Lee is the Oscar-winning director behind such movies as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain.

The son of Chinese nationals who fled to Taiwan during the Revolution of 1949, Lee made his way to the States in his mid-20s and attended Tisch. He earned a handful of awards with his thesis film, but had trouble finding work for years afterward. Lee eventually broke through with 1992's Pushing Hands, and he followed up with Eat Drink Man Woman, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film. It also helped open the doors to Hollywood and in 1995, he debuted his first English-language film, Sense and Sensibility.

Lee's next project took his career in a surprising direction. Returning to Chinese-language film, he had a monster hit with 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which remains the highest grossing foreign language film in history. The biggest film of his career, Brokeback Mountain starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, earned Lee an Oscar for Best Director and brought high-brow story of gays to the mainstream.

Lee and his wife, Jane Lin, have been married since 1983. They have two sons, Haan and Mason. [Image via Getty]