Early movie star Anna May Wong will be the first Asian American to be featured on U.S. currency, nearly 100 years after her first film role.
The U.S. Mint will begin shipping quarter coins featuring her likeness Monday.
Dubbed the first Asian American Hollywood star, Wong overcame intense racism and discrimination to sustain her 40-year career in silent and sound film, theater and radio.
Born in Los Angeles, Wong started acting at 14 and took a lead role in “The Toll of the Sea” in 1922. She struggled to land mainstream roles and break from negative typecasting, as early 20th century Hollywood was a time of “yellowface,” when white people wore makeup and clothes to “appear” Asian, so industry heads could avoid casting Asian actors. There were also anti-miscegenation laws, which criminalized interracial relationships, limiting the sorts of roles Wong and other Asian American actresses could take.
To properly carve out space for herself in the industry, Wong moved to Europe in the 1920s, hoping to escape the racism she faced. She later returned to the US to make hit films, including “Shanghai Express,” a 1932 romance movie that became one of Wong’s best-known roles. She also became known for her fashion, since her looks often fused flapper-era styles with traditional Chinese gowns.
Wong championed the need for Asian and Asian American representation on screen and appeared in over 60 movies throughout her career. In 1960, the year before she died, she recieved a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“Many prominent actors from the 1920s and 1930s saw their name framed by lightbulbs on movie theater marquees, so I thought it made sense to feature Anna May Wong in this way,” said the coin’s designer, Emily Damstra, in a press release. “Along with the hard work, determination, and skill Anna May Wong brought to the profession of acting, I think it was her face and expressive gestures that really captivated movie audiences, so I included these elements next to her name.”
Mint director Ventris Gibson called Wong “a courageous advocate who championed for increased representation and more multi-dimensional roles for Asian American actors.”
Wong’s coin will start shipping Oct. 24. The actress’s coin is the fifth design in the American Women Quarters Program, celebrating groundbreaking women by placing them on quarter dollar coins. The other four quarters feature poet and activist Maya Angelou; the first American woman in space, Sally Ride; Cherokee Nation leader Wilma Mankiller; and suffragist Nina Otero-Warren.
