Danny Lee

Lee returned to the big screen in the 2008 Hong Kong action film Fatal Move. He also made an appearance in Jingle Ma's action comedy Playboy Cops.

In 1987, Lee formed his second production company, Magnum Films, producing movies such as The Untold Story, Dr. Lamb Water Tank Murder and Twist. In the late 1980s, Lee was also one of the producers to back Stephen Chow, who was at the time a small-time dramatic actor, but who would then go on to stardom after appearing in a series of "mo lei tau" comedies. Lee also directed Chow in one of his first comedies, 1990's Legend of the Dragon.

Law with Two Phases also inspired other directors. Some of the elements used in the shootouts were used by John Woo in his 1986 film A Better Tomorrow and Law's documentary-like look inspired Kirk Wong to continue with a similar style. Both directors subsequently asked Lee to work with them. Lee then appeared with Chow Yun-fat in Ringo Lam's 1987 gangster piece City on Fire where he plays a criminal, and later appeared in John Woo's benefit project for Chang Cheh, Just Heroes (1987, which Lee also co-directed). Lee's next project with Woo was, 1989's The Killer. Lee worked with Kirk Wong again in 1994 with Organized Crime and Triad Bureau (a film Lee also produced), where once again, he plays a cop.

In 1982, Lee directed his first films, One Way Only, and Funny Boys and then followed it up in 1984 with Law with Two Phases (a.k.a. Law with Two Faces). The movie (for which Lee won both the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor and Taiwanese Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actor for his acting) featured Lee as a hot-headed but just policeman. In later years, Lee has received numerous awards from police organisations for his dedication to showing realistic police procedures and donating money to the families of slain officers.

In 1979, he began working in the crime film genre, with The Brothers (1979), a remake of an earlier Bollywood film, Deewaar (1975), about two brothers on opposing sides of the law. In The Brothers, Lee played the role of a police officer, with a police persona he would carry over to his later films. The Brothers later inspired A Better Tomorrow (1986), which involves a similar plot about two brothers.

Still being offered roles in martial arts films, Lee decided in 1978 to form his own production company. One of the earliest products from his company, 1981's The Executor (a.k.a. Heroic Cops) which was the first on-screen pairing with Lee and future star Chow Yun-fat.

Lee entered the Shaw Brothers Studio-TVB Acting School in 1970. Since Lee was a black belt judoka and karateka, he was cast as Zhang Shun by director Chang Chen in the 1972 film The Water Margin. The next year, Lee made his starring debut with River of Fury. He then went on to star in Shaw Brothers' 1975 Hong Kong tokusatsu-style superhero movie and camp classic The Super Inframan playing the Chinese superhero himself. After Bruce Lee's death Lee portrayed the Bruce in Bruce Lee and I. During this time, Lee also acted in 1977's The Mighty Peking Man.