New Barbie celebrates Asian American Hollywood trailblazer Anna May Wong
Six months after she was immortalized with a U.S. quarter, Asian American Hollywood trailblazer Anna May Wong has acquired one other accolade affirming her icon standing — her personal Barbie.
Mattel introduced Monday the discharge of an Anna May Wong doll for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
The determine has her trademark bangs, eyebrows and well-manicured nails. The doll is wearing a purple robe with a shiny golden dragon design and cape, impressed by her look within the 1934 film “Limehouse Blues.”
Wong’s niece, Anna Wong, gave her blessing and labored intently with the model to develop the Barbie’s look.
“I did not hesitate at all. It was such an honour and so exciting,” Wong instructed The Associated Press in an e mail. “I wanted to make sure they got her facial features and clothing correct. And they did!”
As a baby, Anna Wong owned a Barbie and Skipper doll (Barbie’s little sister) and a Barbie dream home and automotive. She loves the concept that Asian kids will now have a doll who appears like them.
The doll is a part of the Barbie “Inspiring Women” sequence, which options dolls within the likeness of pioneering girls. Past inspirations embrace aviator Amelia Earhart and artist Frida Kahlo.
“As the first Asian American actor to lead a U.S. television show, whose perseverance broke down barriers for her gender and AAPI community in film and TV, Anna May Wong is the perfect fit for our Barbie Inspiring Women Series,” Lisa McKnight, an govt vice chairman at Mattel, stated in a press release.
Born in Los Angeles, the Chinese American actor is taken into account the primary main Asian American film star. She began out throughout the silent film period within the Nineteen Twenties and gained worldwide discover in movies like “The Thief of Bagdad” in addition to for her trend sense. In the Nineteen Thirties, Anna May Wong was performing reverse stars like Marlene Dietrich in “Shanghai Express.” But in 1937, she misplaced the lead position of a Chinese villager in “The Good Earth” to Luise Rainer, a white actor who went on to win a greatest actress Oscar.
In the following many years, Anna May Wong went to Europe to behave. But she later returned to the U.S. In 1951, she led her personal tv present, “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong.” The short-lived thriller sequence was believed to be the primary with an Asian American lead.
In one other first, she was the primary Asian American girl to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for performing in 1960. She died a 12 months later at age 56.
This picture launched by Mattel exhibits a Barbie doll within the picture of Asian American Hollywood trailblazer Anna May Wong, a part of their Inspiring Women Series. The doll is wearing a frock impressed by Wong’s look within the 1934 film ‘Limehouse Blues,’ a purple robe with a shiny golden dragon design and cape. (Mattel through AP)
