On November 27, what would have been legend Bruce Lee’s 80th birthday anniversary, Doctor Strange’s Benedict Wong paid a tribute to martial art legend by telling his inspiring story.
On tribute to Bruce Lee’s 80th birthday, Doctor Strange’s star Benedict Wong shared how the martial art legend influenced his career.
On what would have been martial arts legend Bruce Lee’s 80th birthday, as a THR’s columnist Benedict Wong wrote how the late legend inspired his life and the whole of East Asia. “One day, he arrived on my screen, a symbol of East Asian strength,” Wong Wrote, “A symbol of hope as a first-generation British Born Chinese growing up in Salford. Bruce Lee has been with me in many different forms throughout my years, and resonated in different ways.”
Wong saw Bruce Lee showing his moves for the first time in the 1973 film, Enter The Dragon. The Actor said the ’70s cool at it’s best, and one of the only films where we hear him talk rather than him being dubbed.”
What Inspired Benedict Wong The Most In Bruce Lee’s Book?
The Actor picked up Lee’s book Tao To Jeet Kune Do, a famous and must-read book for every budding actor. The Actor Described that book as “When I embarked as an actor 30 years ago, other than some encouraging advice from the legendary Burt Kwouk (‘You can do it Kid!’) who I was lucky enough to work on radio plays with early on in my career, there were no East Asian actors to guide me through this relatively unchartered path.”
In Tao To Jeet Kune Do, Lee described the importance of learning every day and using art to enhance and develop our life. Wong wasn’t able to go to drama school and instead incorporated Lee’s philosophy into his work. “It’s been about the alchemy of bringing your version and style,” said Wong. “Welcoming all forms and accepting that others around you are doing the same. Learning from others what is, and isn’t right for you. Discarding what no longer serves you and moving forward.”
That one magical quote in Lee’s Book that inspired Wong the most reads, “If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
Wong knows limits all too well and felt stereotyped at the beginning of his journey. “Particularly earlier on in my career, there were constant limitations; patterns forming, being boxed in, stereotypes, some I couldn’t wriggle out of,” he said. “I tried to understand who and where those limitations were coming from, and over time I’m learning to challenge them. Using the previous quote of rejecting what is useless, closing the door on what I see as limitations and trying to break myself free of them.”
