Anna May Wong (born Wong Liu Tsong; January , â€" February , ) was an
American actress, considered to be the first Chinese American
Hollywood movie star, as well as the first Chinese American actress to
gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned silent film,
sound film, television, stage, and radio.Born in Los Angeles to
second-generation Taishanese Chinese-American parents, Wong became
infatuated with the movies and began acting in films at an early age.
During the silent film era, she acted in The Toll of the Sea (), one
of the first movies made in color, and in Douglas Fairbanks' The Thief
of Bagdad (). Wong became a fashion icon and had achieved
international stardom in .Frustrated by the stereotypical supporting
roles she reluctantly played in Hollywood, Wong left for Europe in the
late s, where she starred in several notable plays and films, among
them Piccadilly (). She spent the first half of the s traveling
between the United States and Europe for film and stage work. Wong was
featured in films of the early sound era, such as Daughter of the
Dragon (), Daughter of Shanghai (), and with Marlene Dietrich in Josef
von Sternberg's Shanghai Express ().In , Wong was dealt the most
severe disappointment of her career, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused
to consider her for the leading role of the Chinese character O-Lan in
the film version of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. MGM instead cast
Luise Rainer to play the leading role in yellowface, due to the Hays
Code anti-miscegenation rules requiring the wife of a white actor,
Paul Muni (ironically playing a Chinese character in yellowface), to
be played by a white actress. MGM offered Wong a supporting role of
Lotus, the seductress, but she refused on principle.
American actress, considered to be the first Chinese American
Hollywood movie star, as well as the first Chinese American actress to
gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned silent film,
sound film, television, stage, and radio.Born in Los Angeles to
second-generation Taishanese Chinese-American parents, Wong became
infatuated with the movies and began acting in films at an early age.
During the silent film era, she acted in The Toll of the Sea (), one
of the first movies made in color, and in Douglas Fairbanks' The Thief
of Bagdad (). Wong became a fashion icon and had achieved
international stardom in .Frustrated by the stereotypical supporting
roles she reluctantly played in Hollywood, Wong left for Europe in the
late s, where she starred in several notable plays and films, among
them Piccadilly (). She spent the first half of the s traveling
between the United States and Europe for film and stage work. Wong was
featured in films of the early sound era, such as Daughter of the
Dragon (), Daughter of Shanghai (), and with Marlene Dietrich in Josef
von Sternberg's Shanghai Express ().In , Wong was dealt the most
severe disappointment of her career, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused
to consider her for the leading role of the Chinese character O-Lan in
the film version of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. MGM instead cast
Luise Rainer to play the leading role in yellowface, due to the Hays
Code anti-miscegenation rules requiring the wife of a white actor,
Paul Muni (ironically playing a Chinese character in yellowface), to
be played by a white actress. MGM offered Wong a supporting role of
Lotus, the seductress, but she refused on principle.
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