Attended the UW from 1961 to 1964 as a drama major and opened his first kung fu studio on the "Ave." The star of four martial arts movies, Lee was the first Asian-American superstar when he died in 1973. Since then, his life has been the subject of more than 25 biographies and one Hollywood film. Of all the former UW students we considered, Bruce Lee is probably the most famous. On the 25th anniversary of his death, The Times of London said that he was "the most recognizable Chinese in the world, after Mao Tse-tung." TheHollywood Reportercalled him a "global icon who's as omnipresent in pop culture as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Charlie Chaplin."