Brandon Lee Biography

Brandon Bruce Lee was born on February 1, 1965 in Oakland, California to Bruce Lee and Linda Emery. Brandon had one other sibling, a sister by the name of Shannon. Bruce Lee was an actor and a martial artist of Chinese decent while his mother was German, English and Swedish. When Brandon was just a baby, the family moved down south to Los Angeles, California because of Bruce Lee's career. When acting roles couldn't be obtained no longer, the family then picked up and moved to Hong Kong in 1971 which was Bruce Lee's homeland and where Brandon became fluent in Cantonese. Just two years later when Brandon was eight years old, Bruce Lee passed away of a cerebral edema where an abnormal amount of water is in the brain. Shortly after Bruce Lee's death, the family moved briefly to Seattle, Washington and then back to Los Angeles, California. Here Brandon attended Chadwick High School but was expelled because of his bad behavior. Brandon attended college in Boston, Massachusetts and majored in theater and then attended the prestigious Lee Strasberg Academy in New York City. During this time, he found he shared the same passion for martial arts just as his father, Bruce Lee. Brandon practiced Thai-Kick-Boxing and Jeet Kune Do just to name a few.

Brandon's first acting role came in 1986 playing the character of "Brandon Ma" in "Legacy of Rage". In it, Brandon's character vows to get revenge on a best friend. This film would be the only one that Brandon made in Hong Kong. Next was a television movie entitled, "Kung Fu: The Movie" where he played "Chung Wang" with David Carradine and Martin Landau. In it, he plays the son to Carradine's character. This was followed up with the television pilot "Kung Fu: The Next Generation" in 1987 but it failed to get off the ground. In 1988, Brandon made a guest appearance in the television series, "Ohara" starring Pat Morita. A few years later he starred in the film "Laser Mission" with Ernest Borgnine. In 1991, Brandon made his film debut in the United States with "Showdown in Little Tokyo" with Dolph Lundgren and Tia Carrere. A year later, he did the action film, "Rapid Fire" playing the lead character, "Jake Lo". The story centered around Lee's character witnessing a murder and having drug lords come after him. In 1994, Brandon's final role was in a film called "The Crow" playing "Eric Daven" where his character and girlfriend are murdered only to come back to life so his spirit can seek vengeance.

On March 31, 1993, with only eight days left of shooting on "The Crow", Brandon's next scene called for him to walk into an apartment where his girlfriend had been raped and beaten. Shortly after, his character along with his girlfriend would be murdered. Brandon entered the apartment where his co-star, Michael Masse, fired a shot into his stomach. Brandon Lee dropped to the floor and goes unconscious and the crew are completely stunned. Paramedics were immediately called and a bullet was found inside of him. Apparently the gun that was used in the scene, had a bullet lodged unbeknown to the effects technician and the propmaster. Brandon Lee underwent five hours of surgery where he eventually died in the early afternoon. He was to be married two weeks later to Eliza Hutton. Brandon was just 28 years old. Brandon Lee is currently buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle, Washington next to his father, Bruce Lee.