Tony Leung Chiu-wai just celebrated his 60th birthday. There was much hype about him when the American superhero film he starred in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings came out in 2021. Later in 2022, the hit movie Everything Everywhere All at Once came out and his co-star in the superhero film, Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng became the talk of the town. Artistes of Chinese descent making waves in Hollywood isn't however a new thing. Even in the silent film era, there was always Wong Liu-tsong 黄柳霜 , more popularly known as Anna May Wong. Anna however, was American born. During her time, her being American of Chinese descent prevented her from being a leading lady. She would be offered instead stereotypical supporting roles which depicted Asian female characters as either being naïve and self-sacrificing or sly and deceitful. Lead Asian character roles were offered to non-Asian actresses and Anna would complain, I was so tired of the parts I had to play. There seems little for me in Hollywood, because, rather than real Chinese, producers prefer Hungarians, Mexicans, American Indians for Chinese...
No prizes for identifying Anna May Wong!
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