Anna May Wong was a Chinese-American film actress who faced prejudice in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. She moved to Europe to find success before returning to Hollywood, but her career was cut short by World War II. Despite this, she appeared in over 50 films and paved the way for future minority actors.
Born in 1905, Anna May Wong was a Chinese-American film actress popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Although prejudice against Asians at the time prevented her from taking leading roles for most of her life, Lei Wong carved out a successful career as a supporting actress in the United States before moving to more open Europe . As a result of her success there, Paramount Pictures offered her a Hollywood picture contract in the 1930s, although racism still held Wong back even then. Her best-known film is Shanghai Express, which was nominated for Best Picture and won an Academy Award in 1932 for her cinematography. Wong died in 1961 of a heart attack.
Born in Los Angeles’ Chinatown and the daughter of recyclers, Anna May Wong’s career got off to a promising start when, as a teenager, she was selected to star in the 1922 film The Toll of the Sea, the first Technicolor film. The film used this new color technology to reproduce her unique Asian beauty. Her next major role was in The Thief of Bagdad which was filmed two years later. She landed a small but memorable role as Tiger Lilly in Peter Pan and another small part in Old San Francisco.
Life, however, was hard for all Chinese-Americans during this era, and despite her growing celebrity, Anna May Wong was not spared the humiliations her people faced. Marriage between whites and Chinese-Americans was only made legal in 1947. Asians also could not obtain property in the United States during this period. Anna May Wong had trouble securing lead roles, as virtually all of the leads were white, and a romantic storyline or physical intimacy between a white person and a Chinese-American would cause uproar. The studios avoided the potentially costly risk of casting Wong in much more than the stereotypical “dragon lady” roles.
Understandably frustrated with the closed doors she encountered at American film studios, Anna May Wong moved to Europe and used her ability to speak multiple languages to land many big roles, including in the film Piccadilly and several highly rated shows such as The Circle of Chalk and Tschun Tschi. While these plays were successful, Wong’s tongue-in-cheek Californian accent caused some of her to publicly mock her; she soon after she hired a language teacher.
Hollywood was able to win Wong back after watching her popularity skyrocket across the pond. Look magazine touted Wong, probably at the height of her popularity, as “the most beautiful Chinese girl in the world” in 1938. Her alleged romantic affairs also frequently made the gossip pages during this period, though Wong remained famously quiet about her personal life.
The advent of World War II, however, cut short Anna May Wong’s film career. She had her own television show in the 1950s, another first for a Chinese-American, but her acting career was quickly ending. Lei wong was set to attempt a comeback in 1960 with a film role in Portrait in Black, but she died before she could complete the project.
Anna May Wong never married or had children. Her known hobs included golf, horses, reading and skiing. She was also a frequent drinker and in her later years she suffered from liver problems. However, Anna May Wong is considered a cinematic pioneer who has appeared in over 50 films and paved the way for the future successes of minority actors and actresses straddling the border between East and West.
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