Bruce Lee: The First Asian American Superstar

Even though he is considered Hong Kong's first international superstar Bruce Lee was not born in Hong Kong but in San Francisco. As it is well known, he returned to the United States in 1959 where he eventually had a fairly successful career in Hollywood. Of course, for an Asian actor supporting roles were all that he was ever offered and as a result, he returned to Hong Kong where he became the legend that he is today. Bruce Lee definitely broke down a lot of barriers, no pun intended, in Hollywood. He made Hollywood execs take notice that Asians could have a presence on screen that was on par with his non-Asian counterparts. Undoubtedly, he helped pave the way for so many of the Asian American actors that we see today. Hopefully, this recent trend towards using Asian American actors in Hollywood continues.