Hollywood’s Anna May Wong to become first Asian American on U.S. currency

Oct 19 (Reuters) – The U.S. Mint will characteristic an Asian American on its forex for the primary time when it points a coin subsequent week engraved with the picture of actress Anna Could Wong, who labored in Hollywood throughout a time of open racism and stereotyping.

1 / 4-dollar coin that includes a profile of Wong along with her signature bangs and lengthy fingernails will start circulating on Tuesday as a part of the American Ladies Quarters Program, the U.S. Mint mentioned in a press release.

“Together with the exhausting work, willpower and talent Anna Could Wong dropped at the career of performing, I feel it was her face and expressive gestures that actually captivated film audiences, so I included these components,” mentioned Mint designer Emily Damstra, who helped create the coin.

Wong was born in 1905 in Los Angeles as Wong Liu Tsong. She was solid in her first position as an additional within the movie “The Purple Lantern” in 1919 at age 14 and her first main position in 1922 within the “The Toll of the Sea”.

She went on to seem in additional than 60 movies together with one of many first motion pictures made in Technicolor. She grew to become the primary Asian American lead actor in a U.S. tv present for her position in “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong” in 1951.

Regardless of her success, Wong confronted anti-Asian discrimination and racism in Hollywood the place she was typecast, underpaid and handed up for main roles, forcing her to go to Europe to behave in movies, and to London and New York to carry out in theater. Wong died in 1961.

“The fifth coin in our American Ladies Quarters Program honors Anna Could Wong, a brave advocate who championed for elevated illustration and extra multi-dimensional roles for Asian American actors,” Mint Director Ventris Gibson mentioned.

Creator and civil rights champion Maya Angelou and astronaut Sally Experience, the primary American girl to enter area, have additionally been honored with cash within the collection.

Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, Enhancing by Angus MacSwan

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