The hottest actor in Hollywood never got the girl.
June 10, 1886: Sessue Hayakawa, one of the first Hollywood stars, was born in Japan.
He was a silent film star, an international celebrity, and arguably Hollywood’s first sex symbol. But because he was Japanese, he was never allowed to get the girl.
Sessue Hayakawa exploded onto the screen in 1915’s The Cheat — playing a wealthy, seductive villain. The movie was a sensation. And so was he. Women across America were captivated. He was soon commanding up to $2 million a year — equivalent to about $28 million today. At his peak, he was mentioned in the same breath as Charlie Chaplin, regarded as one of the most bankable stars of the silent era.
But behind the stardom was deep conflict.
He had a fan base that included millions of white women, and was adored for his roles as a dark, brooding romantic lead. But there was one thing he almost never got to do on screen: end up with the girl.
Because the girl was white.
Anti-miscegenation laws meant Hayakawa could never be shown kissing or marrying a white actress on screen.
So instead of leading man roles with happy endings, Hayakawa was often cast as a tragic villain or a doomed lover. His breakthrough performance in The Cheat (1915) was a box office success, but deeply controversial. It played on stereotypes of the “exotic” and violent Asian male, and ended with Hayakawa branding a white woman with a hot iron.
Many in the Japanese American community were appalled by the stereotypes in The Cheat. In fact, the Japanese American newspaper Rafu Shimpo called for a boycott. Hayakawa later even apologized and said, “My one ambition is to play a hero.”
Over time, the roles got even smaller. Hollywood began offering Hayakawa only the most stereotyped roles: generic “Orientals” who were either villains, background heavies, or noble figures doomed to sacrifice themselves for white protagonists.
Eventually, he left Hollywood.
And years later, he returned — older, wiser, and still commanding the screen. Eventually, in 1957, he received an Academy Award nomination for The Bridge on the River Kwai — playing a complex, nuanced Japanese officer.
He not only played the leads in Hollywood films, he also led the way for others to follow.