In an interview with Sexy Beijing, Professor Graham Russell Gao Hodges, author of Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend discusses the brilliant career, personal struggles, and historical importance of Anna May Wong, the first Chinese-American Hollywood icon. Born in Los Angeles to second-generation Chinese immigrants, Wong eventually became well-known through her roles in silent films, notably The Thief of Baghdad, her roles in early sound films, notablyDaughter of the Dragon and Shanghai Express, as well as for her reputation as a fashion icon and an embodiment of the flapper era. Despite her fame, however, Wong was forced to fight discrimination in Hollywood throughout her career, and she rarely was given the kind of starring roles that her talent and fame merited.

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