Six months after being immortalized by an American quarter, Asian American Hollywood pioneer Anna Mae Wong She received another accolade that confirms her iconic status – her very own Barbie.
Mattel On Monday, she announced the launch of the Anna Mae Wong doll in Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
The figure has her hallmark, well-manicured eyebrows and nails. The doll wears a red gown with a sparkly golden dragon design and a cape inspired by her appearance in the 1934 movie “Limehouse Blues.”
Wong’s niece, Anna Wong, blessed her She worked closely with the brand to develop the look for Barbie.
“I didn’t hesitate at all. It was such an honor and exciting,” Wong told the Associated Press in an email. “I wanted to make sure her facial features and clothes were correct. And they did! “
As a child, Anna Wong owned a Barbie doll, Skipper (Barbie’s little sister), a Barbie dream house, and a car. She loves the idea that Asian children will now have a doll that looks like them.
The doll is part of the Barbie “Inspirational Women” series. which features puppets in the shape of pioneers. Past inspirations include aviator Amelia Earhart and artist Frida Kahlo.
“As the first Asian American actress to lead an American television show, and her tenacity broke down barriers to gender and the AAPI community in film and television, Anna May Wong is the perfect fit for the Barbie Inspiring Women Series,” Lisa McKnight, executive vice president of Mattel, said in a statement. .
Born in Los Angeles, the Chinese-American actor is considered the first major Asian American movie star. She got her start during the silent film era of the 1920s and gained international recognition for films such as The Thief of Bagdad as well as her fashion sense. In the 1930s, Anna Mae Wong played opposite stars such as Marlene Dietrich in the movie “Shanghai Express”. But in 1937 she lost the role of a Chinese villager in The Good Earth to Louise Rainer, a white actress who won an Oscar for Best Actress.
In the following decades, Anna Mae Wong went to Europe to work. But she later returned to the United States in 1951, leading her own television show, “Madame Liu Cong’s Show.” The short-lived mystery series is believed to be the first with an Asian American hero.
In another first, she was the first Asian American woman to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. She died a year later at the age of 56.