Biography

Anna May Wong was born on January 3, 1905 in the Chinatown area of Los Angeles, California. The second child of eight children, her birth name was Wong Liu Tsong, which means “Frosted Yellow Willows.” She was given the English name Anna May by her family. When Wong was born, the family lived in a diverse neighborhood and the children attended California Street public elementary school. However, Wong and her older sister were teased and bullied because of their race. Wong’s parents later moved them to the Chinese Mission School in Chinatown where they were welcomed.

When film production moved from New York to California in the 1910s, Wong started visiting movie sets. She would often skip school and use her lunch money to go to the movies. At the age of nine, she decided she wanted to become a movie star. In 1919, a casting call went out for Chinese women in the new film called The Red Lantern. She was then cast as an extra and was asked to carry a lantern in one of the scenes.

Wong continued to work as an extra in many movies while still attending school. In 1921, Wong dropped out of Los Angeles High School to become an actress full-time. That same year, she landed a role as Toy Ling’s wife in the film Bits of Life. At age seventeen, Wong landed her first leading role in The Toll of the Sea (1922), the first feature length film made by Technicolor. This movie was a silent version of a movie called Madame Butterfly.

Wong continued to audition for lead roles, but she was always cast as a supporting character or as typical “Asian characters." Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States at the time prevented interracial marriages and even prevented interracial actors from kissing on-screen. This prevented Wong from landing some leading roles in romantic movies. In March of 1924, she created her own production company called Anna May Wong Productions, so she could make her own films about her culture. 

After many years trying to work in American films, Wong left Hollywood due to the constant discrimination. She moved to Europe where she starred in many plays and films. In the 1930s, Paramount Studios in the United States contacted Wong and promised her leading roles upon her return. Wong returned to the United States and starred in the Broadway production of On the Spot.

In the 1950s, Wong became the first Asian American to lead a US television show for her work on The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong. Wong died on February 3, 1961 of a heart attack. She was 56 years old. After her death, the Asian-American Arts Awards and the Asian Fashion Designers group named annual awards after her.

“Biography: Anna May Wong.” Biography: Anna May Wong, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/anna-may-wong. Accessed 7 Mar. 2024.