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Hollywood’s First Asian American Romantic Lead Broke Barriers
By James Moreau | 14 May, 2025
James Shigeta's performances as the first Asian American romantic lead in the late 1950s were groundbreaking and have left a legacy in Hollywood.
Japanese-American actor James Shigeta, who passed away at 85, is perhaps best remembered as the first Asian American man cast as a romantic lead. In his 1959 debut film, The Crimson Kimono, Shigeta portrayed a character who won the romantic interest of a white female lead. His performance earned him a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year.
He was again romantic lead in two 1961 releases, Flower Drum Song and Bridge to the Sun. Yet Shigeta's most commercially successful film role was as the head of a Japanese trading company in the 1988 blockbuster, Die Hard, which grossed $144 million, about $550 million today’s dollars.
Before he become an actor Shigeta had a successful Las Vegas singing career after winning Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour in 1950.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1929, Shigeta went on to study drama at NYU and served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War.
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