Sessue and Tsuru: Hollywood's First Power Couple from Japan
Sessue Hayakawa (1886–1973) is perhaps best-known today for his Oscar-nominated turn as a Japanese military officer in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). But during the period of silent cinema, he was an internationally renowned movie star, as recognizable as Charlie Chaplin or Douglas Fairbanks. Tsuru Aoki (1892-1961), his wife, was in fact a Hollywood star preceding Sessue. In this lecture, Professor Daisuke Miyao revives the Japanese actors' remarkable careers, from Tsuru's pioneering work and Sessue's meteoric rise to fame as the star of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Cheat (1915).
November 14th 2026
Time: 2:00PM - 3:00PM
Location: Education Center (Upper Garden)
Price: $5 *Registration required. This doesn’t include the admission.
Guest Speaker: Professor Daisuke Miyao
About the Speaker
Professor Daisuke Miyao is a Professor in the Department of Literature at the University of California, San Diego.
Professor Miyao earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in University of Tokyo and earned a second masters and PhD in NYU before teaching at Columbia, UC Berkeley, and the University of Oregon, where he chaired the East Asian Languages and Literatures department. His work focuses on Japanese cinema and film history, exploring how films connect cultures and reflect the societies in which they are made.
An accomplished scholar and author, Professor Miyao has published several books on Japanese cinema. Through his research and teaching, he brings together Japanese and American perspectives to help us better understand the history of film and its place in our cultural lives.
If you have any questions, please email programs@niwa.org