Miyoshi Umeki

Although she projected the typical Japanese female stereotype of humbleness, delicacy and subservience in most of her prime film and stage roles, beguiling, tiny-framed Miyoshi Umeki was nevertheless an assertive scene-stealer. This docile and deceptive-looking talent with the cropped hair and heart-shaped face radiated charm and innocence so effortlessly, she managed to make history at Academy Awards time as the first Asian performer to receive an acting Oscar for her superb work in the tragic post-WWII film drama Sayonara (1957). Miyoshi Umeki was born on May 8, 1929, in Otaru on the large northern island of Hokkaido. The daughter of a prominent Japanese iron factory owner and the youngest of nine children, she developed an early passion for music and learned to play the mandolin, harmonica and piano. She also enjoyed singing American-styled tunes much to the chagrin of her parents. This propensity for Americanized pop songs later paid off. Following WWII she traveled with a U.S. A