"I was so tired of the parts I had to play. Why is it that the screen Chinese is always the villain? And so crude a villain--murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass."
1175: Anna May Wong
The First Chinese-American Movie Star
Born: 3 January 1905, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
Died: 3 February 1961, Santa Monica, California, United States of America
Original Name: Wong Liu Tsong
Anna was also the first Asian-American actress to gain international recognition.
Throughout her career, Anna appeared in over sixty films. She started as a silent film actress and transitioned to the talkies, even appearing in one of the first technicolor productions.
Anna was the second born of seven or eight children in her family (sources differ). Her original name, Liu Tsong, meant “Frosted Yellow Willows.” The first school Anna and her sister attended had children of all different backgrounds as students, and the Wong sisters were teased relentlessly for their Chinese heritage. Anna’s parents moved the girls to a Chinese school soon after to spare them any more grief. Anna learned Cantonese while in school, but her parents were disappointed that she spoke it with an American accent.
Anna soon fell in love with the budding film industry in Los Angeles. She would skip school and use her lunch money to pay for movie tickets and began visiting film sets as well. In 1919, Anna was cast as an extra in the film The Red Lantern, officially launching her film career.
Anna continued to work as an extra while attending school but dropped out in 1921 to become an actress full-time. In 1922, Anna was cast in the lead role in The Toll of the Sea, the first feature-length film created by Technicolor. Unfortunately for Anna, her roles would continue to be side-characters or stereotypical Asian characters thanks to the rampant racism of the time. Because of anti-miscegenation laws at the time, Anna, being a woman of color, was barred from appearing as part of an inter-racial relationship with other male actors, which hampered her career efforts.
In 1924, Anna created her own production company, Anna May Wong Productions, to try and combat these issues and allow Anna to make films about her own Chinese cultural background. Sadly, the production company closed not long after thanks to her business partner’s “bad business practices” according to Women’s History. That same year, she was cast as the Native American girl Tiger Lily, in one of Hollywood’s earliest productions of Peter Pan.
In the late 1920s, fed up with Hollywood’s discrimination against her, Anna moved to Europe to begin starring in films and plays. Anna starred in the operetta Tschun Tschi, managing to perform the role in fluent German no less. Anna also learned French and developed a British accent for her English roles while in Europe. While in Germany, Anna became acquainted with star Marlene Dietrich as well as the director Leni Riefenstahl.
In the 1930s, Paramount Studios asked Anna to return to the United States and promised her bigger roles and better parts if she did so. Around the same time, in 1930 (or 1931, again sources differ), Anna’s mother was hit by a car outside of Anna’s childhood home. Her mother died as a result of the accident. A few years later, most of Anna’s family would return to China. That same year, Anna also starred in her first talkie flick, The Flame of Love. She also did her own dubbing for the film, completing the dialogue in English, French, and German.
While filming Dangerous to Know, Anna was asked to use stereotypical Japanese mannerisms in order to portray her Chinese character. Anna refused. Anna then appeared in another stereotypically Asian role in the film Daughter of the Dragon because she was promised a part in a future Josef von Sternberg film. She made arguably her most famous film, Shanghai Express, soon after.
The 1930s continued to be as racist in Hollywood as the twenties were. In 1932, Anna screen-tested for a role in The Son-Daughter, which told the story of a Chinese woman. However, Anna was dubbed “Too Chinese to play a Chinese woman,” and the role instead went to a Caucasian actress in yellow-face. Five years later, in 1937, Anna once again lost out on both Asian actress roles in The Good Earth, because she once again “failed” to live up to what a Caucasian audience expected a Chinese actress to look like. Both roles went to Austrian actresses.
In the early 1940s, Anna made two anti-Japanese propaganda films for the budding United States’ war effort. The films were produced by Producers Releasing Corp, one of the poorest and least-respected studios in Hollywood. Anna donated her salary to United China Relief. The bigger production companies, when creating propaganda flicks centered around Asian characters, continued to use Caucasian actors and actresses in yellow-face.
In 1942, Anna wrote a preface to one of the first Chinese cookbooks published in the United States. The book was called “New Chinese Recipes” and all proceeds from the book were dedicated to United China Relief.
Anna stepped away from Hollywood during the later 1940s, but returned in 1950s to television, becoming the first Asian American to have a lead on their own television program, The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong.
Anna faced criticisms and hardships in her personal life as well as professional. While she faced rampant racism in Hollywood, Anna also faced racism and prejudice from Chinese people as well. On a trip to China in 1936, Anna was welcomed in Beijing and Shanghai. When she tried to visit her parents’ ancestral village, however, Anna faced protestors and had to flee for her own safety. In Chinese culture, actresses were equated with prostitutes, and Anna, being both single and an actress, was seen as bringing shame to her people and her culture. This attitude continued over the ensuing decades, helping ensure Anna’s memory has been all but erased or forgotten.
Anna had several relationships over her life, but never married and had no children. It was illegal for her to marry a Caucasian man until 1948, and she feared marrying a Chinese man. In Chinese culture, if Anna married, she would most likely have to quit her acting career to become an obedient Chinese wife. She had no way to win in either scenario.
Anna passed away from a heart-attack at the age of only fifty-six. She had been battling cirrhosis of the liver for many years as a result of her heavy drinking.
Anna has been honored in several ways for her film career, including becoming one of the first actors to be honored on a US Postage Stamp. Anna also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Lucy Liu has a star adjacent to Anna’s, and on the day Lucy’s star was dedicated, she thanked Anna for paving the way for other Asian actresses in Hollywood. Anna also became the first Asian-American individual to appear on US currency in 2022.
Badges Earned:
Find a Grave Marked
Located In My Personal Library:
Backwards and in Heels by Alicia Malone
Who Knew? Women in History by Sarah Herman
The White Devil's Daughters: The Fight Against Slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown by Julia Flynn Siler
Time Magazine's 100 Women of the Year (Anna appears in the 1928 article, "Anna May Wong")
Sources:
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/anna-may-wong
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0938923/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
https://wams.nyhistory.org/confidence-and-crises/jazz-age/anna-may-wong/