Last week we looked at Mary Pickford, a woman who undoubtedly opened a door into Hollywood for women. This week, we examine the woman who, while unable to open the door all the way for Asian-American entertainers, certainly was able to nudge it open a little wider: Anna May Wong.

Anna May Wong, originally Wong Liu Tsong, was born in Los Angeles, California in 1905 as a second generation immigrant. She grew up loving film, and would often skip school to go to auditions without her parents knowledge. At the age of 14, she landed her first role as an extra in The Red Lantern, which eventually led to her being cast in her first leading role at 16 in Bits of Life. Unfortunately, Wong was often cast as the stereotypical asian character: either the “Dragon Lady” or a “submissive butterfly”. Wong grew tired and angry of her constant typecasting, especially because it was not only limiting her work, but also her talent and ability to accurately represent Asian-Americans. She clearly expresses her frustration in this quote from a 1933 interview: “Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the villain of the piece, and so cruel a villain — murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass. We are not like that. How should we be, with a civilization that’s so many times older than that of the West. We have our own virtues. We have our rigid code of behavior, of honor. Why do they never show these on the screen?”. 

Wong decided to slowly end her career in Hollywood after being passed up for a Chinese-centered film,The Good Path, by an all-white cast. Wong was furious at the lack of accurate representation and, if possible, was even more offended when the producers offered her the role as the only deceptive character in the entire film (Btw- the actress who was cast in the role that Wong auditioned for won an Oscar for her performance). After this catastrophe, Wong finished out her contract with a line of B movies which actually allowed her creative freedom. One of her characters even got to kiss the white male lead characters, which was prohibited at the time due to rules about censoring interracial relationships in entertainment. Ironically enough, after moving on from Hollywood and choosing to pursue Opera in China, she was turned down for being “too American”. 

Later in her life, Wong returned to the States to star in her own Tv show: The Gallery of Madame. This was the first U.S. television show to star an Asian-American entertainer, let alone be written specifically for them. Even though Anna May Wong didn’t do one “great” thing for her community, she made a lot of smaller moves and comments that eventually led to a change. Much like Mary Pickford, Anna May Wong needed to be cautious about where and when they spoke out of fear for their careers, but Wong had an extra layer of caution because she represented an extremely marginalized community. Yet even without a grand gesture, Anna May Wong was still able to nudge the door open just a little wider for all Asian-American entertainers by standing up to the stereotypes created by western entertainment about Asian culture.

References

https://www.biography.com/actor/anna-may-wong

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/anna-may-wong

Shen, Ann. “Anna May Wong.” Bad Girls throughout History: 100 REMARKABLE Women Who Changed the World, by Ann Shen, Chronicle Books, 2016, pp. 122–123.