Maybe it is just because I've lived abroad for ten years, but I think many of the greatest divas are not American.
Sophia Loren, Italy
Anita Ekberg, Sweden
Hildegard Knef, Germany (also an amazing singer. Check out the video.)
Isabelle Huppert, France (My daughter has Isabelle as a middle name in her honor.)
Helen Mirren, England
In compiling this list, I've realized I like my divas sexy and a bit naughty (except maybe Knef, but her voice is amazing, and Mirren, who is one of the best actresses alive. And in that picture she is definitely being of a sex-pot bad girl.) I guess that's what I hope myself to be, or it is at least my alter ego. To prove this, here is yet another self-portrait, taken from my now defective camera. May she rest in peace....
A friend of mine recently got a 1930s style flapper bob. Though she is not Asian, something about the hairstyle and her face reminded me of Anna May Wong.
You are not alone if you have never heard of Ms. Wong. An actress who started in the 1920s, Anna May was the first Chinese American actress. Though she was incredibly beautiful and talented, she is not as famous as she should be due to racism. During the silent film era she was not allowed to kiss a white man on film and, since there was only one Asian male actor at the time, this limited her roles greatly. At some point she moved to Europe because, as she said: "There seems little for me in Hollywood because, rather than real Chinese, producers prefer Hungarians, Mexicans or American Indians for Chinese roles.
Hats off to the gorgeous Ms. Anna May Wong, a sufferer of racism during her life who is not as well-known as she deserves.
