27 Facts About Ricky Lee

Ricardo Arreola Lee ONA was born on March 19,1948 and is a Filipino screenwriter, journalist, novelist, and playwright.

Ricky Lee's work has earned him over seventy awards from various accolades including three lifetime achievement awards from the Cinemanila International Film Festival, the Gawad Urian, and the PMPC.

Ricky Lee was the recipient of the 2015 UP Gawad Plaridel and one of the Gawad CCP awardees for that year.

Ricky Lee grew up with his relatives in Daet, Camarines Norte.

Ricky Lee's mother died when he was five years old, and he saw his father only on a few occasions.

Ricky Lee completed his primary and secondary education in the same town.

Ricky Lee's writing career began when he won his first national literary award for a short story he wrote while still in high school.

Ricky Lee roamed the streets, taking on menial tasks as a waiter during the day and asking his townspeople for accommodation at night until he eventually collapsed in Avenida from hunger.

Ricky Lee was accepted at the University of the Philippines Diliman as an AB English major but never earned his diploma.

Ricky Lee later taught screenwriting in the university's College of Mass Communication.

Ricky Lee started writing fiction in the late 1960s, gaining confidence with the publication of his first short story, "Mayon," in the Philippine Free Press while he was still in high school.

Ricky Lee became an activist during those politically turbulent times and was affiliated with Panulat para sa Kaunlaran ng Sambayanan, alongside Bienvenido Lumbera and Jose F Lacaba.

Ricky Lee later described the circumstances of his arrest, saying in Tagalog:.

Ricky Lee was released in 1975, and his friends Ninotchka Rosca and Rolando Tinio helped him reintegrate into life after detention and find work.

Ricky Lee was a staff writer for the Pilipino Free Press in the 1970s.

Ricky Lee cites his prison experiences as the reason for the film's themes, recounting in a Rappler interview:.

Ricky Lee spent six years looking for a producer for the film, but he had no success.

At the turn of the decade, Ricky Lee was introduced to director Marilou Diaz-Abaya as the screenwriter for Brutal, which premiered at the 1980 Metro Manila Film Festival and became very successful.

The late 1990s and early 2000s marked a period during which Ricky Lee penned screenplays for several highly acclaimed films, most notably the 1998 bio-epic Jose Rizal, which he co-wrote with Jun Lana and Peter Ong Lim; Muro-Ami ; Bulaklak ng Maynila ; the 2000 films Anak, Lagarista, and Deathrow; Mila, Tatarin, and Bagong Buwan ; and Aishite Imasu 1941: Mahal Kita.

Ricky Lee's two-stage plays Pitik-Bulag sa Buwan ng Pebrero and DH played to standing-room-only crowds.

Since 1982, Ricky Lee has been conducting scriptwriting workshops for free at his home.

Ricky Lee refused to let the group eat until the concept was finished.

Ricky Lee's scripts became Philippine cinema classics, contributing to the second golden age of Filipino movies in the 1980s.

Ricky Lee previously worked as a Creative Manager at ABS-CBN Corporation.

Ricky Lee established and heads the Trip to Quiapo Foundation, formerly known as the Philippine Writers Studio, which aims to provide support to new and struggling writers.

Ricky Lee has written more than 150 produced scripts, earning over fifty awards from various organizations in the Philippine movie industry.

Ricky Lee has published a screenplay manual titled Trip to Quiapo, which is a required text in many college communications courses.