Well, it’s interesting that I was offered those Chinese roles, and I think there was a lot of people who were Chinese who were very upset about the fact that I was playing a Chinese role, when there are so many good Chinese actors, you know? Just like now, I’m sure there are a lot of Japanese, Japanese-American roles, and there are Chinese or Koreans playing it. So, there’s always jealousy, but if you’re an actor, you don’t have to be that part, you’re playing that part.

acting actors artists entertainers

Date: November 8, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: June Berk

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Takayo Fischer, born in November 1932, is a Nisei American stage, film, and TV actress. During World War II, as a young child, she and her family were forcibly evacuated from the West Coast and spent time in the Fresno Assembly Center before being relocated to Jerome and Rohwer concentration camps. Fischer later lived in Chicago, Illinois, where, as a young adult, she won the crown of “Miss Nisei Queen.” She has appeared in dozens of major Hollywood films, including Moneyball (2011), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). She also appeared in the stage production of The World of Suzie Wong in New York in 1958 and many productions with East West Players in Los Angeles. (June 2018)

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