Actress Anna May Wong will be first Asian American to appear on U.S. currency

The U.S. Mint has announced that an Asian American will appear on its currency for the first time when it issues a coin next week engraved showing an image of actress Anna May Wong.

Anna May Wong was born Wong Liu Tsong, which means “willow frost” on Flower Street, Los Angeles.

A quarter-dollar coin showing a picture of Wong along her signature bangs and long fingernails will start circling on Tuesday as part of the American Women Quarters Program, the U.S. Mint said in a statement.

“Along with the hard work, determination and skill Anna May Wong brought to the profession of acting, I think it was her face and expressive gestures that really captivated movie audiences, so I included these elements,” said Mint designer Emily Damstra, who was part of the team who created the coin.

Wong’s first role was an extra in the move “The Red Lantern” in 1919 at age 14. Her first leading role came three years later in the “The Toll of the Sea”.

Wong went on to appear in more than 60 films, starting off by starring in silent films and then appearing in one of the first movies made in color. She became the first Asian American to be cast lead actor in a U.S. television show for her role in “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong” in 1951.

“The fifth coin in our American Women Quarters Program honors Anna May Wong, a courageous advocate who championed for increased representation and more multi-dimensional roles for Asian American actors,” Mint Director Ventris Gibson said.

Despite her success in Hollywood, Wong remained frustrated with some of her roles. In a 1933 magazine interview, later quoted in The LA Times, Wong explained the reasons for her leaving the United States and accepting work elsewhere.

“I was so tired of the parts I had to play,” Wong said during the interview. “Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the villain of the piece, and so cruel a villain-murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass. We are not like that.”