Miyoshi Umeki

Miyoshi Umeki was a Japanese actress, winner of a Tony Award and an Oscar Award, thus becoming the first person of Asian origin to win it.

Umeki was born in Otaru, Japan, where she began her professional career as a singer on radio and television, as well as a jazz performer in the military field. She was also a singer at a nightclub in Japan where she recorded several albums under the pseudonym Nancy Umeki.

In 1955 she immigrated to the United States, where she had a role in a music program called Arthur Godfrey talent scouts. It was there that she caught the attention of Joshua Logan, Sayonara's director, who later hired her for a supporting role in the film. In this film, the Oscar that Umeki and her co-star Buttons received was surprising because the Japanese actress was little known and Buttons was considered a simple television comedian.

Thanks to having received that award, she subsequently opened the doors to Broadway to play Mei Lei, a role based on the script of the musical Flower drum song. For that role, she Miyoshi was nominated for the Tony Award, and for a note on the cover of Times magazine. Despite having won and been nominated for various awards, there were few offers to act that she received, so after working for a while, in 1970 she retired and went to live with her husband and her son in Missouri.

She died on August 28, of 2007. She was 78.