But in 1959 a short, skinny, bespectacled 18-year-old kid from Hong Kong traveled to America and declared himself to be John Wayne. In an America where the Chinese were still stereotyped as house servants and railroad workers, Bruce Lee was a hero figure. He became obsessed with matrial arts and body building and not much else. Lee landed his first U.S show- biz role in the Green Hotnet , a 1996 – 1997 TV superhero drama.