SESSUE HAYAKAWA

(Kintarō Hayakawa)


Sessue Hayakawa
Sessue Hayakawa
  • Born: June 10, 1886
  • Died: November 23, 1973
  • Nationality: Japanese
  • Profession: Actor

Kintarō Hayakawa, known professionally as Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲, Hayakawa Sessue), was a Japanese actor and a matinée idol. He was one of the most popular stars in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man in the United States and Europe. His "broodingly handsome" good looks and typecasting as a sexually dominant villain made him a heartthrob among American women during a time of racial discrimination, and he became one of the first male sex symbols of Hollywood.