Toshia Mori was Hollywood's first Japanese American actress during the sound era. Born Toshiye Ichioka in Kyoto, Japan in 1912, she arrived in the US with her parents and 3 siblings in 1920. Her first acting role came in 1927 with the silent film, Mr. Wu, featuring fellow Asian actress Anna May Wong and several non-Asian actors donning yellowface. After a few other small roles, she returned to Japan dissatisfied. She returned in 1930 at the dawn of the Hollywood silent film era. In 1931 she was announced as the female lead in a new film to portray a Chinese assassin. However the part ultimately was given to a white actress in #yellowface with Mori relegated to a menial role. She again went through a similar experience when it was said that she would play the lead role in "Madame Butterfly" but the part instead went to an actress in yellowface. Mori was named Columbia Pictures "WAMPAS Baby Star" (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers), a prestigious recognition at the time. In a promotional piece for the award, Mori is described by the host as "a piece of Dresden china." She replies, “No, I’m not Chinese, I’m Japanese," and the host responds in a mocking Asian accent, "Oh, excuse please.” Historian Greg Robinson writes, "Alas, like Anna May Wong, [Mori] discovered that studio executives were largely unwilling to award meaningful roles to Asian women, and she retired from films in her mid-twenties. In one sense, this was the most generous stroke of timing for Mori: by leaving Hollywood and migrating to the East Coast, she escaped the government dragnet after Executive Order 9066." Read the full piece by Greg Robinson on Discover Nikkei *LINK IN BIO* Photo: #ToshiaMori in The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)