An eclectic writer-director who has endured a turbulent showbiz career, Lee moved from his native Taiwan to the U.S. and studied filmmaking at NYU. After years of watching potential projects fall through, he won both first and second prizes in a Taiwanese screenwriting competition. Those scripts became his first two movies, 1992's
Pushing Hands and 1993's international indie hit
The Wedding Banquet. The next year, Lee broke through to the mainstream with the familial comedy
Eat Drink Man Woman, which was nominated for a best foreign language film Oscar. Lee's subsequent projects were strikingly diverse. Though he had proven himself a masterful writer, he based several on preexisting material, including adaptations of Jane Austen's 19th-century romance
Sense and Sensibility and Rick Moody's examination of changing middle-class values,
The Ice Storm. Lee returned to his roots in 2000 for the fantastical Chinese martial-arts epic
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which won a slew of Oscars and earned him a nod. But the underwhelming critical and commercial reaction to his next film,
Hulk, depressed Lee so much that he considered quitting the business. Luckily, he persevered and went on to win the best-director Oscar for 2005's groundbreaking gay-cowboy flick,
Brokeback Mountain.
Ang Lee Fast Facts:- Failed his national university entrance exams in Taiwan.
- Served as assistant director on Spike Lee's NYU student film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barber Shop: We Cut Heads.
- His 1993 movie The Wedding Banquet became the first production from Taiwan to earn a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar nomination.
- Passed on an offer to direct Terminator 3.
- Initially turned down an offer to direct Brokeback Mountain (2005) but changed his mind after helming Hulk (2003).
- Ang Lee Relationships:
- Han Lee - Son
- Jane Lin - Wife
- Lee Yangsi - Mother
- Mason Lee - Son
- Ang Lee Awards:
- 1996 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture - Nominee
- 2001 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture - Winner
- 2006 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture - Winner
- 2000 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Nominee
- 2005 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Winner
- 2000 Oscar: Best Motion Picture of the Year - Nominee
- College:
- Attended Taiwan Academy of Art, Taipei, Taiwan; University of Illinois, Urbana, IL (BFA in Theatre, 1980); New York University, New York, NY (MFA in Film, 1984)
