Anna May Wong will be the first Asian American to be featured on U.S. currency.
NBC News says quarters with Wong’s likeness will enter general circulation on Monday. The coins are a part of a program to put notable women on quarters.
Wong was born in 1905 in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. She was inspired by film shoots she saw around her neighborhood.
“I would play hookey from school to watch the crews at work, though I knew I would get a whipping from my teacher, and later from my father, for it,” Wong is quoted as saying in the book “Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong,” by Anthony Chan, according to The New York Times. “I would worm my way through the crowd and get as close to the cameras as I dared. I’d stare and stare at these glamorous individuals, directors, cameramen, assistants and actors in greasepaint, who had come down into our section of town to make movies.”
Wong is considered one of America’s first Asian American movie stars. According to NPR, she starred in 60 films, many during the silent film era.
The Chinese American actress struggled to get roles during Hollywood’s “yellow face” era. Producers often preferred to hire white actors and actresses for Asian roles, using make-up and costumes to make them seem Asian. Wong was also frequently given stereotypical Asian American roles.
According to NPR, Wong moved to Europe to pursue acting after becoming disillusioned with her experience in Hollywood.
“Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the villain of the piece, and so cruel a villain — murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass,” she told the LA Times, according to NPR. “We are not like that.”
Hollywood is currently working on a biopic about Wong’s life.
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