Irene Tsu

Did you know?!

1. First role

   In the late 1950s, Tsu tried out for a dancing role in Broadway's Flower Drum Song. Someone from producer David Merrick's office saw her and had her audition for The World of Suzie Wong, and she got a part.

2. First role

   After auditioning for choreographer Hermes Pan, Tsu was brought by him to Hollywood, where she danced as a teenager in the 1961 film Flower Drum Song, directed by Henry Koster.

3. A first

   Tsu was a teenage dancer in Flower Drum Song, the 1961 film directed by Henry Koster. That same year, she represented New York in the Miss Chinatown USA beauty pageant and took first place.

4. First role

   Tsu's first speaking role came in the Hermes Pan film Take Her, She's Mine (1963), which starred James Stewart and Sandra Dee.

5. Early training

   Tsu trained in acting under Ned Maderino, Lee Strasberg and Peggy Feury. She also attended Los Angeles City College, UCLA Film School and California State University, Los Angeles.

6. A change of course

   Tsu ran her own leisure apparel business, The IT Company/Irene Tsu Designs, serving as chief operating officer and head designer from 1978 until 1989.