Anna May Wong: An Intimate Portrait

Summary

A BIOGRAPHY OF ANNA MAY WONG, THE FIRST CHINESE AMERICAN HOLLYWOOD STAR

In this book, leading Anna May Wong expert Shirley Jennifer Lim reveals the triumphs, setbacks, fame, and scandal of the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood. Wong’s legacy spans through her fifty-plus films, pathbreaking television series, sumptuous fashion looks, Broadway and vaudeville shows, iconic photographs, groundbreaking journalism, and global fame, making her one of the only Asian American actors to become a household name. Yet, to achieve all this required perseverance in the face of cinematic and theatrical rejection and daunting societal barriers, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and racialized housing segregation.

Wong defied expectations in many ways—by rejecting a heteronormative lifestyle, engaging in wild sexual encounters and a debauched night life, and striking up friendships with a wide array of cultural figures, including Walter Benjamin, Marlene Dietrich, Philip Ahn, Carl Van Vechten, Blanche Knopf, and Paul Robeson. Her unique life story sheds light on what it meant to be a trailblazing actress almost a century ago.

Anna May Wong uses the actress’s own personal correspondence and creative endeavors such as her writings published in the New York Herald Tribune and her self-made film about China (broadcast on ABC) to tell the story of the “World’s Most Beautiful Chinese” American woman who rose past the boundaries of the silent and studio eras of white Hollywood. A story of tenacity and determination, Anna May Wong shows the real woman behind the actress’s facade and will inspire a new generation of writers, image creators, fashionistas, and television and film enthusiasts in the twenty-first century.