Why Merle Oberon, ‘Hollywood’s first South Asian star,’ kept her race a secret
Golden Age film star Merle Oberon comes alive in a new biography, sparked in part by the 2023 news that she was half Asian, a ...
The Christian Science Monitor5d
Actor Merle Oberon hid her South Asian heritage to keep working in Hollywood
British actor Merle Oberon’s greatest role might have been played off-camera. She kept her biracial heritage a secret so that ...
WBUR14d
'Love, Queenie' tells a story of passing for white in 1930s Hollywood
The book tells how Merle Oberon, who was born in India and whose mother was half-Sinhalese, had to hide that identity to find ...
Merle Oberon Was Way, Way Ahead of Her Time
His instincts proved correct when reviews praised Oberon as a revelation. “Miss Oberon, abandoning the Javanese slant of the ...
The Island2d
Oscars recognizing talent, overlooking skin colour and racial origins
The 97th Academy Awards ceremony presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 2 ...
The New York Times9d
A Hollywood Star With a Secret That Could Have Ended Her Career
Merle Oberon was a popular actress who was once nominated for an Oscar. But a fact that she hid from the public threatened to unspool her entire life’s work. Merle Oberon in the 1935 Oscar ...
‘Love, Queenie’ Review: Merle Oberon’s Screen Secret
A Hollywood beauty whose celebrated roles included Anne Boleyn, Merle Oberon kept her South Asian origins a secret from the movie industry and audiences.
The New York Times9d
A Hollywood Star With a Career-Ending Secret
Merle Oberon was a popular actress who was once nominated for an Oscar. But a fact that she hid from the public threatened to unspool her entire life’s work. Merle Oberon in the 1935 Oscar ...
Yahoo20d
She Was the First Asian Actor to Be Nominated for an Oscar. Few Knew It at the Time.
At the start of 1935, a year before she would become the first performer of color and Asian actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, Merle Oberon feared her Hollywood career was over.
Slate20d
Merle Oberon Was Hollywood’s First South Asian Star. It Came at a Cost.
This is excerpted from the book Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood’s First South Asian Star, by Mayukh Sen. Copyright © 2025 by the author and reprinted with ...
Hosted on MSN20d
Why Merle Oberon, 'Hollywood's first South Asian star,' kept her race a secret
Golden Age film star Merle Oberon comes alive in a breezy new biography, sparked in part by the 2023 news that she was half Asian, a secret she kept all her life. When Michelle Yeoh was nominated ...