South Asian Oscar Nominees and Wins in 1930s Hollywood
Merle Oberon and Vivien Leigh were Oscar nominated actresses, and most likely South Asian Indian.
Merle Oberon
Born in 1911 in Mumbai, India, Oberon is first Asian woman to be nominated for Best Actress for The Dark Angel, The next Asian woman to be nominated for Best Actress is probably Vivien Leigh, whose we will learn about next.
Oberon was of mixed South Asian and Māori heritage, but her background was not widely known until after her death in 1979. Most likely, she was Anglo – India – British and Indian (the country) ancestry.
Oberon’s talent and popularity led her to secure a groundbreaking million-dollar contract with Universal Pictures in 1940. Oberon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
She died in 1979.
Vivien Leigh
She won Best Actress in 1939 for playing Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind – the movie with terrible racist depictions.
Much like Merle Oberon, Vivien might also be Anglo-Indian.
Vivien Leigh was born Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, India, at a time when that country was under British rule. Her father was from Britain but her mother’s origins are not as known. Leigh’s maternal grandmother is believed to have been Irish and Catholic. Her maternal grandfather’s surname is given as Yackjee, which is thought to be an Indian name. Vivien Leigh may therefore have been an Anglo-Indian.
A quarater Indian woman played Scarlett O’Hara. You can’t write this stuff any better! Life imitating art or art imitating life!
If Vivien was part S. Asian then she was the first Asian to win best actress in 1939 with Michelle Yeoh on 2023. Merle Oberlon was nominated for Best Actress in 1936 but did not win.
The Inclusive ScreenWriter 