Asian American Pioneers

In the early times of filmmaking, Asian Americans had a certain grasp on the people of America. One of the most famous Asian American actors was Sessue Hayakawa and he became a huge symbol for not just Asian Americans, but the American film industry as a whole. However, this role didn't stop people from hating Hayakawa. Throughout all the films he stared in, he was typecast as a stereotypical Japanese man, and almost nothing else. During the 1920's, racism towards Asian American actors only got worse, leading most of them to leave in industry in search of something new. These actors and actresses are significant however because of their huge affect on what Americans believed about film. They changed peoples expectations from the normal white american stars to people of every race. Without a lot of these Asian American actors and actresses, we might not have the racially diverse industry that we have today.