Suraj
File:Suraj-poster.jpeg
Directed by	T. Prakash Rao
Produced by	S. Krishnamurthy
Written by	Screenplay: Javar Seetharaman Dialogue: Abrar Alvi
Starring	Vyjayanthimala Rajendra Kumar Ajit Mumtaz Johnny Walker
Music by	Shankar Jaikishan
Cinematography	V. K. Murthy
Editing by	N. M. Shankar
Studio	Vijaya Studio Mehboob Studio
Distributed by	Rajshri Productions
Release date(s)	25 March 1966 (1966-03-25)
Country	India
Language	Hindi/Urdu
Box office	50,000,000

Suraj (Hindi: सूरज; Urdu: سورج; Gujarati:સુરજ; translation: Sun) is a 1966 swashbuckler Ruritanian romance Hindi film produced by S. Krishnamurthy and directed by T. Prakash Rao. The film stars Vyjayanthimala and Rajendra Kumar in the lead with Ajit, Mumtaz, Johnny Walker, Johnny Walker, Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, Lalita Pawar, Neetu Singh Gajanan Jagirdar, David Abraham Cheulkar, Agha, Mukri, Mallika and Niranjan Sharma in the supporting roles. The film's music was composed by Shankar Jaikishan, with the lyrics penned by Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri.

Plot[link]

Vikram Singh is the Maharaja of Pratap Nagar and is very impressed with his Senapati Sangram Singh for years of loyal service. He decides to make him a Maharaja and agrees to marry his daughter, Anuradha, with his son, Pratap. Years later, Vikram sends his now grown-up Anuradha to visit the coronation of Rajkumar Pratap Singh and approve of him as her husband, and she sets off without any escort with just her maid-servant, Kalavati, for company. Shortly thereafter, Vikram is informed that Kalavati has been abducted by a bandit named Suraj Singh, he accordingly rushes over to Sangram's and this is where he discovers to his shock that Kalavati is posing as Anuradha, and it is his daughter that has been abducted by Suraj. When Suraj is arrested and lodged in a dungeon, preparations are set forth for the coronation of Pratap and his subsequently marriage with Anuradha. ^[1]

Cast[link]

• Vyjayanthimala as Princess Anuradha Singh
• Rajendra Kumar as Suraj Singh
• Ajit as Prince Pratap Singh
• Mumtaz as Kalavati
• Johnny Walker as Bhola
• Bharathi Vishnuvardhan as Geeta Singh
• Lalita Pawar as Maharani
• Neetu Singh as Young Geeta Singh
• Gajanan Jagirdar as Ram Singh
• David Abraham Cheulkar as Maharaja Vikram Singh
• Agha as Kotwal Bhakti Charan / Bhagat Ram
• Mukri as Anokhe
• Mallika as Madhuri
• Niranjan Sharma as Maharaja Sangram Singh
• Mulchand as Musicians Head
• Keshavlal as Pratap Singh's Man

Soundtrack[link]

The film's music was composed by Shankar Jaikishan in their one of the last collaborations and successful albums.^[2] The lyrics were penned by Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri.^[3] The album also featured the debut of singer Sharda with the chartbuster song "Titli Udi Ud Jo Chali" which became the song that she was most remembered for.

The soundtrack was listed by Planet Bollywood as number 86 on their list of 100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks.^[4] The song "Baharon Phool Barsao" topped the Binaca Geetmala annual list of 1966 charts. Similarly, the song "Titli Udi Ud Jo Chali" was listed at #21.

Box office[link]

At the end of its theatrical run, the film grossed around 50,000,000 with a nett gross of 25,000,000, thus becoming the second highest grossing film of 1966 with the verdict super hit at box office.^[5] According to IBOS.com, the film had been grossed at about 4.00 crore and, adjusted to inflation, the gross is 504.29 crore.^[6] The film was also one of the last box office hits of Rajendra Kumar who was regarded as Bollywood's silver jubilee actor along with the actress Vyjayanthimala. They had previously worked in many successful films such as Aas Ka Panchhi (1961), Sangam (1964) and Zindagi (1964).^[7]

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Suraj at the Internet Movie Database
• Suraj profile at Upperstall.com

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Jimmy Kimmel
Kimmel in May 2007
Birth name	James Christian Kimmel
Born	(1967-11-13) November 13, 1967 (age 44) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Medium	Radio, Television, Film, Stand up
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Observational comedy, Black comedy, Satire, Deadpan
Subject(s)	American politics, Celebrities, Everyday life, Sex
Influences	David Letterman
Spouse	Gina Kimmel (1988–2002; divorced; 2 children)
Domestic partner(s)	Sarah Silverman (2002–2007; 2008–2009) Molly McNearney (2009–present)
Notable works and roles	Creator and Host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) Creator and Co-Host of The Man Show co-host of Win Ben Stein's Money (Comedy Central) co-host of Crank Yankers
Emmy Awards
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host: 1999 Win Ben Stein's Money

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American comedian, actor, voice artist and television host. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money. Kimmel is also a television producer, having produced shows such as Crank Yankers, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and The Andy Milonakis Show.

Early life[link]

Kimmel was born in the Mill Basin neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn,^[1] the eldest of three children of Joann (née Iacono), a homemaker, and James Kimmel, an IBM executive.^[2][3][4] He is Roman Catholic and, as a child, served as an altar boy.^[5][6] Kimmel is of German and Irish descent on his father’s side and Italian descent on his mother’s side.^[7] His uncle, Frank Potenza, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a regular from 2003 until his death in 2011.^[8]

The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when he was nine years old.^[2] He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School and then attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas for one year before attending Arizona State University for two years without completing a degree.

Career[link]

Radio career[link]

Kimmel began working in the radio industry while in high school, hosting a Sunday night interview show on UNLV's college station KUNV. While attending Arizona State University, he became a popular caller to the KZZP-FM afternoon show hosted by radio personalities Mike Elliott and Kent Voss in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1989, Kimmel landed his first paying job alongside Voss as morning drive co-host of The Me and Him Show at KZOK-FM in Seattle, Washington. Ten months later, Kimmel and Voss were fired by KZOK (for reasons unknown) and were fired again a year later at WRBQ-FM in Tampa, Florida. Kimmel went from Tampa to host his own show at KCMJ in Palm Springs, California, where Kimmel convinced a young Carson Daly to drop out of college and become his intern. After a morning stint at KRQQ In Tucson, Arizona, Kimmel landed at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. He spent five years as "Jimmy The Sports Guy" for the Kevin and Bean morning show. During this time he met and befriended a struggling comedian named Adam Carolla.^{[citation needed]}

Comedy Central[link]

Kimmel began his television career as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money, which began airing on Comedy Central in 1997. His quick wit and loutish everyman personality were counterpoints to Stein's monotone performing style and patrician demeanor. The combination earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, during his time with Win Ben Stein's Money, Kimmel was also co-host with Adam Carolla and co-creator (with Daniel Kellison) of Comedy Central's The Man Show. Kimmel permanently left Win Ben Stein's Money in 2001, replaced by comedian Nancy Pimental, who was eventually replaced by Kimmel's cousin Sal Iacono. The Man Show's success allowed Kimmel, Carolla and Kellison to create and produce, under the banner Jackhole Industries, Crank Yankers for Comedy Central (on which Kimmel plays the characters "Elmer Higgins", "Terrence Catheter", "The Nudge", "Karl Malone" and himself), and later The Andy Milonakis Show for MTV2. Kimmel also produced and co-wrote the feature film Windy City Heat, which won the Comedia Award for Best Film at the Montreal Comedy Festival.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Jimmy Kimmel Live!

In January 2003, Kimmel permanently left The Man Show to host his own late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC. Jimmy Kimmel Live was briefly also broadcast on Irish digital TV channel 3e.^[9] In the April 2007 issue of Stuffmagazine.com, Kimmel was named the "biggest badass on TV". Kimmel said it was an honor but clearly a mistake.

Since the show's second season, it has not actually been broadcast live. This is due to an incident during the 2004 NBA Finals in Detroit, when Kimmel appeared on ABC's halftime show to make an on-air plug for his show. He suggested that if the Detroit Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, "they're gonna burn the city of Detroit down ... and it's not worth it." Officials with Detroit's ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, immediately announced that night's show would not air on the station. Hours later, ABC officials pulled that night's show from the entire network. Kimmel later apologized.^[10] The incident led ABC officials to force Kimmel to tape his show an hour before it airs in most of the country to check for offending content.^[11]

Kimmel usually ends his show with, "My apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time." When Matt Damon did actually appear on the show to be interviewed, he walked in and sat down only to be told just a few seconds later by Kimmel, "Sorry, but once again we are completely out of time." Damon seemed to become angry.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2008 Kimmel showed a mock music video with a panoply of stars called, "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck",^[12] as "revenge" after his then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon recorded a similar video, "I'm Fucking Matt Damon". Silverman's video originally aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and became an "instant YouTube sensation."^[13] Kimmel's "revenge" video featured himself, Ben Affleck, and a large lineup of stars, particularly in scenes spoofing the 1985 "We Are the World" video: Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford, Dominic Monaghan, Benji Madden and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Lance Bass, Macy Gray, Josh Groban, Huey Lewis, Perry Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Pete Wentz, Meat Loaf, Rebecca Romijn, Christina Applegate, Dom Joly, Mike Shinoda, Lauren Conrad, and Joan Jett, among others. After this Jimmy's sidekick, Guillermo, appeared in a spoof of The Bourne Ultimatum, which starred Damon. He was then chased down by Damon as Matt cursed about Kimmel being behind all this. Guillermo also stopped Damon on the red carpet one time and before he could finish the interview he said, "Sorry we are out of time." The most recent encounter was titled "The Handsome Men's Club" which featured Kimmel, along with the "Handsome Men", who were: Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe, Lenny Kravitz, Patrick Dempsey, Sting, Keith Urban, John Krasinski, Ethan Hawke, Josh Hartnett, Tony Romo, Ted Danson, Taye Diggs, Gilles Marini, and Ben Affleck, speaking about being handsome and all the jobs that come with it. At the end of the skit Kimmel has a door slammed in his face by none other than Matt Damon, stating that they had run out of time and then Damon continues with a sinister laugh. Jennifer Garner also makes a surprise appearance.

As a tradition, celebrities voted off Dancing with the Stars appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, causing Kimmel to describe himself as "the three-headed dog the stars must pass on their way to No-Dancing Hell".^[14] In the 2008 season of his show, Kimmel started another tradition of ceremonially burning the dancers' shoes after they were voted off DWTS.^{[citation needed]}

Other television work[link]

In Spring 1996, Kimmel appeared as "Jimmy the Fox Guy" in promos on the Fox network.

Kimmel's other television work included being the on-air football prognosticator for Fox NFL Sunday for four years. He has had numerous appearances on other talk shows including, but not limited to, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Howard Stern Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Late Show with David Letterman. Kimmel has appeared on The Late Show five times, most recently in 2010. Kimmel served as roastmaster for the New York Friars' Club Roast of Hugh Hefner and Comedy Central Roasts of Pamela Anderson. He has appeared on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, along with his parking lot security guard Guillermo.

In August 2006, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel would be the host of their new game show Set for Life.^[15] The show debuted on July 20, 2007. On April 6, 2007, Kimmel filled in for Larry King on Larry King Live. That particular show was about the paparazzi and Kimmel reproached Emily Gould, an editor from Gawker.com, about the web site's alleged stalking of celebrities. On July 8, 2007, Kimmel managed the National League in the 2007 Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game in San Francisco. He played in the game in 2004 and 2006 (Houston and Pittsburgh). On July 11, 2007, Kimmel along with basketball player LeBron James, hosted the 2007 ESPY Awards. The show aired on ESPN on July 15, 2007. Kimmel hosted the American Music Awards on ABC four times, in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Kimmel guest hosted Live with Regis and Kelly during the week of October 22, 2007 – October 26, 2007, commuting every day between New York and Los Angeles. In the process, he broke the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance (22,406 miles (36,059 km)) travelled in one work week.^[16]

Kimmel has performed in several animated films, often voicing dogs. His voice appeared in Garfield and Road Trip, and he portrayed Death's Dog in the Family Guy episode "Mr. Saturday Knight"; Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane later presented Kimmel with a figurine of his character on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Kimmel also did voice work for Robot Chicken. Kimmel's cousin "Sal" (Sal Iacono) has accepted and won a wrestling match with WWE superstar Santino Marella. On January 14, 2010, in the midst of the 2010 Tonight Show host and time slot conflict, Kimmel was the special guest of Jay Leno on The Jay Leno Show's "10 at 10" segment. Kimmel derided Leno in front of a live studio audience for taking back the 11:35 pm time slot from Conan O'Brien, and repeatedly insulted Leno. He ended the segment with a plea that Leno "leave our shows alone," as Kimmel and O'Brien had "kids" while Leno only had "cars".^[17]

Kimmel also made a brief appearance in the TV commercial "There's A Soldier In All Of Us" promoting the 2010 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, along with Kobe Bryant. He is seen taking cover from bullets, then firing an RPG-7 with the words PROUD N00b on it, with the aftershock from the weapon sending him tumbling backwards.

He has been asked to host the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards which will air on September 23, 2012, marking his first time hosting the event.^[18]

Kimmel hosted the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. on April 28, 2012.

Personal life[link]

Kimmel and his then girlfriend, Gina, married in June 1988. They have two children, Katie (born 1991) and Kevin (born 1993). The marriage ended in separation in early 2002. Kimmel then dated comedian Sarah Silverman for five years, splitting with her in March 2009.^[19] He started dating current girlfriend, Molly McNearney, in October 2009. McNearney is also a co-head writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live.^[20]

Kimmel plays the bass clarinet. He got a chance to showcase his talent during a July 20, 2008, concert in Costa Mesa, California, featuring the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, when he took the stage and played bass clarinet on their hit song "The Impression That I Get."^[21]

Kimmel has spoken publicly of being a narcoleptic.^[22]

Kimmel co-founded the annual LA Feast of San Gennaro,^[23] which celebrates Italian culture through entertainment, music and cuisine. The festival also honors outstanding members of the Los Angeles community and raises funds to aid needy children and families in the city. He hosted Los Angeles' eighth annual feast of San Gennaro from September 28 to 30, 2009.^[24] Kimmel served as Master of Ceremonies for the National Italian American Foundation's 34th Anniversary Gala in Washington, D.C., on October 24, 2009.

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

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Ang Lee 李安
Ang Lee, 2009
Chinese name	李安 (Traditional)
Chinese name	李安 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Lǐ Ān (Mandarin)
Born	(1954-10-23) October 23, 1954 (age 57) Chaochou, Pingtung, Taiwan
Years active	1992 – present
Spouse(s)	Jane Lin (1983–)
Children	Haan Lee (b.1984) Mason Lee (b.1990)
Awards Hong Kong Film Awards Best Director 2001 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Golden Bauhinia Awards Best Director 2001 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Golden Horse Awards Best Film 1993 The Wedding Banquet 2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Best Director 1993 The Wedding Banquet 2007 Lust, Caution Best Original Screenplay 1993 The Wedding Banquet

Ang Lee (Chinese: 李安; Pinyin: Lǐ Ān; born October 23, 1954) is a Taiwanese-American film director.^[1] Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film), Hulk (2003), and Brokeback Mountain (2005), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director. He is the first person of Asian descent to win the Best Director Oscar.

Early life[link]

Education[link]

Ang Lee was born in the town of Chaochou in Pingtung,^[2] a southern agricultural county in Taiwan. He grew up in a household that put heavy emphasis on education and the Chinese classics. Both of Lee's parents moved to Taiwan from China following the Chinese Nationalists' defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Lee's father, a native of Jiangxi Province in southern China, imbued his children with studying Chinese culture and art, especially calligraphy.

Lee studied in the National Tainan First Senior High School where his father was the principal. He was expected to pass the annual Joint College/University Entrance Examination, the only route to a university education in Taiwan. But after failing the Exam twice, to the disappointment of his father, he entered a three-year college, National Arts School (now reorganized and expanded as National Taiwan University of Arts) and graduated in 1975. His father had wanted him to become a professor, but he had become interested in drama and the arts at college. This early frustration set his career on the path of performance art. Seeing Ingmar Bergman's film The Virgin Spring (1960) was a formative experience for him.^[3]

After finishing the Republic of China's mandatory military service, Lee went to the U.S. in 1979 to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he completed his bachelor's degree in theater in 1980. Thereupon, he enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University, where he received his MFA. He was a classmate of Spike Lee and worked on the crew of his thesis film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads.

During graduate school, Lee finished a 16mm short film, Shades of the Lake (1982), which won the Best Drama Award in Short Film in Taiwan. His own thesis work, a 43-minute drama, Fine Line (1984), won NYU's Wasserman Award for Outstanding Direction and was later selected for the Public Broadcasting Service.

Life after graduation[link]

Lee's NYU thesis drew attention from the William Morris Agency, the famous talent and literary agency that later represented Lee. At first, though, WMA found Lee few opportunities, and Lee remained unemployed for six years. During this time, he was a full-time house-husband, while his wife Jane Lin (Chinese: 林惠嘉; pinyin: Lín Huìjiā), a molecular biologist, was the sole breadwinner for the family of four. This arrangement, usually an embarrassment in Taiwanese culture, put enormous pressure on the couple, but with Lin's support and understanding, Lee did not abandon his career in films but continued to generate new ideas from movies and performances. He also wrote several screenplays during this time.^{[5][citation needed]}

In 1990, Lee submitted two screenplays, Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet, to a competition sponsored by the Republic of China's Government Information Office, and they came in first and second respectively. The winning screenplays brought Lee to the attention of Li-Kong Hsu (Chinese: 徐立功; pinyin: Xú Lìgōng), a recently promoted senior manager in a major studio who had strong interests in Lee's unique style and freshness. Hsu, a first-time producer, invited Lee to direct Pushing Hands, a full-length feature that debuted in 1991.

Career[link]

In the 2007 book The Cinema of Ang Lee: The Other Side of the Screen, Whitney Crothers Dilley has analyzed in detail the striking diversity of Lee's films, as well as Lee's recurring themes of alienation, marginalization, and repression.^[6] Many of Lee's films, particularly his early Chinese trilogy, have also focused on the interactions between modernity and tradition. Some of his films have also had a light-hearted comic tone which marks a break from the tragic historical realism which characterized Taiwanese filmmaking after the end of the martial law period in 1987. While The Wedding Banquet (1993) became a break-out hit for Lee as the most proportionately profitable film of 1993, it was Sense and Sensibility (1995) that brought Lee his first true international acclaim. Following that, both Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) (nominated for Academy Award for Best Director) and Brokeback Mountain (2005) (which won the Academy Award for Best Director) became cultural touchstones, sweeping awards ceremonies and, in the case of Brokeback Mountain, sparking intense critical debates. When asked by a TV interviewer how he found his films, Lee is said to have replied: "I don't find my films, my films find me."

Lee's film Brokeback Mountain (2005) won the Golden Lion (best film) award at the Venice International Film Festival and was named 2005's best film by the Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and London film critics. It also won best picture at the 2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association, Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America (Adapted Screenplay), Producers Guild of America and the Independent Spirit Awards as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, with Lee winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Brokeback also won Best Film and Best Director at the 2006 British Academy Awards (BAFTA). In January 2006, Brokeback scored a leading eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director, which Lee won. He is the first Asian and non-Caucasian director to do so.

In 2007, Lee's film Lust, Caution earned him a second Golden Lion.

Debut from Taiwan[link]

Pushing Hands (1992) was a success in Taiwan both among critics and at the box office. It received eight nominations in the Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan's premier film festival. Inspired by the success, Hsu collaborated with Lee in their second film, The Wedding Banquet (1993), which won the Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival^[7] and was nominated as the Best Foreign Language Film in both the Golden Globe and the Academy Awards. In all, this film collected eleven Taiwanese and international awards and made Lee a rising star.

Lee's first two movies were based on stories of Chinese Americans, and both were filmed in the US. In 1995, Hsu invited Lee to return to Taiwan to make Eat Drink Man Woman, a film that depicts traditional values, modern relationships, and family conflicts in Taipei. The film was once again a box office hit and was critically acclaimed. For a second consecutive year, Lee's film received the Best Foreign Language Film nomination in both the Golden Globe and Academy Awards, as well as in the British Academy Award. Eat Drink Man Woman won five awards in Taiwan and internationally, including the Best Director from Independent Spirit. Hollywood optioned the film rights and remade it into Tortilla Soup (2001, dir. María Ripoll). This is one of the rare occasions in which a Taiwanese film was remade outside the country.

Arrival in Hollywood[link]

[edit] Sense and Sensibility

Lee's three acclaimed first dramas opened the door to Hollywood for him. In 1995, Lee directed Columbia TriStar's British classic Sense and Sensibility. The switch from Taiwanese to British films did not prevent Lee's work from garnering awards: Sense and Sensibility made Lee a second-time winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. It was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, and won Best Adapted Screenplay for screenwriter Emma Thompson, who also starred in the movie alongside Hugh Grant and Kate Winslet. Sense and Sensibility also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama.

After this, Lee directed two more Hollywood movies: The Ice Storm (1997), a drama set in 1970s suburban America, and Ride with the Devil, an American Civil War drama (1999). Although the critics still highly praised these latter two films, their box office was not impressive, and for a time this interrupted Lee's unbroken popularity – from both general audiences and arthouse aficionados – since his first full-length movie. However, in the late 1990s and 2000s, The Ice Storm has had high VHS and DVD sales and rentals and repeated screenings on cable television, which has increased the film's popularity among audiences.

1999 onward[link]

[edit] Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

In 1999, Li-Kong Hsu, Lee's old partner and supporter, invited him to make a movie based on the traditional Chinese “wuxia” (martial arts and chivalry) genre. Excited about the opportunity to fulfill his childhood dream, Lee assembled a team from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The film was a surprising success worldwide. With Chinese dialogue and English subtitles, the film became the highest grossing foreign film in many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Director at the Academy Awards. It ended up winning Best Foreign Language Film and three technical awards. The success of Crouching Tiger demonstrated that Lee's artistry had a general appeal; it also inspired such established directors as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige to explore wuxia films for Western audiences.

[edit] Hulk

In 2003, Lee returned to Hollywood to direct Hulk, his first big-budget movie. The film received mixed reviews and became a moderate success, grossing over $245 million at the box office. After the setback, Lee considered retiring early, but his father encouraged him to continue making movies.

[edit] Brokeback Mountain

Lee decided to take on a small-budget, low-profile independent film based on Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize-finalist short story, Brokeback Mountain. In a 2005 article^{[dead link]} by Robert K. Elder, Lee was quoted as saying, "What do I know about gay ranch hands in Wyoming?" In spite of the director's removal from the subject at hand, Brokeback Mountain showcased Lee's skills in probing depths of the human heart. The 2005 movie about the forbidden love between two Wyoming sheepherders immediately caught public attention and became a cultural phenomenon, initiating intense debates and becoming a box office hit.

The film was critically acclaimed at major international film festivals and won Lee numerous Best Director and Best Picture awards worldwide. Brokeback Mountain was the most acclaimed film of 2005, winning 71 awards and an additional 52 nominations. It was declared Best Picture by such organizations as the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Independent Spirit Awards, the 2005 Biennale Venice Film Festival, and the Producers Guild of America. Ang Lee also received his second Best Director award from the Directors Guild of America. Brokeback Mountain was nominated for a leading eight Oscars and was the front runner for Best Picture heading into the March 5 ceremony, but lost out to Crash, a story about race relations in Los Angeles, in a controversial upset. There was some speculation that Brokeback Mountain's homosexual theme was the reason for that upset. Lee said he was disappointed that his film did not win Best Picture,^[8] but was honored to win an Academy Award for Best Director, becoming the first person of Asian heritage and the first non-white to ever win the award.

[edit] Lust, Caution

After Brokeback Mountain, Lee returned to a Chinese topic. His next film was Lust, Caution, which was adapted from a short novel by the Chinese author Eileen Chang. The story was written in 1950, and was loosely based on an actual event that took place in 1939–1940 in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, China, during World War II. Similar to Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee adapted and expanded a short, simple story into a feature film in a way that allows individual figures to develop sophisticated layers of reserved emotions, without being sidetracked by complicated plots or overstuffed material.

Lust, Caution is distributed by Focus Features and premiered at international film festivals in the summer and early fall of 2007. In the US, the movie received a NC-17 rating (no one 17 and under admitted) from the MPAA mainly due to several strongly explicit sex scenes. This was a challenge to the film's distribution because many theater chains in the United States refuse to show NC-17 films. The director and film studio have decided not to appeal the decision. In order to be permitted to show Lust, Caution in mainland China, however, Lee removed 9 minutes from the film to make the content suitable for minor audiences.^[9]

Lust, Caution captured the Golden Lion from the 2007 Biennale Venice Film Festival, making Lee the winner of the highest prize for the second time in three years. The critics in the United States, however, were not all positive. When Lust, Caution was played in Lee's native Taiwan in its original full-length edition, it was very well received. Staying in Taiwan to promote the film and to participate in a traditional Chinese holiday, Lee got emotional when he found that his work was widely applauded by fellow Taiwanese. Lee admitted that he had low expectations for this film from the U.S. audience since "its pace, its film language – it's all very Chinese."^[10]

Lee has been chosen as president of the jury for the 2009 edition of the Venice Film Festival, set to take place from September 2 to 12, 2009.^[11]

Collaborations with James Schamus[link]

Ang Lee has had a career-long collaboration with producer and screenwriter James Schamus.^[12]

Schamus produced or co-produced the following Ang Lee movies:

Schamus co-wrote the following Ang Lee movies:

Personal life[link]

Lee lives in Larchmont, New York with his wife Jane Lin, a microbiologist, whom he married in 1983. They have two sons, Haan Lee (born 1984), and Mason Lee(born 1990).^[13] Lee is a naturalized U.S. citizen.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

Filmography[link]

Lee has been involved in the process of filmmaking in various capacities, though the highlight of his career and legacy is his directorial work. The following are Lee's various credits.

As Director:

See also: Films directed by Ang Lee

As Writer:

• Pushing Hands (1992)
• The Wedding Banquet (1993)
• Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
• Siao Yu (1995)

As Actor:

• The Wedding Banquet (1993)
• Hulk (2003)
• Hollywood Chinese (2007) – himself

As Editor:

• Pushing Hands (1992)
• Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

As Producer:

• Siao Yu (1995)
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Accolades[link]