Michael Jai White has officially made history.
The actor, filmmaker, and lifelong martial artist was honored with the Bruce Lee Award at the 2025 Asian World Film Festival — making him the first non-Asian recipient of the award from the Bruce Lee Foundation. The moment carried added emotional weight as Bruce Lee’s daughter and Foundation president, Shannon Lee, personally presented the honor.
For White, who grew up idolizing Bruce Lee and built his career on discipline rather than Hollywood shortcuts, the award hit deeper than any industry accolade.
“Last night I was honored to receive the prestigious Bruce Lee Award at the AWFF! This honor is the most heartfelt award I could ever receive! I don’t know who ‘Tony, Emmy, or Oscar’ were, but I damn sure know Bruce Lee!” he wrote on Instagram, sharing a childhood photo of himself standing next to a Bruce Lee poster.
A Full-Circle Legacy Moment
When White stepped onstage, the personal magnitude of the moment came into full view. Shannon Lee — not just Bruce Lee’s daughter, but White’s longtime friend and former Wushu classmate — presented him with the award, symbolically connecting his decades-long body of work to the very lineage that inspired him.
For fans who’ve followed White from Spawn to Undisputed 2, Blood and Bone, Black Dynamite, and Falcon Rising, the recognition feels overdue. For the martial arts community, it’s a clear acknowledgment that White isn’t just an on-screen fighter — he’s a trained martial artist with black belts in Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Taekwondo, Wushu, and more, grounding every performance in real technique.
Even after 78 films, White remains an active force in action cinema. He currently stars opposite Dolph Lundgren in Exit Protocol, an assassin thriller that keeps both actors in peak action form.
Earlier this year, his action-comedy Hostile Takeover debuted at No. 2 on STARZ, with viewers on Letterboxd and Rotten Tomatoes praising White’s performance as hitman Pete Strykyr — a role that mixes humor, physicality, and the signature intensity that’s defined his career.
With the Bruce Lee Award — the most personal honor of his life, by his own words — Michael Jai White steps into a new chapter where both his craft and his contributions are seen, validated, and celebrated.