Anna May Wong, widely considered as the first Chinese-American Hollywood star will feature on the reverse of the American quarter, know her cause of death and biography
Wong is set to join the likes of other famous American women icons like Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, and Wilma Mankiller.
Know Who Is Anna May Wong Latest Person To Feature On American Quarter Currency, Biography, Age, Family, Husband, Movies List, Cause Of Death
Actress Anna May Wong set to become the first Asian American to appear on US currency as part of a program honoring prominent American women throughout history. pic.twitter.com/Xoz18mDgg9
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) October 18, 2022
Anna May Wong, a Hollywood film star who had a trailblazing career, will be the first Asian American featured on U.S. currency. The U.S. Mint on Monday will begin producing quarters with her image. https://t.co/EG9aRoET5Z pic.twitter.com/WxwWVvVyy5
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 18, 2022
Anna May Wong is considered one of the first Chinese-American Hollywood stars. She was also very popular during her era as one of the biggest fashion icons.
Wong will now find her place on the reverse of the US quarter.
Project American Women Quarters
Wong is one of the first American women to be featured on US currency as part of the American Women Quarters initiative.
She will join a list of other famous American women like Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, Wilma Mankiller, and Adelina Otero-Warren.
Anna May Wong Brief Bio
Anna May Wong, whose birth name was Wong Liu-tsong, was born on January 3, 1905, on Los Angeles’ Flower Street, just one block away from the city’s Chinatown.
Her parents’ names were Wong Sam Sing and Lee Gon Toy and Wong was the second of their seven children. She was her father’s daughter from his second marriage
Wong Sam Sing had another family in China before he married Lee Gon Toy in the United States.
During her childhood, the future Hollywood star attended public school with her older sister. However, due to harsh racial discrimination, she later enrolled into a Chinese Presbyterian school.
It was also the time when the upcoming American film industry began transferring its centre from the East Coast to Los Angeles.
As a kid, movies always greatly fascinated Wong. She went as far as missing school to watch films at the Nickelodeon movie theatres.
Anna May Wong Career
Wong began asking producers for roles and came up with her screen name by the time she was 11.
Her first role in a film was as an extra in The Red Lantern. She then secured her first screen credit in the year 1921 for the world’s first anthology film, “Bits of Life”.
Following that, Wong performed her first leading role in the film The Toll of the Sea, for which she received a lot of positive reviews.
Despite her success and the positive reviews, Wong always faced difficulties in getting the role of a leading lady. One of the main reasons was due to the anti-miscegenation laws of the country, which prevented her from sharing an onscreen kiss with anyone but an Asian actor.
European Success
In spite of her talents, producers only offered her roles based on the new stereotype of the femme fatale in America.
As such, tired of playing the same roles in Hollywood, Wong shifted her work to Europe in 1928. There, she starred in a number of notable movies and theatre productions.
She also built friendships with some of the most notable film personalities of her time like the German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, as well as actors Marlene Dietrich and Cecil Cunningham.
Following her European success, Wong returned to the US but still continued facing discrimination.
Over the course of time, Wong decided to turn towards stage performances and cabaret to nurture her artistic side. She died in 1961 at the age of 56 of a heart attack.
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