The woman with a wry smile in Wednesday’s Google Doodle is considered to be the first Asian-American movie star -and she still has something to teach Hollywood nearly a century after she broke into it.
The slideshow of artwork depicting Anna May Wong comes on the 97th anniversary of the general release of ”The Toll of the Sea,” in which she claimed her first starring role.
Wong, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, could be seen on the big screen from the 1920s to the 1960s. Although he was cast in the most stereotypical roles in his early career in the United States. But she moved to Europe in the late 1920s where she worked with some of the biggest names of the day like Laurence Olivier, Leni Riefenstahl, and Marlene Dietrich.
But he did what might be his most famous work ”Shanghai Express” when he returned to the United States at 1930.
Sophie Diao, a photo-artist for Google, said she wished she knew Wang when she was a kid looking for Chinese-American role models in Hollywood.
”Asian American actors are still shown on the map. So surprisingly, Anna-May Wong was so active at the beginning of film history. Bridging the gap between silent films and Talkies,” Diao said.
That conversation about representation continues in modern Hollywood.
In 2017, the social media campaign ”ExpressiveAsians was launched from sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen’s book ”ReelnInequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism,” which quotes an unnamed casting director said it was a challenge to cast Asian actors because they are seen as not very ”expressive.”
The following year ”Crazy Rich Asians” saw great critical acclaim. The renowned actress was the only fourth generation of the Asian generation to be nominated for Best Actress by an Actress in a Comedy Movie for Music taken at the Golden Globes.
