People @ Ang Lee

Dreaming up an ever-changing destiny

(CNN) -- Who would imagine that a Chinese-language kung-fu film would capture the heart of mainstream America as well as sweep up many of Hollywood's most prestigious awards?

But "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is no ordinary martial arts movie. The dazzling fable of high-flying fighters from director Ang Lee is the latest accomplishment in a life full of breathtaking leaps: From Lee's youth as the docile son of a middle-class Taiwanese family to a master of film styles ranging from the comic to Victorian drama and suburban American angst.

"I hope I can live 300 years, and I can try all the (film) genres and mix them and twist them and learn about them," Lee said.

He has won over audiences around the world with an eclectic body of movies that share one thing in common: characters of great depth caught up in richly entertaining tales.

The 47-year-old Lee knew from an early age that a career in drama was his destiny, although his parents were not so sure.

"My father was the principal of my own high school, which is one of the best in Taiwan," Lee said. "And my mind is not in the books. I failed the college examination, (but) I got in drama school. I always loved to watch movies. ... It's apparent to me that's the only thing I do well."

Strong Chinese roots
Lee went on to study film at New York University. Although he chose to remain in the United States after graduation, his early films -- made with a low-budget production company called Good Machine -- were firmly rooted in Chinese tradition and culture.

"Pushing Hands," completed in 1992, tells the story of an aging tai chi master forced to adjust to living in America with his son, who is married to a Caucasian woman.

"The Wedding Banquet," released in 1993, is a complex comedy about a young Taiwanese-American in New York who tries to hide his homosexuality from his tradition-bound parents by agreeing to marry a Chinese woman who wants to obtain U.S. citizenship. The low-budget film was a huge hit, one of the most proportionately profitable movies of the year and an Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film.

Lee's 1994 film, "Eat Drink Man Woman," was set in Taipei and combined Lee's personal hobby -- Chinese cooking -- with an intricate story about the relationships between a widowed father and his three daughters. It also won an Academy Award nomination for best foreign-language film.

A unique sensibility
Producer and director Sydney Pollack was among those who admired "The Wedding Banquet" and "Eat Drink Man Woman."

"They both had a marvelous emotionality," he said. "They were both funny. They were touching without being maudlin or sentimental."

They were also highly original, Pollack added. When he was shopping for a director to bring the Jane Austen novel "Sense and Sensibility" to the screen, Pollack thought of Lee.

Lee initially was surprised that he would be considered as the interpreter of the classic tale of Victorian English morals. But when he read the script by actress Emma Thompson, Lee said he felt at home with the material.

The success of "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995 moved Lee from the category of "foreign-language film" director to a leading force in Hollywood.

His next film, "The Ice Storm," explored another culture and period in time -- suburban America during the post-Watergate era of the 1970s. The critical success of "The Ice Storm," followed by a U.S. Civil War film called "Ride With the Devil," showed that Lee's ability to penetrate the essence of whatever subject he tackled was no fluke.

"Lee is able to remake his style for each movie to suit the narrative needs of that movie," said Jim Poniewozik, Time magazine media critic. "In a way, he kind of suppresses his own individuality (in his movies). There's a certain humility to the way that he directs them ... to serve the greater interests of what the movie needs to be."

Midlife crisis
Lee described his desire to make a martial arts film as part childhood fantasy, part midlife crisis.

"I think that generally speaking, (at middle age) you're physically going downhill," Lee said. "I think it's just a reassessment of who you are and what life is about and you become compelled to do a lot of things. There are people who are chasing women, there are women buying new cars. I think that's my version (of a midlife crisis), just go make a martial arts film. To hell with it, you know? What can I lose? Let's see what happens."

His version of a martial arts film, of course, was something completely original: actors suspended by wires so they can fly over rooftops and ancient forests while they battle not only each other but complex inner demons.

"When I tried to raise money (for the film), what I said was, (it's) 'Sense and Sensibility' with martial arts," Lee said. "But then I had to live up to that, which is a difficult thing to live up to."

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was the most commercially successful foreign-language film ever made. The epic tale of kung-fu masters fighting over a legendary sword known as "The Green Destiny" was appreciated by both action junkies and the art-house crowd.

The film's many awards included the Oscar for best foreign-language film and best director awards from the Directors Guild of America and the Golden Globes.

The subject of the film Lee is planning to make next is no less surprising.

"It looks like I'm going to do the 'Incredible Hulk,' the green giant comic book character," Lee said, smiling with anticipation. "It's my new 'green destiny,' I suppose."

+ FULL NAME
Ang Lee

+ BORN
October 23, 1954, in Taiwan and raised in the southern city of T'ai-nan.

+ EDUCATION
Bachelor's degree in theater from the University of Illinois and a master's degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he made a 1984 thesis film called "Fine Line."

+ FEATURE FILMS
"Pushing Hands" (1992); "The Wedding Banquet" (1993); "Eat Drink Man Woman" (1994); "Sense and Sensibility" (1995); "The Ice Storm" (1997); "Ride With the Devil" (1999); "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000).

+ AWARDS
Best film award for "Fine Line" at NYU Film Festival; best director awards from the New York Film Critics and the National Board of Review for "Sense and Sensibility"; Directors Guild of America and Golden Globe best director awards for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (the film also won the best foreign-language Academy Award). Lee's work also has won many Taiwanese film awards.

+ PERSONAL
Married to Dr. Jane Lin, a microbiologist. The couple and their two sons, Haan and Mason, live in Mamaroneck, New York.

@CNN/TIME 2001