Sessue Hayakawa - who?

The mysterious Sessue Hayakawa

Pictured above is one of my newest idols, Sessue Hayakawa. You may be asking....Sessue-who? When I first heard about him, I had a similar reaction - who is this Sessue Hayakawa and why have I never known of him?

Born on June 10, 1889 as Hayakawa Kintaro, Sessue was one of the very first and only mainstream ANA actors. Since the times of Sessue, no other ANA actor has been able to achieve his popularity and romantic status icon. Starring in silent romance films across famous leading Caucasian actresses, Sessue was often typecasted as the exotic forbidden lover and villains yet still managed to be a top leading man from 1910-1920.

Sessue was even nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance in The Bridge on the River Kwai. 

In 1918, frustrated from playing the same typecasted roles, Sessue started up his own production company in order to help other aspiring Asian actors. He was tired of playing the villain and stated "My one ambition is to play a hero."

I am dissappointed that besides Sessue Hayakawa, other 'mainstream' Asian actors that we have been exposed to are now typecasted as martial artists. For example, when one thinks about ANA actors, one immediately pictures Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li kicking someone's ass out of a window. It's absurd - where are the normal roles for ANA actors? Why can't an ANA actor be a hero?

Sessue Hayakawa had political forces working against him such as in 1930 where the production code had prohibited the portrayal of interracial relationships on screen - this reflected the anti-miscegenation laws that were passed in the Americas. So in a sense it is understandable that he was not able to play a hero during his time. However, what is preventing current ANA actors from playing heroes ( who don't know kung fu) in mainstream Hollywood movies? Perhaps, even though we would like to forget the past..... the past still lingers as..... it was only a few decades since the last act of anti Asianism. ( I know that is not a word but I could not think of another word)