HOLLY WOOD ACTRESS TSURU AOKI BORN ON 1892 SEPTEMBER 9 MIDRATED FROM JAPAN
HOLLY WOOD ACTRESS TSURU AOKI BORN ON 1892 SEPTEMBER 9 MIGRATED FROM JAPAN Tsuru Aoki (青木 鶴子 Aoki Tsuruko?, September 9, 1892 – October 18, 1961) was a popular Japanese stage and screen actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1920s. Aoki may have been the first Asian actress to garner top-billing in American motion pictures. Life and career[edit] Born in Tokyo, Japan, Aoki emigrated to Los Angeles, California in 1903 with her aunt and uncle, Otojirō Kawakami, who had previously owned a theatrical group called "Kawakami-za" in Japan. Aoki was later adopted by another uncle Aoki Toshio and relocated to San Francisco. Toshio worked as a sketch artist for a local newspaper. Tsuru Aoki started taking lessons in ballet dance in New York, when she went along with her uncle Toshio, who was hired by David Belasco for The Darling of the Gods. After Toshio's death a reporter looked after Aoki.[...