Who was the first Asian nominated for Best Actress

Michelle Yeoh has made history as the first person who identifies as Asian to ever be nominated for best actress at the Oscars. But why identifies as Asian? Why this wording? Good question, Twitter. The answer is because of a biracial actress named Merle Oberon, the first Asian to be nominated for a best actress Oscar for her role in the 1935 movie. Merle didn’t publicly identify as Asian, though. Up until her death, she hid her Asian identity to navigate the racist entertainment industry which, at the time, even had self-imposed rules called the Hays Code which forbade showing interracial romance. Merle told people she was born in Tasmania but she was actually born in India to a Sri Lankan and Maori mother and a British father. Some sources say she whitened her skin using bleach makeup and set lighting to pass as white. And it wasn’t until after her death when biographers found old photos and birth records that her Indian origin story was revealed. Which is why…