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Anna May Wong

Highest Rated: 100% Forty Winks (1925)

Lowest Rated: 20% King of Chinatown (1939)

Birthday: Jan 3, 1905

Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA

The first Chinese-American movie star, Anna May Wong spent her life struggling against prevailing attitudes and discrimination and, in the end, proved too far ahead of her time to enjoy the career and life she deserved. Alternately considered "too Chinese" or "too American" by various audiences, Los Angeles native Wong achieved movie stardom in the first Technicolor film, "The Toll of the Sea" (1922). Frequently cast stereotypically as either a delicate victim or a menacing "dragon lady," Wong scored again in "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924) but struggled to find leading roles since law prohibited her kissing a co-star of a different race. After a stint in Europe, where she received the acclaim long denied her in America with such films as "Piccadilly" (1929), she returned home to appear in "Daughter of the Dragon" (1931) and "Shanghai Express" (1932). She suffered a major public blow when she was passed over for "The Good Earth" (1937) in favor of a Caucasian actress Luise Rainer in Asian-inspired makeup, and encountered animosity from white as well as Chinese audiences. She did go on to topline her own TV show, "The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong" (DuMont, 1951), before dying of a heart attack on Feb. 3, 1961. Immortalized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in a sculpture as one of four pioneering "Ladies of Hollywood," Anna May Wong never reached the heights her talent, charisma and beauty deserved, but remained a bit of a Golden Age cult icon whose glowing legacy grew stronger with each passing year.

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Highest rated movies

100% Forty Winks
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98% 83% Peter Pan
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97% 83% The Thief of Bagdad
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96% 79% Shanghai Express
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95% 67% Daughter of Shanghai
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93% 17% A Study in Scarlet
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89% 54% The Toll of the Sea
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82% 33% Lady From Chungking
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80% 75% Piccadilly
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78% Chu Chin Chow
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
40% 50% Portrait in Black Tawny (Character) - 1960
67% 57% Impact Su Lin (Character) - 1949
40% 50% Bombs Over Burma Lin Ying (Character) - 1942
82% 33% Lady From Chungking Kwan Mei (Character) - 1942
60% No Score Yet Island of Lost Men Kim Ling (Character) - 1939
20% No Score Yet King of Chinatown Dr. Mary Ling (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dangerous to Know Lan Ying (Character) - 1938
42% No Score Yet When Were You Born? Mei Lei Ming (Character) - 1938
95% 67% Daughter of Shanghai Lan Ying Lin (Character) - 1937
71% No Score Yet Java Head Princess Taou Yuen (Character) - 1934
No Score Yet No Score Yet East End Chant Tu Tuan (Character) - 1934
23% No Score Yet Limehouse Blues Tu Tuan (Character) - 1934
78% No Score Yet Chu Chin Chow Zahrat (Character) - 1934
93% 17% A Study in Scarlet Mrs. Pyke (Character) - 1933
96% 79% Shanghai Express Hui Fei (Character) - 1932
71% 31% Daughter of the Dragon Ling Moy (Character) - 1931
80% 75% Piccadilly Sho-Sho (Character) - 1929
No Score Yet No Score Yet Pavement Butterfly Hai-Tang (Character) - 1929
No Score Yet 43% Mr. Wu Loo Song (Character) - 1927
No Score Yet 30% Old San Francisco A Flower of the Orient (Character) - 1927
71% No Score Yet The Devil Dancer Sada (Character) - 1927
100% No Score Yet Forty Winks Annbelle Wu (Character) - 1925
98% 83% Peter Pan Tiger Lily (Character) - 1924
97% 83% The Thief of Bagdad The Mongol Slave (Character) - 1924
30% No Score Yet The Alaskan Keok (Character) - 1924
No Score Yet No Score Yet Drifting Rose Li (Character) - 1923
89% 54% The Toll of the Sea Lotus Flower (Character) - 1922
No Score Yet No Score Yet Shame Unknown (Character) - 1921
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dinty Unknown (Character) - 1920

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Family Affair Unknown (Guest Star) 1970
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp China Mary (Guest Star) 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet Climax! Unknown (Character) 1956 1958