Anna May Wong Was Breaking Glass Ceilings Before Your Grandma Was Born

There’s a new face on the quarter, and it's one whose history has long been obscured despite breaking glass ceilings and racial barriers in the United States and Hollywood. Yup, Anna May Wong is making history as the very first Asian American to be featured on the quarter this month.

Wong’s quarter, which depicts the glamorous Hollywood actress facing forwards with her chin gently resting on her hand, will go into circulation on Oct. 24, according to the US Mint. The new quarter marks the fifth coin in the American Women Quarters Program, which celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women to the development and history of the United States.

"She is remembered as an international film star, fashion icon, television trailblazer, and a champion for greater representation of Asian Americans in film. She continues to inspire actors and filmmakers today," the Mint said in its press release.

Whether you've heard Anna May Wong's name before and want to know more, or if you're learning about this incredible, trailblazing woman for the first time, here’s everything to know about her.

Who is Anna May Wong?

Anna May Wong is considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, the Mint explained. Born in Los Angeles in 1905, Wong, who was born Wong Liu Tsong, was one of seven children, and her parents owned a laundry outside of Los Angeles' Chinatown, according to the New York Historical Society. She started acting in her teens and quickly became a big star, with roles in movies, TV, and theater.

Wong adopted a glamorous flapper lifestyle in her adult life and broke all kinds of barriers as both a woman and an Asian American. She was even featured in one of the first movies made in Technicolor and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, just before her death.

Which movies was she in?

Wong actually landed her first role at age 14 as an extra in The Red Lantern, before going on to star in more than 60 films, according to the US Mint and New York Historical Society. Those films included:

• The Toll of the Sea

• Piccadilly

• Daughter of Shanghai

• Tiger Bay

• Shanghai Express

She also became the first Asian American lead actor in an American television show for her 1951 role in The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong.

Why did she leave Hollywood?

Wong faced a lot of discrimination coming of age in America in the early 20th Century. At that time, people of Chinese descent had to carry identification papers proving they were allowed to be in the country as a result of the Chinese Exclusion Act, a federal law which prohibited and restricted Chinese immigration to the country, per The New York Historical Society. Wong was also regularly asked to compete against white actresses wearing "yellowface" for roles, and she was given demeaning, stereotypical roles, often playing a passive woman or villain.

Wong took her talents abroad, and while she found a lot of success overseas, she kept returning to Hollywood. Later in her life, she was reportedly devastated after losing a part in an adaptation of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth to Luise Rainer, a white actress in yellowface, according to the New York Historical Society. Her career eventually started to fade.

Did Anna May Wong ever marry?

She never married, according to Biography.

Where is she now?

Wong died in 1961 at the age of 56, according to Biography. Her official cause of death was a heart attack, but she had liver disease for years before her death.

Now, her face and story will be commemorated on American currency for years to come.

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