Asian Americans

Anna May Wong Will Be 1st Asian American Featured on US Currency

Wong, who is considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, is the fifth and final woman to be individually featured on a quarter this year

Wong's Rose
General Photographic Agency/Getty Images

The trailblazing Chinese American actress Anna May Wong will be the first Asian American featured on U.S. currency as part of a program that includes notable women on American quarters.

Wong, who is considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, is the fifth and final woman to be individually featured on a quarter this year.

The quarter, which will enter general circulation on Monday, will feature President George Washington on one side and Wong on the other. 

United States Mint
A quarter featuring Anna May Wong. Wong's career spanned motion pictures, television, and theatre and left a lasting legacy for Asian American women in the entertainment industry.

Wong, whose birth name was Wong Liu Tsong, was born in Los Angeles in 1905 to Chinese immigrants, according to IMDB. She was cast in her first role at 14 as an extra in the film “The Red Lantern” and continued to take on smaller parts until her lead role in “The Toll of the Sea” in 1922.

Wong had a substantial acting career despite the limited roles available to actors of Asian descent in Hollywood at the time and anti-miscegenation laws that prevented her from kissing any person of another race, according to the New York Historical Society Museum and Library.

Read the full story here on NBCNews.com

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