artists, Bob Wall, Whong In Sik and Chuck Norris, who he would fight at the end of the film. The result is another sell out, where police arrive to sort out the traffic jams and big crowds. All 3 of these films had Bruce arriving in a strange town, not knowing his potential enemies. In "The Big Boss", he was in Thailand working at an ice factory with his cousins, In "Fist of Fury", he had come to Shanghai to attend his teachers funeral, finding his school abused and insulted by the local Japanese school, In "Way of the Dragon" he's come to Rome to help out at a friends restaurant, which is being hassled by a protection racket. Also the enemies were never Chinese, always foreigners like the Thai's, Japanese and the Europeans and Americans. Even when there was the odd bad guy Chinese, it's clearly pointed out that they're just misguided pawns of a foreign boss. Bruce would often be challenged by the extras when making a film, but he was never actually defeated. Bruce didn't drink, so the parts he played didn't drink either, he always showed himself like he was in real life, "The Way of the Dragon" is the best example of Bruce in real life. In the only bedroom scene he ever filmed in "The Big Boss", a prostitute gets him drunk and takes him back to her place, only then he falls asleep. He would also show off his ability to play all kinds of different characters, In "Fist of Fury" he dresses up as an old newspaper guy as well as a telephone repair man. Bruce, James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant had been trying to put together a project to be called "Silent Flute". 20th century fox agreed to do it, but on a tiny budget and providing that it could be shot in India. They spent week's location hunting there and in Nepal, India they decided was a waste of time. In Nepal Bruce saw a Pagoda (Tall Tower). This gave him the idea for "Game of Death", Bruce filmed 1/3 of this film before being interrupted to film "Enter the Dragon". "Game of Death" was completed in 1978 after Bruce's death, the story line is changed and Bruce only appears for 10 minutes at the end. This is footage from the Pagoda version, from which he had intended. The 1st 95% of the film is NOT the missing scenes, I suggest that you check out the "Game of Death" part of this website for more info on this. "Enter the Dragon" was the 1st time a U.S and Hong Kong film company had come together to make a film. This was the film that brought Bruce world wide fame and made him the world's first Asian superstar. The film had about 8 different languages going on while filming, which was causing problems for the producers and directors. I won't go into detail as I've done that in the "Enter the Dragon" page. On the first day of filming, Bruce was very nervous, and the first scene that they shot was the scene where he has to pick a girl. If you watch closely his bottom jaw is slightly trembling. He was so anxious, it had to be a good film, this was his chance to prove to America what he could do, as well as it being his first English speaking film. The big fight scene at the end took 7 days to film, it was during this that an extra challenged Bruce in real life. He wanted to experience Bruce's Jeet Kune Do, Bruce drew a circle on the floor and told him that he had 3 punches to knock him out of it. He couldn't, so Bruce told him, "OK my turn", he pointed to his shoulder blade and said "I'm going to hit you right here, are you ready?", the guy said "What do you mean, am I ready?", before he could say anything, his teeth started falling out of his mouth, Bruce was just SO fast. Another extra challenged him, they sparred for a bit, then the guy got kicked in the head...and that was enough. The mirror scene took hours to set up, getting the mirrors in the perfect place, so they don't reflect any cameras. People would argue over whose job it was to do stuff, this is where Bruce came in...The Chinese would die for him. Eventually the film was completed. During the time of filming "Game of Death", Bruce had been working with some new character ideas, they would have wielded weapons, like swords and long knives. On the documentary "The Legend" you can see photos of at least 4 of these characters. One of them is a blind swordsman, his version of a character called Zatawichi, (A popular Japanese film at the time). Unfortunately we'll never see Bruce in these roles, but it is interesting to think about the kind of sword films Bruce could have produced. Like the classic "Duel to the Death". On the 10th May 1973, the trouble for Bruce Lee had begun. While dubbing the sound effects for "Enter the Dragon", he passed out for a whole half an hour. He went to the hospital, and was prescribed the drug Manatol, it was used to reduce an apparent Brain Swelling. This was due to exhaustion, also he had recently lost weight. On July 20th 1973, Bruce had arranged to meet Raymond Chow along with actress Betty Ting Pei who would star in "Game of Death". He stopped off at Betty's house and told her that he had a headache, she gave him an Equagesic (A painkiller, that she regularly used herself), Bruce lied down in her bed and went to sleep. During his sleep, an allergy to the painkiller caused the brain swelling (cerebral adema). Later Betty tried to wake him but couldn't, panicking she called Raymond Chow, who came over and called the doctor. Bruce was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, he was barely alive and the ambulance crew were fighting to resuscitate him, but Bruce was pronounced dead on arrival. As the news spread across the world, people talked about nothing else, refusing to believe it. Bruce had two funerals, one in Hong Kong and one in the U.S. Over 27,000 people attended his funeral, few could hide their grief, and people were just breaking down and crying when they saw him in the open coffin. A banner is placed amongst the many tributes reading "A star sinks in a Sea of Art". When the press found out that Bruce had died at Betty's house, they were quick to speculate that Bruce had died while they were having sex, and to this day vicious rumours still spread across the world. At the airport, Linda breaks her silence and tells Hong Kong to drop it and that she blames nobody, and that Bruce had died of natural causes. His funeral in Seattle was attended by all his friends, family and former students. James Coburn and Steve McQueen acted as pallbearers. Should you wish to watch the funeral, you can find it on the documentary (Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend). Finally on the July 31st 1973, Bruce was laid to rest in Seattle at the Lake View Cemetery. His and Brandon's graves are regularly visited by people from all over the world. There are ALWAYS fresh flowers on their graves. Some day, I too will place mine there and pay my respect to my most favourite person in the whole world. Soon after the funeral, as the wild rumours continued, the autopsy results were that Bruce had died of a cerebral adema in reaction to the painkiller that he had taken...the result was "death by misadventure". For years Betty Ting Pei had kept quiet, ignoring the insults thrown at her. until in 1983 when she first broke her silence on a TV show and told the world that she wouldn't have done nothing to hurt Bruce as he was a good friend. But the rumours are STILL going, one's I've heard are that a Chinese mafia gang arranged his death, which supposedly had control over all of the Chinese actors. That he'd been killed by shaolin monks for teaching the secrets to the outsiders. The other rumour is the curse, Bruce supposedly was haunted by personal demons. He had premonitions that he would die at half his father's age of 64, which he did, at 32, also a protector of evil blew off his roof to warn away evil spirits, the previous occupants of his house had it blown off also and disaster had befallen them. Karreem Abdul Jabbar's basketball number was 33, Bruce would have been 33 that year in November...the rumours just go on. Personally I believe in the cerebral adema, the swelling was brought on by great stress and over work, Bruce practically wore himself out to a disappointingly early grave. In 1978, the producers of "Enter the Dragon" decided to finish "Game of Death" as a tribute to him. In my opinion they'd have been better to show us the entire 30 minutes of the REAL version. The first 95% is not the MISSING scenes but a poorly crafted attempt at a storyline which in no way resembles Bruce's original storyline. I suggest that after leaving here, that you check it all out at the "Game of Death" section of this website, as it is VERY interesting. To this day many Bruce Lee Imitators have tried to be just like him, but have all just faded, but maybe a star like Jackie Chan can rise to the limits, but even Jackie Chan doesn't claim to be the new Bruce Lee, there will NEVER be a new Bruce Lee. (http://bruceleedivinewind.cjb.net/)
After Lees tragic, unexpected death in 1973, Chan was singled out as a likely successor of his mantle as the king of Hong Kong cinema. To that end, he starred in a string of kung fu movies with Lo Wei, a producer and director who had worked with Lee. Most were unsuccessful, and the collaboration ended in the late 1970s. By that time, Chan had decided that he wanted to break out of the Lee mold and create his own image. Blending his martial arts abilities with an impressive nervehe insisted on performing all of his own stuntsand a sense of screwball physical comedy reminiscent of one of his idols, Buster Keaton, Chan found his own formula for cinematic gold. A year after the release of his first bona fide hit, Snake in the Eagles Shadow (1978), Chan took the Hong Kong film world by storm with his first so-called kung fu comedy,Ethe now-classic Drunken Master (1978). Subsequent hits such as The Fearless Hyena (1979), Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1980), and The Young Master (1980) confirmed Chans star status; the latter film marked his first with Golden Harvest, Lees old production company and the leading film studio in Hong Kong. Before long, Chan had become the highest-paid actor in Hong Kong and a huge international star throughout Asia. He exerted total control over most of his films, often taking charge of duties ranging from producing to directing to performing the theme songs. In the early 1980s, Chan tried his luck in Hollywood, with little success. He starred in the Golden Harvest-produced The Big Brawl (1980), which flopped; he also had a small supporting role opposite Burt Reynolds in the disappointing ensemble comedy Cannonball Run (1982) and its equally mediocre 1984 sequel.
In the early 1990s, Chan broadened his range even more, turning in a rare dramatic performance in the melodramatic Crime Story (1993). He also made several sequels to his hits Police Story and Drunken Master. As one of the biggest international box office stars, his popularity in America was limited to the savviest filmgoers. Chans profile began a meteoric rise in the mid-1990s, however, when a series of events combined to bring him to the attention of a wider American audience. In 1995, Chan created his own comic book character, the central figure in Jackie Chans Spartan X, a series that hit newsstands in both Asia and the U.S. That same year, newly anointed directing sensation Quentin Tarantino, fresh off the success of Pulp Fiction (1994), presented Chan with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the MTV Movie Awards (the admiring Tarantino reportedly threatened to boycott the ceremony if Chan did not receive the award). In 1996, New Line Cinema and Golden Harvest jointly released Rumble in the Bronx, Chans fifth English-language (dubbed) release but his first hit in America. The film grossed $10 million in its first weekend of release, shooting to No. 1 at the box office; its success prompted the American debut of two previous Chan films, Crime Story and Drunken Master II. After two less successful efforts, Jackie Chans First Strike (1997) and Mr. Nice Guy (1998), Chan had another big box-office hit with Rush Hour (also 1998), an American-produced action-comedy. In Rush Hour, Chan employed his English-language skills as a Chinese police officer on an exchange program in the U.S. who is partnered with a streetwise Los Angeles cop, played by the rising comedian Chris Tucker. In 2000, Chan starred in Shanghai Noon, another crossover comedy-action film set in the Old West and co-starring Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu. The following summer, Chan reteamed with Tucker for the smash hit sequel Rush Hour 2, for which the action star earned a hefty $15 million plus a percentage of the record-breaking box-office haul. Chan has one son, J.C., with his estranged wife, the Taiwanese actress Lin Feng-Chiao. (http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=23013)
When Li was 19, he appeared in his first film, Shaolin Temple. Li was already regarded as a national hero for his athletic accomplishments, and the film (the first modern kung-fu movie made in China) shot him to superstardom in China. Fans flocked to various temples, hoping to imitate their hero. Li -- a quiet and shy man -- felt uncomfortable with his fame. He ventured into films with the idea of bringing interest of wu shu to the populace, not to become a star. Nevertheless, he continued to appear in a series of popular Shaolin films, such as Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986) and also directed a film, Born to Defence (also 1986). Wishing to find a wider audience for his work, Li moved to America and appeared in 1988's Dragon Fight. The film failed to find an audience, but Li seemed determined to stick it out. Eventually, he hooked up with noted producer/director Tsui Hark and the two -- using some of their own money -- created The Master in 1990. This time, the film (which had a miniscule budget and looked cheap even comapred to many US B-movies) didn't even reach a distributor; it was shelved until 1992. But Tsui and Li had formed a bond and Tsui convinced Li to come with him back to Hong Kong. It was with Tsui that Li found international stardom. 1991's Once Upon a Time in China, which had Li taking on the role of Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung, was a huge hit and is now regarded as one of the best martial arts movies ever. The following two sequels were also very popular, so it was quite a surprise when Li quit the series. Rumors abounded of everything from money disputes to Triad "involvement." At any rate, Li moved away from Wong Fei-Hung -- at least temporarily. After Swordsman II (1993), Li starred in another movie about a Chinese folk hero, Fong Sai Yuk (also 1993). The movie was again a huge hit, but perhaps more importantly, this was the first time he worked with Corey Yuen Kwai. Yuen would go on to work in some capacity on almost all of Li's next films, either as director or fight co-ordinator.
In 1994, Li, Yuen Woo-Ping and rising director Gordon Chan worked on a remake of Bruce Lee's classic Fist of Fury. Li was a bit hesitant to work on the film. He was hounded by billings of him being the "next Bruce Lee" his whole cinematic life, and Li knew (and himself felt) that Lee was somewhat of a "cinematic God" all around the world. Li, Chan and Yuen worked closely together to create a movie that would both satisfy fans of Bruce Lee, fans of Jet Li, and also (like the original film did) bring in new fans. They decided to forgo much of the wire-fu (a style which makes people seem as if they are flying, shooting fireballs or other exaggerated movements by using hidden wires and other camera tricks) Li used in most of his recent work (a result of being injured on the set on Once Upon a Time in China) and stick with a harder, more realistic style that was closer to Bruce Lee's own work. The result was Li's biggest success in years and what many people consider to be his best movie ever, Fist of Legend.
Like Jackie Chan before him, Li's initial US success led to a spate of re-releases of his older work. Unlike Chan, though, these films (for the most part) were released uncut, besides some title changes and re-dubbed soundtracks -- the US version of Once Upon a Time in China stands out as one of the best US video versions of a Hong Kong movie. In 2000, Li made his US starring debut with Romeo Must Die. While not a runaway success, RMD earned back three times its' budget and paved the way for future projects for Li, which may include an appearance in a sequel to The Matrix (which now seems unlikely since the producers only offered him US$3 million compared to his now-standard salary of $10 million) and a role as "Kato" in a remake of The Green Hornet. In 2001, Li struck at the US box office twice, with a film produced by La Femme Nikita director Luc Besson called Kiss of the Dragon, which premiered in the number four slot at the US box office (an impressive feat during the busy summer season) and garnered both critical and fan adulation, and The One which garnered Jet's biggest opening to date ($20 million) despite lukewarm reviews. (http://www.hkfilm.net/jetli.htm)
 
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According to the Chinese calendar, 1940 was the year of the dragon, A Cantonese film actor named Lee Hoi Cheun was performing in San Francisco accompanied by his pregnant wife Grace. By November Grace had gone into labour and was taken to Hospital, her husband carried on to New York to perform there. On the 27th of November 1940 at the Jackson Street hospital, Grace gave birth to a baby boy, he was named Lee Jun Fan, which meant "To Return Again", the child would return to it's place of birth someday. The doctor attending the arrival gave the child the English name Bruce...And the legend was born!!! At the age of 6, he started to appear in early Chinese films, his first was called "A beginning of a boy". As he made more films, they decided that he should star in a film along side his father. The film was called "My Son Ah Cheun", in which Bruce had a bigger role than his father. In each film he played a problem child, always stealing and fighting. He made at least 20 of these Cantonese films including "Boys on the Street" and "The Orphan". When Bruce was 14, he got beaten up in a street fight, so he decided to learn martial arts and develop his physique, most people think that Bruce was born muscular, he was actually totally the opposite, he was always rather frail as a child and never ate well even when he returned to the U.S in 1958. It was only through constant training and proper eating, that he built himself up into the superhuman physical specimen that he was to become. Bruce was never to lose a single fight ever again. At his primary school "La Salle", he had badly beaten up the nephew of the chief of police, and this was just the 1st of Bruce's many fights. Although his first teacher was his father, who had him wielding a sword at the age of six, his first real teacher was the Wing Chun master, Sifu Yip Man. Bruce became obsessed with the whole concept of it and soon became a master at it. One of the Wing Chun training methods was the wooden man, which builds speed and focus. Another one of his teachers was Siu Hon Sung, a kung fu expert. Bruce had been learning Cha Cha dancing and offered to trade his knowledge of it for kung fu. It would normally take 3 weeks to learn 30 kung fu moves, but Bruce has mastered them in only 3 nights, Siu Hon Sung never did learn Cha Cha. In 1958 he became the Hong Kong Cha Cha champion. He then made 2 more Cantonese films, "The Orphan" and "Thunderstorm". Thunderstorm is the only film where he doesn't have a single fight, although there are confrontations. As time passed, Bruce would fight in the streets trying to see just how good he was. Eventually, the police warned his mother Grace, that if it didn't stop, Bruce would be arrested. So in April 1958, his father gave him $100 and sent him to San Francisco, his place of birth. He boarded a boat and left. He made more money on the way there giving Cha Cha lessons to the fellow passengers.
Bruce had developed a trick for showing off his speed, you would hold a coin and close your hand, as you closed it, he would take it. Not only could he pull this off, he could also swap the coin for another. (This is the same trick Jean Claude Van Damme does in Bloodsport, only that's a speeded up film and this is REAL!!!). In 1963, he wrote a book called "Chinese Kung Fu", it was incredibly detailed with precise drawings, the documentary (The Legend) shows 2 students demonstrating moves from this book. In 1964, at a kung fu demonstration at Long Beach, Bruce was recognized by Ed Parker, a television producer who was looking for someone to play Charley Chan's number one son in a proposed series. At Long Beach, with Taki Kimura as his assistant, he showed off his two finger press-ups and his legendary one inch punch. After this, a screen test was arranged for him to appear in a TV series, but, unfortunately it was never produced, but it did lead to The Green Hornet. In 1965, Bruce left Taki Kimura in charge of his kung fu school, while he was making The Green Hornet TV series where he would play as Kato.
Although it never really took off, The Green Hornet lasted 30 half an hour episodes. Bruce as Kato became more popular than the main star, especially in Hong Kong. In the documentary (Bruce Lee: The Martial Arts Master), Van Williams who was the main star of the Green Hornet recalls how Bruce used to run around the set practising his kicks, he would jump up and tap you on the ear with his foot, but this stopped when one of the extras turned around and got his jaw dislocated. During filming Bruce liked to work in close to improve the fight scenes, but he also injured quite a few stuntmen by doing this, they found it pretty hard to find them in the end. Bruce had to slow his movements down because, on film, he was practically a blur and you couldn't see what he was doing properly. After the Green Hornet, Bruce opened up another kung fu school called "Lee Jun Fan, Gung fu institute", this is where he learned to use the nunchaku's from fellow student Danny Inosanto, he had now become so popular, that he could charge $275 an hour. Here he taught actors like James Coburn, Steve McQueen and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and where he created his own technique, Jeet Kune Do, which means "The Way of the Intercepting Fist", He thought it would be better to intercept and attack, rather than just plain attacking. It worked, making Bruce indestructible. In 1967, Bruce starred in "A Man Called Ironside" as a martial arts instructor, he then filmed 12 episodes of Longstreet, a short series where he teaches a guy his new Jeet Kune Do techniques. This was a great idea that would let Bruce show the world his new martial art. He became more and more interested with making a Hollywood movie, he wanted to make more money than Steve McQueen...PER FILM!!! Which he actually did for one film. On a documentary, the producer of Longstreet recalls how he met Bruce, He was hidden behind a door and grabbed him when he entered the room, the guy couldn't break the hold, this become Bruce's way of introduction. He would swing a punch at your face at 140mph, just missing by 1/10 of an inch, rather than just shaking hands, he just loved to show off.
In 1970, Bruce realised that his immediate film career was to be in Hong Kong, despite a visit to Hong Kong in 1968, Bruce had been away for 12 years. He appeared on a TV show, it was there that he broke 4 out of 5 one inch thick boards, and one dangling piece as well (Breaking a dangling one inch piece of wood is an amazing feat). A big Japanese guy was showing off his strength as well by holding a tug of war display, people were trying to pull him out of a circle...4 people against him. Bruce was asked to try and replied, "That's not what I do, but I can knock him out", the Japanese guy was laughing, and a minute later he was on the floor unconscious. This was seen by TV producer Raymond Chow who had just opened up Golden Harvest studios, he offered Bruce a two picture deal and they flew off to Thailand to film "The Big Boss". During filming, one of the Thai's thought that the fight co-ordinator was faster than Bruce, 5 minutes later...he didn't!!!. Another thing that surprised the cast was Bruce opening a bottle of drink with one thumb (The kind that normally needs a bottle opener). The movie became a smash hit breaking all known box office records, totalling over $3,000,000. At that time, this was a tremendous feat. He then flew to Shanghai and filmed "Fist of Fury", Raymond Chow told Bruce that he would play a bigger part in producing it, than in his last film. This, once again broke all box office records, including the ones from "The Big Boss". Bruce earned $30,000 for the two films.
Actor, director, producer. Born April 7, 1954, in Hong Kong, China. When his parents moved to Australia to find new jobs, the seven-year-old Chan was left behind to study at the Chinese Opera Research Institute, a Hong Kong boarding school. For the next 10 years, Chan studied martial arts, drama, acrobatics, and singing, and was subjected to stringent discipline, including corporal punishment for poor performance. He appeared in his first film, the Cantonese feature Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962), when he was only eight, and went on to appear in a number of musical films.
Upon his graduation in 1971, Chan found work as an acrobat and a movie stuntman, most notably in Fist of Fury (1972), starring Hong Kongs resident big-screen superstar, Bruce Lee. For that film, he reportedly completed the highest fall in the history of the Chinese film industry, earning the respectful notice of the formidable Lee, among others.
Back in Hong Kong, Chans star only rose throughout the 1980s, as he produced impressive action-comedies such as Project A (1983), Police Story (1985), and Armor of God (1986), and the hit period film Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989), a clever remake of Frank Capras 1961 film A Pocketful of Miracles. By that time, however, Chan was far more than a movie starhe was a one-man film industry. In 1986, he formed his own production company, Golden Way. He also founded a modeling/casting agency, Jackies Angels, in order to recruit talent for his films. During the filming of Police Story, so many stuntmen were injured that none would agree to work with Chan again; in response, he founded the Jackie Chan Stuntmen Association, whose members he trained personally and paid their medical bills. For his part, Chan claims to have broken every bone in his body at least once while performing stunts. In 1986, during the filming of Armor of God, he fractured his skull after falling over 40 feet while attempting to jump from the top of a building and land on a tree branch below.
One of the world's biggest action stars, Jet Li Lian Jie was born on April 26, 1963 in the outskirts of Beijing, China in a town named Heibei. At a young age, he developed an interest in wu shu (the dominant martial art in Mainland China, favored by the government because it promotes movement rather than force) and enrolled in an academy. The school's teacher, Wu Ben, took an immediate interest to Li, seeing his natural talent. Over the years, Wu and Li would develop a father/son relationship, which was made all that much stronger since Li's own father died when he was two years old. Wu would often single out Li and give him extra tasks to do; Li at first felt bad about this, but in later years, he realized that Wu saw something in him and was only trying to bring it out. Li's skills developed quickly, and he eventually won many competitions and even performed in front of US president Richard Nixon at the White House as part of the Chinese/US cultural exchange during the 1970's.
Li's next choice of a director to work with again puzzled many people. With Last Hero in China (1993), Li began a series of films that involved producer/director Wong Jing. Wong and Tsui Hark are quite the opposites in the HK film world; Tsui's films are known for being lavish, big-budget affairs with deep storylines, while Wong's (while equally popular with local audiences) are known for being cheap and full of sex, violence and crude humor. Many people (especially tabloid reporters) came up with many theories as to why Li worked with Wong. Some said it was due to Li's lingering resentment at Tsui; others surmised that Wong used Triad connections to "convince" Li to work with him. At any rate, Li's work during this period ranged from parody (Last Hero in China had Li once again playing Wong Fei-Hung, but for laughs, as in one scene where he dresses up in a rooster outfit) to romance (with 1994's The Bodyguard from Beijing, a HK remake of the Kevin Costner movie) to gun-fu action (such as 1995's High Risk, a movie "inspired" by Die Hard) and gained him a worldwide following of fans.
Despite the rumors about their relationship, Li went back to working with Tsui Hark with the Tsui-produced sci-fi/action extravaganza Black Mask in 1996. In 1997, Li once again stepped into the shoes of Wong Fei-Hung in the last movie in the OUATIC series, Once Upon a Time in China and America. After filming wrapped on Hitman (1998), Li was approached by American producers for the role of a villain in the latest installment of the popular Lethal Weapon series. Li, wanting to secure a steady future for his two children, took the offer -- as long as he was able to bring Corey Yuen over to direct his fight scenes. The film (despite lukewarm reviews) was a huge hit and successfully introduced Li to America. In fact, audiences responded so well to Li that his face and name were added to the film's poster after its' opening weekend.