James B. Leong (born Leong But-jung and sometimes credited as Jimmy
Leong) was a Chinese character actor and filmmaker who had a long
career in Hollywood beginning during the silent era.James was born in
Shanghai, and he moved to the United States with his parents when he
was young. He graduated from college in Muncie, Indiana, in 1915 and
briefly worked at a newspaper before moving to Hollywood, where he
worked at first as a technical director for filmmakers like D. W.
Griffith and Wesley Ruggles.By 1919, he had started his own production
company â€" James B. Leong Productions, later known as the Wah Ming
Motion Picture Company â€" to show Chinese life as it really was. (He
had grown tired of seeing Chinese people portrayed as kidnappers and
assassins on the screen.) Under this banner, he wrote and directed the
1921 film Lotus Blossom. He said he planned to write and direct four
films a year, but this doesn't seem to have come to fruition. (A
planned follow-up, The Unbroken Promise, doesn't seem to have been
filmed.)
Leong) was a Chinese character actor and filmmaker who had a long
career in Hollywood beginning during the silent era.James was born in
Shanghai, and he moved to the United States with his parents when he
was young. He graduated from college in Muncie, Indiana, in 1915 and
briefly worked at a newspaper before moving to Hollywood, where he
worked at first as a technical director for filmmakers like D. W.
Griffith and Wesley Ruggles.By 1919, he had started his own production
company â€" James B. Leong Productions, later known as the Wah Ming
Motion Picture Company â€" to show Chinese life as it really was. (He
had grown tired of seeing Chinese people portrayed as kidnappers and
assassins on the screen.) Under this banner, he wrote and directed the
1921 film Lotus Blossom. He said he planned to write and direct four
films a year, but this doesn't seem to have come to fruition. (A
planned follow-up, The Unbroken Promise, doesn't seem to have been
filmed.)
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