"Yeah, when I was growing up there were a few scuffles on the playground and some people who singled me out just because of my dad," said BRANDON LEE during a recent telephone conversation.

"There was definitely a kind of reputation that came with being who I was. But that's to be expected, and it wasn't any big deal."

Lee's dad, the estimable BRUCE Lee - who might rightly be deemed godfather to the generation of martial arts actors that includes Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, among others - casts a long shadow for anyone following in his path. In films such as "Fists of Fury" and "Enter the Dragon," the elder Lee practically defined the conventions of the martial-arts action film as we know it today.

But the father's shadow is one that BRANDON LEE finds reassuring and inspiring as he launches his own American career as a leading actor with the release this weekend of "Rapid Fire."

In "Rapid Fire," a lively martial arts adventure, BRANDON LEE plays an Asian-American college student who witnesses a mob assassination and ends up fighting for his life against Mafia hitmen and crooked cops. The young actor has ample opportunity to show off the fighting skills he picked up from his father - and some of the acting chops he's learned for himself along the way.

"I have a lot of good memories of my dad," the younger Lee said, "beginning when I was just a kid and I used to work out with him and his circle of students. He practiced jeet-kun-do, a martial art that he invented himself using moves and principles from many of the martial arts.

"Dad was a very, very dedicated trainer, and he taught me the right way to do things from the beginning," he said. "But I remember at first it was like play. Only later did martial arts become a discipline that I studied and worked very hard at."

By the same token, the 27-year-old knew from an early age that he also wanted to follow in his father's footsteps in another way.

"Every since I was young, I wanted to be an actor," the soft-spoken Lee said. "I've watched my father's films literally hundreds of times, and I always get inspired by them."

Brandon was 8 1/2 when his father died suddenly in 1973. His Swedish-American mother, he said, "had the good judgment to move to a (Los Angeles) suburb that was away from the Hollywood spotlight, so that we could grow up in a normal environment."

BRANDON LEE spent his early childhood in Hong Kong where his father made most of his films (he speaks Cantonese almost as fluently as he speaks English). He now lives in Los Angeles. His mother, LINDA Lee, has retired from teaching and remarried. His 24-year-old sister, Shannon Lee, is an opera singer.

He said his family has been very supportive of his choice of acting as a career.

After a spotty record in high school - "where I acted in school plays, you know, the regular stuff" - Brandon attended Emerson College in Massachusetts where he studied drama. After college, he studied acting and martial arts in New York, before returning to Los Angeles to pursue a film career.

He's continued to attend acting classes as he's made his first breaks into the movie business. His first professional acting role came in the CBS film "Kung-Fu: The Movie." Later, he was cast in "Showdown in Little Tokyo" with Dolph Lundgren, and "Legacy of Rage," a feature film in Hong Kong.

At this point, BRANDON LEE doesn't shy away from comparisons with his father.

"I think the legacy my father left is really a gift," he said. "It would be terribly ungrateful of me to whine around and say what a burden it is. It isn't. It's opened doors for me. But I have to be prepared to make it on my own talents."

As for how he stacks up against his father, Brandon said with a modest laugh, "Well, he was the master." After a thoughtful pause, he added, "My dad was a martial artist first and an actor second. I've devoted the majority of my time to being an actor."

In that vein, the young actor said, "I don't want to stay in martial arts action films my whole career. I want to do more of them; I enjoy the genre. But I'd also like to do a romantic comedy, a mystery, lots of other things. I want to be a versatile actor."

The conversation then turned quickly to a subject BRANDON LEE feels passionate about. Opportunities for Asian-American filmmakers.

"You know, what's happened recently with black filmmakers is a great thing," he said. "But we haven't seen the same thing happening for Asian-Americans.

"Several years ago, my father helped develop the TV series 'Kung Fu,' but the production company was afraid to cast an Asian in the starring role of a prime-time series. And then you have the whole Charlie Chan thing with western actors. That's been the attitude in Hollywood forever, and it really hasn't changed.

"Right now, in the film industry there are no Asian sex symbols," he said. "There's not even a single bankable Asian actor. There are many fine Asian character actors, but not one real star."

BRANDON LEE paused for dramatic effect, then he shot out a punchline like a well-timed spin kick. "I'd like to change that."

by Dennis King
Entertainment, August 23, 1992

Articles and Interviews

Main

E-mail