The Icons That Built America: Season 1, Episode 4

1 - 4: Hollywood Warriors

 A young martial artist and actor from Hong Kong has dreams of breaking into Hollywood, but in the 1970s, the racial barriers that have been in place for decades block any chance he has of becoming a star. After retreating to Hong Kong, he leverages what little fame he has to star in a feature film that will flip Hollywood's expectations and create a new genre unto itself. That same decade, during the boom of exploitation films, a young aspiring writer/director takes his cues from fringe genre films to create a new market for independent films.