Ang Lee directs English and Chinese speaking films

Lee told Screen Daily: "There are a great many film talents in Asia waiting to be discovered.

"They work both in front of and behind the camera and they have wonderful stories to tell."

Lee won the best foreign film Academy Award in 2001 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which became the most successful foreign-language film so far.

His previous directing credits include the period drama Sense and Sensibility starring Emma Thompson and the critically-acclaimed The Ice Storm.

Incredible Hulk

He is currently converting the comic book hero The Incredible Hulk into a star of the big screen.

The blockbuster is not expected to be completed until 2003.

Lee, 46, was born in Taipei. After school he went to the National Taiwan College of Arts. Soon after graduation he went to the United States.

He studied theatre directing at the University of Illinois, followed by film production at New York University.

His directorial debut was Pushing Hands in 1992.

The Chinese-language film was a comedy focusing on the cultural and generational gulf between members of a Taiwanese family in New York.