“The first noteworthy treatment of its subject—and a definitive one at that…Exciting narrative threads proliferate.” —The New York Times Publication Review

Probably the most authoritative biography—offering dozens of rarely seen photographs—of film story Bruce Lee, who made martial arts a global phenomenon, bridged the divide between Eastern and Traditional western ethnicities, and smashed long-held stereotypes of Asians and Asian-Americans.

Forty-five years after Bruce Lee’s unexpected death at age thirty-two, about Bruce Lee: A Life journalist and bestselling author Matthew Polly offers written the definitive account of Lee’s life. It’s also one of the only accounts; incredibly, there has under no circumstances been an authoritative biography of Lee. Carrying out a decade of study that included conducting more than one hundred interviews with Lee’s family members, friends, business associates, as well as the actress in whose bed Lee died, Polly has constructed a complicated, humane portrait of the icon.

Polly explores Lee’s early years as a child star in Hong Kong movie theater; his actor dad’s struggles with opium addiction and exactly how that turned Bruce into a troublemaking teen who was simply kicked out of high school and eventually delivered to America to form up; his beginnings as a martial arts teacher, eventually becoming personal instructor to movie stars like Adam Coburn and Steve McQueen; his struggles as an Asian-American professional in Hollywood and frustration viewing role after role he auditioned for go to a white actors in eye makeup; his eventual triumph as a leading man; his issues juggling a sky-rocketing career with his duties as a pops and husband; and his shocking end that even today continues to be shrouded in mystery.

Polly reduces the misconceptions surrounding Bruce Lee and argues that, contrary to popular belief, he was an ambitious actor who was simply enthusiastic about the martial arts—not really a kung-fu master who just therefore happened to produce a couple of films. This is an honest, revealing look at an impressive however imperfect man whose personal tale was a lot more entertaining and uplifting than any imaginary role he played onscreen.