Lotus Long

Career overview

Lotus Long was an American actress born Lotus Pearl Shibata on July 18, 1909, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Her father was of Japanese ancestry and her mother was of Hawaiian ancestry, with sources noting her parents as Ishiro Shibata and Blanche Leleu. She came to Southern California during the 1920s to act in Hollywood films, utilizing the name Lotus Long for both stage and film work. Because of her exotic beauty, she did not find it difficult to break into the movies.

Throughout her acting career, Long usually portrayed ethnic Asian female characters in supporting roles, playing a succession of various Asian women. Her known credits include the film Tokyo Rose. Because of her adopted surname, people generally assumed she was of Chinese ancestry. She later relied on this assumption to avoid mass incarceration in American internment camps alongside other persons of Japanese ancestry, including both legal permanent residents and American citizens, during World War II.

Long passed away on September 14, 1990, at the age of 81. Decades later, her life and career were reflected upon in media, including her portrayal by actress Mei Melancon in Timothy Tau's short film biographical picture Keye Luke.