Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned vaudeville, silent film, sound film, television, stage, and radio.
After starting as an extra at age 14, Wong landed her first leading role at 17 in The Toll of the Sea (1922), the first feature film made in two-color Technicolor. She gained further national prominence in The Thief of Bagdad (1924) as a Mongol slave. Despite her talent, Hollywood’s anti-miscegenation laws (and later the Hays Code) prevented her from kissing white male leads. This restricted her to supporting roles, often portraying “Dragon Lady” or “Butterfly” stereotypes, while lead Asian roles were frequently given to white actors in “yellowface” makeup.
Frustrated by discrimination, Wong moved to Europe. She found greater success and artistic freedom in Germany and England, starring in acclaimed films like Piccadilly (1929) and performing on the London stage with Laurence Olivier in The Circle of Chalk. Wong mastered French and German to maintain her career during the transition to sound film. Her voice was highly praised; after receiving criticism for her accent, she trained with a tutor to acquire an upper-class English accent.
Returning to Hollywood in 1930, she signed with Paramount and starred in Daughter of the Dragon (1931) and famously appeared alongside Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express (1932). In the biggest setback of her career, MGM refused to cast her as the lead character O-Lan in The Good Earth, choosing white actress Luise Rainer instead. Wong rejected a secondary "villainous" role in the film as a form of protest.
In the late 1930s, she starred in several “B” movies for Paramount, such as Daughter of Shanghai (1937) and King of Chinatown (1939), where she finally played more positive, non-stereotypical roles like a heroine or a surgeon.
Throughout these decades, Wong was a major style trendsetter. In 1934, the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York voted her the “world’s best-dressed woman.” She was famous for her “boss bob” with bangs and her unique “flapper” style, often blending traditional Chinese elements (like silk cheongsams/qipaos) with modern Western fashion. She used her clothing to reclaim her identity, sometimes embroidering her Chinese name, Wong Liu Tsong, into her garments in gilded thread.
Below is a collection of 25 amazing postcards of Anna May Wong in the 1920s and 1930s:
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