Anna Might Wong, thought-about to be Hollywood’s first Chinese language American film star, would be the first Asian American to look on US forex.
Wong will seem on a brand new quarter as a part of the US Mint’s American Ladies Quarters Program, which celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by American girls to the event and historical past of the US in fields akin to suffrage, civil rights, abolition, authorities, humanities, science, area and the humanities.
This system honors 5 distinguished American girls annually. This yr, Wong will be a part of author Maya Angelou, astronaut Sally Experience, Cherokee chief Wilma Mankiller and suffrage motion chief Nina Otero-Warren.
Anna Might Wong’s portrait on the quarter.
US Mint
The heads aspect of Wong’s quarter will function a portrait of George Washington, whereas the tails aspect will function a close-up picture of Wong together with her head resting on her hand, surrounded by the brilliant lights of a marquee signal, the US Mint stated Tuesday. The quarter will make its debut on Oct. 25.
Over the course of her various profession, which spanned silent films, sound films, stage and TV, Wong’s portrayals of Chinese language characters helped fight stereotypes amongst white audiences at a time of overt racism and discrimination.
Wong was born Wong Liu Tsong on Jan. 3, 1905, close to Chinatown in Los Angeles. When not at school or working at her father’s laundry, Wong would grasp round movie crews as films have been being shot in her neighborhood, begging filmmakers to forged her in films. By the age of 11, she had chosen her stage identify — Anna Might Wong — and some years later landed her first position as an uncredited additional within the 1919 film The Crimson Lantern.
Regardless of the optimistic evaluations, racial obstacles prevented US filmmakers from providing her something however small, supporting roles based mostly on racial stereotypes. Bored with being handed over for main roles, Wong moved to Europe in 1928. There, she made 1929’s Piccadilly, her final silent film and her first main position in an English film, in addition to her first talkie in 1930, The Flame of Love. She additionally appeared on the stage with a younger Laurence Olivier.
After her return to Hollywood in 1930, Wong was forged reverse her shut buddy Marlene Dietrich in 1932’s Shanghai Categorical, handing over a efficiency that many movie historians choose as being higher than Dietrich’s.
She put the primary rivet within the Grauman’s Chinese language Theatre in 1926, however she wasn’t invited to go away prints within the cement. Her contribution to movie was marked with a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame in 1960. Her contributions have been additionally marked by a Google Doodle devoted in her honor in 2020.
Wong died in 1961.
