Virtuoso Filmmaker and 2-Time Oscar Winner Ang Lee
By James Moreau | 21 May, 2025

Ang Lee has showcased his ability to direct a variety of films while garnering critical acclaim and box office success.

Taiwanese American Ang Lee won two Best Director Oscars and left an indelible impression on the film industry by the sensitivity and beauty he has consistently been able to capture throughout his four-decade career.

Lee won his first Oscar for the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, a romance between two cowboys.  The film made history as the first non-Caucasian Best Director winner and the first Best Director win for a gay-themed film.  

In addition to a Best Picture nomination the film also won Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score.  Its critical acclaim helped drive its box office success, grossing over $178 million worldwide with a $14 million budget.

Ang Lee won his second Best Director Oscar in 2012 for Life of Pi which earned lavish praise for the sheer beauty of its cinematography.  Pi was also nominated for 10 more Academy Awards and won 3 of them, including Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Visual Effects.  It is Lee’s highest grossing film with worldwide box offices producing over $609 million, equivalent to $1.2 bil. in 2025 dollars.

Throughout his career Lee has displayed tremendous versatility in the sheer breadth of genres tackled, including the 2000 martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which earned over $213 million worldwide, the 2003 Marvel superhero film Hulk, and the 1993 rom-com The Wedding Banquet, which he also wrote and produced.

In February 2025 the 70-year-old Lee was honored as a recipient of the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award at the 77th Annual DGA Awards.

Lee graduated with an AA in 1975 from National Taiwan University of Arts, a bachelors in theater in 1980 from the University of Illinois, and an MFA in film in 1984 from NYU, where he was classmates with Spike Lee.