in old Hollywood
Notable Trail-Blazers
The fight toward a more inclusive Asian American Hollywood was greatly reinforced by the people mentioned below. Paving the way as early Hollywood Asian actors, alongside their female co-stars, they too fought to create a better space for Asian Americans
Sessue Hayakawa
- Rintaro Hayakawa -
In 1910 he was the highest-paid Hollywood actor and even founded his own Hollywood studio, Haworth Pictures Corp, as he was tired of being subjected to being typecast as a hot villain. Born in Japan, he fell in love with the theatre in LA where he later got scouted while in University. Because of his good looks, he quickly became a sex symbol even among white women.
His first movie in 1914 was called The Typhoon where he played a Japanese diplomat who strangles the girl he had an affair with. In The Cheat he shared an interracial kiss with a white woman.
Hayakawa then moved to Europe because Hollywood's anti-Japanese situation made it hard for him to get a role. When he returned his thick accent only gave him character roles
Bruce Lee
Enter The Dragon has grown into such a popular movie but it was only released after his death, being the only Hollywood movie he had. Bruce Lee lived in LA, wanting to be a successful Hollywood movie star but his journey to fame wasn't simple. His martial arts pitch to Warner Bros was rejected which led him to return back to Hong Kong. There, he made successful martial arts movies like Way of Dragon and Fist of Fury. Only then was Bruce Lee invited to play the role with Warner Bros.
With just 1 movie, Bruce Lee challenged and opened new doors for Asian men to be strong and sexy instead of the scrawny, evil, and weak stereotype depicted before.