There has been a Bruce Li and a Bruce Le, and ‘Bruceploitation’ films as many filmmakers and imitators looked to cash in on Lee’s popularity
There's only one Bruce Lee. Or is there?
Star of hits like Enter the Dragon and Fist of Fury, the Chinese-American actor lived a tragically short life, dying in 1973 at the age of 33. Lee only starred in four completed movies but his outsize influence meant a host of filmmakers and imitators soon sprang up looking to cash in on Lee's popularity, a trend that resulted in "Bruceploitation" films like The Clones of Bruce Lee and Re-Enter the Dragon (so while there may well be only one Bruce Lee there is also Bruce Li and Bruce Le).
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As a result, numerous actors have portrayed The Dragon over the years. Here are the best of them.
Mike Moh in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
This most recent portrayal of Bruce Lee is also one of the most controversial. Director Quentin Tarantino has Moh play Lee as a swaggering, cocky star who is, for the most part, physically beaten by Brad Pitt's stuntman, Cliff Booth.
An American actor, Moh had plenty of action experience before taking the role. He starred as Ryu in the web series Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist and he even got to act alongside his childhood idol, Jackie Chan, in the 2006 Hong Kong movie, Rob-B-Hood. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood wasn't even Moh's first attempt at portraying the Little Dragon. He auditioned for Birth of the Dragon only to lose out to Philip Ng Wan-lung …
Philip Ng Wan-lung in Birth of the Dragon (2016)
Ng should, by all accounts, have made for an excellent Bruce Lee. He was born in Hong Kong and was a student of numerous martial arts styles, including wing chun, taekwondo and hung ga. By the time of Birth of the Dragon he had already worked with some of the Hong Kong movie industry's finest like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen.
Unfortunately, Ng's Bruce Lee biopic was another flick that was tarnished by accusations that Lee's character was upstaged by a white co-star. Early screenings of the film focused more on Billy Magnussen, who played Steve McKee, a student of Lee's. Fans were so enraged by this whitewashing that director George Nolfi was forced to re-edit the film so it focused more on Hong Kong's hero.
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Aarif Rahman in Bruce Lee, My Brother (2010)
Despite being armed with a degree in physics from the prestigious Imperial College London, Aarif Rahman decided to make a career out of show business. Born in Hong Kong of mixed Arab, Malay and Chinese descent, Rahman started as a singer before making the jump to acting.
One of his earliest roles was portraying Lee in Bruce Lee, My Brother. The film is told from the point of view of Bruce's younger brother, Robert. This retelling focuses entirely on Lee's early life, as something of a young delinquent, before he heads to America at the age of 18 (in this dramatic version, to escape the triad drug dealers hunting him).
Rahman was a little overshadowed by his co-stars, which is excusable when they include legends like Tony Leung Ka-fai, but he has continued to work in action films since, like 2017's Kung Fu Yoga alongside Jackie Chan.
Danny Chan Kwok-kwan in The Legend of Bruce Lee (2008)
Even before he officially took the role of Bruce Lee in this CCTV TV series, Danny Chan was already known as someone who resembled the icon. This was thanks to his turn as Empty Hands, the lightning fast goalkeeper dressed in Lee's signature yellow and black tracksuit in Stephen Chow's 2001 hit Shaolin Soccer.
Seven years later, Chan took up the mantle officially. The Legend of Bruce Lee was a 50-episode affair that followed Lee from his early life until his untimely passing. Chan's acting and likeness seems to have impressed members of the real man's family (Shannon Lee helped produce The Legend of Bruce Lee) as he reprised the role in Ip Man 3 and the forthcoming Ip Man 4, set to be released in Hong Kong this December.
Jason Scott Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
Born in Hawaii, Jason Scott Lee (no relation) played Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, the first Hollywood biopic about the man's life. Although certain aspects of the film are fictitious " there was no fight on the set of The Big Boss, for instance " the movie received the blessing of Lee's widow, Linda Lee.
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Scott Lee prepared for the film in the best way possible " he learned jeet kune do, the martial art founded by Lee, under the tutelage of one of the master's original students, Jerry Poteet. Scott Lee eventually became a certified jeet kune do instructor and continues to practise to this day.
Danny Lee Sau-yin in Bruce Lee and I (1976)
Probably best known for starring opposite Chow Yun-fat in John Woo's 1989 action classic The Killer, Danny Lee (again, no relation) portrayed Bruce Lee in one of the more sleazy productions based on the actor's life. The film stars Betty Ting Pei as herself, a woman widely rumoured to have been Lee's lover " a rumour the film presents as fact.
Given the extramarital nature of this relationship, this cannot count as one of the more positive portrayals of Lee. There are plenty of other salacious aspects as the film features significant nudity. Danny Lee does his best, though, and gives a fairly convincing portrayal despite not bearing a strong physical resemblance to Bruce.
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Bruce Li in Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth (1976)
Born Ho Chung-tao, Taiwanese actor Bruce Li made a career out of playing the real deal in films such as Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game of Death, Super Dragon and The Dragon Lives. The most successful of Li's biopics was Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth. The film had a decent budget, to the extent that it was able to shoot on location in Hong Kong, America, Korea and Rome (site of Lee's showdown with Chuck Norris in Way of the Dragon) and was directed by Ng See-yuen who would produce Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master, helping to launch the careers of both Yuen Woo-ping and Jackie Chan.
Li retired from acting at the age of 40, disappointed that he had been pigeonholed into being a Bruce Lee imitator, reportedly saying in one interview, "I could act like him but I could never be him".
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