Lee, Ang (1954-…), is a Taiwanese-born motion-picture director who has made successful films in a variety of styles. Lee‘s martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) won the Academy Award as best foreign language film of the year. Lee also received Academy Awards as best director for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life of Pi (2012).
Lee was born on Oct. 23, 1954, in Pingtung, Taiwan. He graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then moved to the United States. He earned a bachelor’s degree in theater directing at the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in film production at New York University.
After working on screenplays for six years, Lee made his debut as a director with Pushing Hands (1992). The film was the first he made in both English and Northern Chinese (also called Mandarin Chinese). This film and two others form a trilogy that explores contrasts and conflicts between cultures and generations in families. The other two films were The Wedding Banquet (1993) and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994).
Lee’s first Hollywood motion picture was Sense and Sensibility (1995), an adaptation of the English author Jane Austen’s novel. Lee’s other movies include The Ice Storm (1997); Ride with the Devil (1999); Hulk (2003); Lust, Caution (2007); Taking Woodstock (2009); and Gemini Man (2019).
