About This Stamp
Chinese American martial artist, actor, and filmmaker Bruce Lee (1940–1973) was the first Asian leading man in American film, captivating audiences with his skill, charisma, and screen presence and inspiring a generation of young fans. This stamp honors this legendary figure, whose legacy continues to shape global culture, leaving a lasting impact on everything from action cinema and popular music to the evolution of mixed martial arts.
In his first major American role, Lee appeared in the television version of The Green Hornet (1966–1967), playing Kato, the title hero’s martial arts-practicing partner. He was soon choreographing movie fight scenes and acting in other TV series, but never in a starring role. At the time, Asian characters often were painted as passive and subservient, and Asian actors were believed not to be bankable in leading roles. Lee sought to destroy those stereotypes.
Meanwhile, he had begun to develop his own philosophy of martial arts. With Jeet Kune Do — which roughly translates to “The Way of the Intercepting Fist” — he eschewed the rigidity of traditional martial arts for a more free-flowing and holistic approach.
While Hollywood was slow to embrace Lee, Golden Harvest Studios in Hong Kong — where Lee grew up — offered him a chance to star in the kind of fast-paced action films that properly showcased his talent. The Big Boss (1971) was a box office success in Hong Kong, elsewhere in Asia, and later in the United States. Then came Fist of Fury, Lee’s second straight smash hit.
Next Lee produced, directed, wrote, and starred in The Way of the Dragon (1972), which again broke Hong Kong box office records. He stopped work on a fourth film, The Game of Death, when American studio Warner Bros. agreed to make its first production starring Lee. The quintessential Lee film, Enter the Dragon is full of eye-popping set pieces. In the spectacular climactic scene, his character vanquishes crime lord Han in a mirror-walled room. The movie became a worldwide phenomenon.
Tragically, Lee did not live to see his opus dazzle audiences. On July 20, 1973, a month before the premiere of Enter the Dragon, he died at age 32 of cerebral edema.
When it came to designing a stamp honoring this star, USPS art director Antonio Alcalá decided he “needed an artist who could do an accurate rendering of Lee performing a flying kick based on reference materials.” His fellow art directors recommended Kam Mak. “It didn’t hurt that he’s been a big Bruce Lee fan for most of his life!” Alcalá adds.
When he approached Mak about the project, the award-winning painter/illustrator was intrigued, but also recognized the project’s complexity. “What surprised me was that there were no ideal photos of Bruce Lee performing the flying kick with enough detail of his face,” he says. However, USPS provided him with a variety of images of Lee and “even commissioned an expert to perform the flying kick,” Mak says, “resulting in some stunning photographs.” Mak, who emigrated from Hong Kong as a child, studied all of Lee’s films, an exercise he found “crucial to capturing the essence of his likeness.” He adds, “All these references gave me inspiration and helped guide my initial sketches and, subsequently, my final painting.”
The stamp artwork features Mak’s black-and-white painting of Lee executing his iconic move. Rendered in egg tempera on traditional gesso, the portrait is set against what Alcalá calls “a calligraphic, yellow brush stroke,” a reference to the iconic yellow tracksuit Lee wore in The Game of Death, which was completed and released years after his death. On the right side of the stamp, BRUCE LEE and USA FOREVER are printed vertically and angled to appear as if Lee’s kick were breaking them in half. This arrangement — with LEE and USA in bold — enhances the action, Alcalá says. “I think he would have appreciated the design.”
The Bruce Lee stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. This Forever stamp will always be equal to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
BRUCE LEE and the Bruce Lee Flying Man Logo are registered trademarks of Bruce Lee Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Antonio Alcalá
Antonio Alcalá served on the Postmaster General’s Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2011, when he left to become an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program.
He is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. His clients include: the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian Institution. He also lectures at colleges including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA.
In 2008, his work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged international competitions for the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, AIGA, and Graphis. Alcalá also serves on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Poster House Museum’s advisory councils. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design.
Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia.
Stamp Artist
Kam Mak
Kam Mak was born in Hong Kong and grew up in New York City’s Chinatown after his family moved to the United States in 1971. Kam’s involvement with cityArts Workshop, an organization designed to encourage the art interests of inner city youth, inspired his love of painting. He earned his bachelor of fine arts degree in 1984 from New York’s School of Visual Arts where he studied on a full scholarship.
Mak’s richly colored paintings have illustrated the covers of numerous magazines and books including his first offering as both author and illustrator, My Chinatown: One Year in Poems, about a little boy growing up in Chinatown.
For his award-winning illustrations Mak has received the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Book Award for best children’s picture book, the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal, and the Stevan Dohanos Award and both gold and silver Medals from the Society of Illustrators. In addition to My Chinatown, books for which he won acclaim include The Dragon Prince by Laurence Yep, The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean, The Year of the Panda by Miriam Schlein, and The Moon of the Monarch Butterflies by Jean Craighead George.
Mak is a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He is currently working on a series of figurative and still-life paintings, using the medium of egg tempera, a process that uses egg yolk to bind pigments. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.
Mak was commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service to design the 12-year stamp series Celebrating Lunar New Year that began in 2008 and continued through 2019. His most recent stamp designs include Bruce Lee (2026), as well as portraits of John Adams and Esther De Berdt Reed for the 2026 Figures of the American Revolution stamp pane.
