7 Facts About Anna May Wong - Page 4 of 9

She was also the first Asian to star in a Hollywood film

In addition to being her first major role, Wong made history with The Toll of the Sea as the first Asian to get top billing in a Hollywood production. The film is a somewhat loose adaptation of the Madame Butterfly story, wherein an American man has a romance with a demure and ultimately tragic Chinese heroine, a trope Wong found herself returning to many times over her career. “Madame Butterfly had been adapted for the screen before, but it starred sound-era superstar Mary Pickford in yellowface.