Anna May Wong, the first Chinese-American actress to gain both national and international fame for her work on screen, is now engraved into metal. 

 Starting from the beginning of this year, a new program called the American Women Quarters Program, launched by the U.S. Mint, is issuing five new quarters each year until 2025, equalling to a total of 25 new quarters. It was created to celebrate the women pioneers of the U.S. who have never before been recognized. 

 The first quarter, launched back on February 7, was Maya Angelou, honoring her achievements. She is most known for performances on Broadway and her book “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.” The most recent quarter, launched on October 24, was Anna May Wong to the happiness of many, as she is the first Asian-American to appear on the quarter. 

 Wong Liu Tsong, better known as Anna May Wong, was the first Chinese-American actress to appear in Hollywood. Born in Los Angeles, California in 1905, she had wanted to become an actress since she was a child. 

 She starred in over 60 movies throughout America and Europe. Her most famous movie was in 1932, called “Shanghai Express”. Although she did not play the main female lead, she still played a prominent role. 

 Wong famously got passed up for a role in the movie The Good Earth. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1935, the film was inspired by the book of the same name. Pearl S. Buck, the author of the novel, wanted all of the cast to be Chinese and Chinese-American actors. However the producer, Irving Thalberg, who had initially agreed to such terms, backed out on the agreement. Both Thalberg and MGM never considered Wong for the role, as the Hays Code at the time required the lead actress to be white. Paul Muni and his wife Luise Rainer were chosen for the role and appeared in yellowface, which is the act of putting on makeup to imitate the appearance of an East Asian person for performance. Although Wong was offered the role of Lotus, the antagonist whose intentions were to destroy the family and seduce the family’s son, she turned it down. “If you let me play O-Lan, I will be very glad,” she said. “But you’re asking me – with Chinese blood – to do the only unsympathetic role in the picture featuring an all-American cast portraying Chinese characters.”

 Rainer later won an Oscar award for her performance, and Wong went on a year-long trip to China to connect more with her culture. 

 Wong created her own production company, Anna Wong Productions, in 1924. Unfortunately, it went bankrupt due to her partner’s dishonest business practices, leading to a lawsuit that dissolved the company. In 1951, she was the first Asian American to lead a television show in the U.S., titled The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong. The last movie Wong appeared in was titled Portrait in Black, which was released shortly before her death in 1961.