[12] After finishing his mandatory military service in the Republic of China Navy (ROCN), Lee went to the US in 1979 to study at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he completed his bachelor's degree in theater in 1980.

[13] At UIUC, Lee met his future wife, Jane Lin (Chinese: 林惠嘉; pinyin: Lín Huìjiā), also a student from Taiwan, who was pursuing her PhD degree.

This arrangement put enormous pressure on the couple, but with Lin's support and understanding, Lee did not abandon his career in film but continued to generate new ideas from movies and performances.

In 1994, Hsu invited Lee to return to Taiwan to make Eat Drink Man Woman, a film that depicts traditional values, modern relationships, and family conflicts in Taipei.

The three films show the Confucian family at risk and star the Taiwanese actor Sihung Lung to form what has been called Lee's "Father Knows Best" trilogy.

It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won Best Adapted Screenplay for screenwriter Emma Thompson, who also starred in the movie alongside Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant and Kate Winslet.

He made The Ice Storm (1997), a drama set in 1970s suburban America, starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, and Tobey Maguire.

The film which starred Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, and Jeffrey Wright received mixed reviews and was a box office bomb.

However, in the late 1990s and 2000s, The Ice Storm had high VHS and DVD sales and rentals and repeated screenings on cable television, which has increased the film's popularity among audiences.

In 1999, Hsu Li-kong, Lee's old partner and supporter, invited him to make a movie based on the traditional "wuxia" genre concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China.

Excited about the opportunity to fulfill his childhood dream, Lee assembled a team from the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Mainland China for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

He added "A sweeping romantic epic with a strong feminist backbone, the thoroughly entertaining [film] also happens to boast a generous offering of seriously kick-ass action sequences that make The Matrix seem downright quaint by comparison.

In 2003, Lee returned to Hollywood to direct the superhero blockbuster Hulk, his second big-budget movie after the disappointment of Ride with the Devil's restricted release.

It starred Eric Bana as Bruce Banner / The Hulk with supporting performances from Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliot and Nick Nolte.

Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, writing, "Lee is trying to actually deal with the issues in the story of the Hulk, instead of simply cutting to brainless visual effects."

Lee took on a small-budget, low-profile independent film based on Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize-finalist short story, Brokeback Mountain.

In spite of the director's distance from the subject at hand, Brokeback Mountain showcased Lee's skills in probing the depths of the human heart.

The 2005 movie about the forbidden love between two Wyoming sheepherders immediately caught public attention and became a cultural phenomenon, initiating intense debates and becoming a box office hit.

It was nominated for a leading eight Oscars and was the front runner for Best Picture heading into March 5 ceremony, but lost out to Crash, a story about race relations in Los Angeles, in a controversial upset.

Lee removed 9 minutes from the film to make the content suitable for minor audiences in order to be permitted to show Lust, Caution in mainland China.

The novel was once considered impossible to make into a movie, but Lee persuaded 20th Century Fox to invest $120 million and heavily relied on 3D special effects in post-production.

In January 2013, Life of Pi earned 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Visual Effects.

[30] In March 2013, it was announced that Lee would direct a television pilot for the drama series Tyrant, created by Gideon Raff and developed by Howard Gordon and Craig Wright.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described the film as having "neither topical immediacy nor any real historical perspective and, burdened with pedantic and predictable flashbacks, it finally leads nowhere interesting at all.

"[33] In April 2017, Lee began discussions with Skydance Media to helm an action thriller film, Gemini Man, that follows a senior DIA official being hunted by a young clone of himself right as he is about to retire from the agency.

"[37] In 2013, Lee began development on a film dramatising Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali's heavyweight title fight, known as the Thrilla in Manila.

The film was to be produced by Universal with a screenplay written by Peter Morgan, but Lee later put it on hold in 2014 in order to make Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

[41] David Oyelowo and Ray Fisher were reportedly Lee's top choices for the leading roles of Frazier and Ali, respectively, and he hoped to film in 3D.

The meeting occurred during a group of international students' trip to Gary, Indiana to watch the Senior League World Series Championship, when the two sat next to each other on the bus.

Following Lee’s graduation from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, he was a stay-at-home father for six years, supported by Lin, until he won the prize from Taiwan's Government Information Office to make his first film Pushing Hands (1991).