Late Seattleite Bruce Lee is forever stamped in film history — and soon, on your mail

The iconic martial artist, actor, and former Seattle resident Bruce Lee broke barriers as an Asian leading man on the big screen.

Now, the United States Postal Service is commemorating Lee with an honor that's small in size, but tremendous in significance: a Forever stamp.

Lion dancers moved through an audience of Lee’s family, friends, and fans inside the Chinatown International District’s Nippon Kan Theater during the stamp’s unveiling ceremony on Wednesday.

The new stamp features a black and white portrait of Lee as he executes a flying kick, snapping the words “Bruce Lee” and “Forever USA” like a board. A swath of bright yellow is layered under the portrait — a nod to the iconic jumpsuit Lee wore in the movie “Game of Death.”

“It’s an image of elevation, it’s an image of breaking through — and he did that for so many of us who are of Asian and Pacific Island descent, but he also did that for all of us as Americans,” said Jeff Chang, a journalist and biographer of Lee.

It’s fitting, Chang added, that Lee was being honored in the Chinatown International District, because this is the neighborhood where Lee “truly learned America.”

Lee, who was born in San Francisco in 1940 and raised in Hong Kong, moved back to his birth city in 1959 before settling in Seattle. Lee went on to take classes at the University of Washington, started his first martial arts school in the University District, and married his wife, Linda.

“These people and experiences helped to shape him into the man that we would come to know and revere as someone who, through his movements, through his thoughts, would teach millions of us to be able to stand up and fight for ourselves,” Chang said.

Lee later left Seattle for California, where he was ultimately discovered by Hollywood. With roles in American TV series like “The Green Hornet” and “Longstreet,” Lee challenged stereotypes around Asian masculinity. The actor also wrote, directed, and produced several of his own projects before dying in 1973, at the age of 32.

Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, also spoke at the event, and highlighted the national recognition the stamp represents.

Over the years, Lee said, many people have come up to her to tell her that seeing her father in movies elicited a sense of pride. It took nine years for the stamp to come to fruition, according to Lee, and the honor felt particularly poignant given her father’s legacy.

“He brought cultures together. He brought different martial arts together. He brought different industries together,” Lee said. “And now, this stamp will be doing that as well, and continuing that legacy of connection and togetherness.”

New York City-based artist Kam Mak painted Lee’s portrait for the stamp, and collaborated with USPS Art Director Antonio Alcalá to come up with the final version letter writers and collectors will covet.

For Mak, the process of working on the stamp is a “dream come true.” Like Lee, Mak grew up in Hong Kong. After immigrating to the United States at 10, Mak settled in Manhattan’s Chinatown in the early 1970s.

“Growing up as an immigrant kid, it was very tough,” Mak said. “I have no one to idolize, have no one to look up to.”

That is, until one pivotal day with his uncle, when they went to see a "Return of the Dragon". Mak remembers how the line into the theater wrapped around the block, and the turning point it represented in how he viewed himself.

“Having Bruce Lee, a tough guy, someone that is actually a hero and [didn’t] always play a bad character ... I just feel a sense of identity,” Mak said. “I feel ‘Hey, he’s Chinese. I’m Chinese. I feel good about myself.’”

More than 50 years later, the young man who found himself through the artistry of Lee now can say he’s used his own talents to honor his childhood hero.