Philip Ahn
| Philip Ahn | |
|---|---|
Ahn on the television series Bonanza
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| Born |
Pil Lip Ahn March 29, 1905 Highland Park, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | February 28, 1978 (aged 72) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Complications from surgery |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1935–78 |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 안필립 |
| Hanja | 安必立 |
| Revised Romanization | An Pil-lip |
| McCune–Reischauer | An P`il-rip |
Philip Ahn (March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was a Korean American actor. He was the first Asian American film actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Ahn was born Pil Lip Ahn (안필립) in Highland Park, Los Angeles, California. His parents emigrated to the United States in 1902.
Ahn's father, Dosan Ahn Chang-ho, was an educator and an activist for Korean independence during the colonial period.
When he was in high school, Ahn visited the set of the film The Thief of Bagdad, where he met Douglas Fairbanks. Fairbanks offered him a screen test, followed by a part in the movie. However, his mother told him, "No son of mine is going to get mixed up with those awful people."
Ahn graduated from high school in 1923, and went to work in the rice fields around Colusa, California. The land was owned by the Hung Sa Dan, or Young Korean Academy, a Korean independence movement that trained Koreans to become leaders of their country once it was free from Japanese rule. Since Koreans could not own land in California, the Academy put the property in Ahn's name. Unfortunately, the rice crops failed because of heavy rains, and Ahn found himself deeply in debt. He went to work as an elevator operator in Los Angeles to pay back the debt and help support his family.
It was not until 1934 that he could afford to attend the University of Southern California. His father told him if he really wanted to be an actor, he had to be the best actor he could and convinced him to take acting and cinematography courses. While still a student, he appeared in a stage production of Merrily We Roll Along, which toured the western United States.
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