The new documentary, Searching For Anna May Wong, explores the history of Asian culture in the movies and the problem some Asian actors face in the industry. Exploring the history of Asian culture in movies and TV, the documentary focuses on the first female Asian starlet, but also tackles stereotypes targeting Asians that persist in the industry today.
Five Things You Need to Know:
- With the help of several popular movie stars, this documentary tells the coming-of-age story of a young Asian-American actress navigating the convoluted and narrow paths of Hollywood.
- Anna May Wong was an American actress, considered to be the first Chinese American Hollywood movie star, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned silent film, sound film, television, stage, and radio. She was born in 1905 and died in 1961.
- Natasha Tina Liu is an American actress originally from Richmond, Virginia and started acting in several short films, soon evolving into guest starring roles and other projects. She told us, "The arts influence how people think of Asians and Asian Americans and it’s really important to get the people who want to pursue this path to actually do it, and I really hope aspiring actors watching this documentary really follow their dreams and achieve their goals."
- Filmmaker Quentin Lee believes "It’s really just a plea for the Asian American community to be supportive of artistic work and to become artists."
- Liu is also working on her own film after this pandemic eases up. She sense there's strong negative feeling towards Asians recently saying, "I feel like there’s been a lot of hate against Asians, specifically because our president calling it the 'kung flu' and people not being comfortable towards Asians."