Huang Liushuang, the first Chinese-American Hollywood movie star
Following Bruce Lee, an exhibition of the life of Anna May Wong, known as the first Chinese-American Hollywood film star, will be on display at the newly opened academy museum of motion pictures between Nov. 13 and 27.
Although there are many Asian-American actors currently active in Hollywood, Huang Liushuang (January 3, 1905 – February 2, 1961) was the first Asian-American actress to gain international fame, opening the door for later Asians to enter Hollywood. Her career spans silent films, sound films, television dramas, stage plays, and radio dramas. Huang Liushuang also occupies a place in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is the first Chinese actress to stay in Hollywood.
Born near Los Angeles' Chinatown neighborhood, Huang Liushuang is a third-generation Chinese-American with ancestral home in Taishan, Guangdong. Huang Liushuang was only a lonely little actor in 1919's "Red Light", and first appeared in the cast list in 1921's "Bits of Life". In 1922, she became a hit with "The Toll of the Sea," followed by 1929's piccadilly, Shanghai Express, 1937's Daughter of Shanghai, 1942's Lady from Chungking, and 1931's Dragon Girl. （daughter of the dragon）。
For example, in 1935, MGM rejected Huang Liushuang as an Asian heroine in a movie, and instead let the German actress Luise Rainer play the role of yellow skin. The following year, she traveled to China and visited her father in her hometown, where she studied Chinese culture in Chinese and Peking Opera with Mei Lanfang. During World War II, she faded out of the film and television industry, focusing on supporting China's War of Resistance, and resumed her acting career after the war. In 1951, she began working on the American television series The Gallery of Madame Liu-tsong. She died in 1961 at the age of 56 when she planned to perform on "Flower Drum Song." In the decades after her death, Huang Liushuang's memories are mainly typical and distorted images of the East in the eyes of Westerners. It wasn't until the 100th anniversary of Huang Liushuang's birth that her life and acting career were re-evaluated in three mainstream literary works and her film retrospectives.
The Oscar Museum, which documents major events, characters and works in the history of cinema, certainly does not forget the works left by Huang Liushuang and the significance of her opening the door for more Asian actors. At the same time, the Oscar Museum will not avoid the unfair treatment of these Chinese actors at work and the stereotypical portrayal of Chinese on the big screen. It's all part of the history of American cinema.