Conan Lee Yuen-Ba 李元霸 (born Lloyd Hutchinson; 1959), is a Hong Kong-born American film

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

martial artist Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

Early life

Conan Lee was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, but grew up in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

as Lloyd Hutchinson. During this period he was trained in his father's self-defense methods. Lee explored a wide variety of both Western and Chinese martial arts. These included

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

and

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

. He excelled in the

Northern Shaolin In its broadest sense, Northern Shaolin () is the external (as opposed to internal) martial arts of Northern China, referring to those styles from the Northern Shaolin Monastery in Henan and specifically to the style practice by ''Gù Rǔzhāng ...

and

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春 or 咏春, lit. "singing spring"), sometimes spelled Ving Tsun, is a concept-based fighting art, form of Nanquan (martial art), Southern Chinese kung fu and close-quarters system of self-defense. In Mandarin, it is ...

styles, and eventually created a style called " Realistic Fist".

Career

Lee is best known for his roles in cult kung fu/ninja hybrid movie

Ninja in the Dragon's Den ''Ninja in the Dragon's Den'' () is a 1982 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Corey Yuen in his feature film directorial debut, who also writer with Ng See-yuen, who also producer. It stars Conan Lee, Hiroyuki Sanada and Hwang Jang-lee. ...

(1982), alongside popular Japanese actor

Hiroyuki Sanada is a Japanese actor and martial artist. He is best known to international audiences for his roles as Genbu in ''Ninja in the Dragon's Den'' (1982), Ryuji Takayama in ''Ring'' (1998), Seibei Iguchi in ''The Twilight Samurai'' (2002), Ujio in ''T ...

, and the crime/comedy buddy cop film ''

Tiger on the Beat ''Tiger on the Beat'' (老虎出更), also known as ''Tiger on Beat'', is a 1988 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Lau Kar-leung. The film stars Chow Yun-fat and Conan Lee as a buddy cop team who originally hate each other, but learn to ...

'' with

Chow Yun-fat Chow Yun-fat (born 18 May 1955), previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor. He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with filmmaker John Woo in the five Hong Kong action heroic bloodshed films: ''A Better Tomorrow'', ''A Be ...

. Other notable TV and film appearances include ''MacGyver'', ''Armed Response'' (with

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s television series ''Kung Fu'', playi ...

), '' New York Cop'' (with Chad McQueen), ''Aces Go Places V: The Terracotta Hit'' (appearing as Rambo), ''First Strike'', ''

Lethal Weapon 4 ''Lethal Weapon 4'' is a 1998 American buddy cop action film directed and produced by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, and Jet Li (in his international film debut). It is the fourth insta ...

'', and the 1986 science fiction action film '' Eliminators''. Lee stopped acting in the 1990s due to his mother's ailing health. This resulted in the production of Hemoxygen, a range of nutritional supplements. In 2009, Lee made a brief appearance in an episode of the popular American crime series ''

Numb3rs ''Numbers'' (stylized as ''NUMB3RS'') is an American crime drama television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010, for six seasons and 118 episodes. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton ...

''. Lee also voiced several characters in the 2012 video game ''Sleeping Dogs''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Personal Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Conan American male film actors Hong Kong emigrants to the United States Living people 1959 births