The iconic Taiwanese-American director, screenwriter and producer has won three Oscars — twice for best director (2012’s “Life of Pi” and 2006’s “Brokeback Mountain”) and once for best foreign language film (2000’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”).

Lee has been able to work successfully in an impressively wide range of films — including VFX-heavy Hollywood superhero blockbusters (“Hulk”), VFX-heavy quiet fables (“Life of Pi”), Taiwanese tales (“Father Knows Best”), American westerns with a twist (“Brokeback Mountain”), martial art ballets (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), Chinese-style family dramas (“Pushing Hands,” “The Wedding Banquet” and “Eat Drink Man Woman”), American family dramas (“The Ice Storm”), literary classics (“Sense and Sensibility”), civil war dramas (“Ride With the Devil”), spy melodramas (“Lust, Caution”) and hippie comedy-dramas (“Taking Woodstock”).

Born and raised in Taiwan, Lee came to the U.S. in 1979 to study theater, made an award-winning 16mm short, 1982’s “Shades of the Lake,” got his start writing scripts, and made his directorial debut in 1992 with “Pushing Hands.” Always an innovator, Lee’s most recent film, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” a drama about the effects of combat, is a fully immersive ultra-HD 3D experience using an increased frame rate of 120fps. On the drawing board is the film “The Thrilla in Manila,” about Muhammad Ali’s 1975 fight with Joe Frazier.