Writer’s Life Magazine | Issue. 21

A TRAILBLAZING PIONEER, acclaimed actress, artist, and designer, Irene Tsu has helped break barriers for Asian-Americans in her long and storied career in Hollywood. Along the way, she’s worked (and played) with many legends of the silver screen: Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Doris Day, Jimmy Stewart, Jeff Bridges, Bette Miller, Nick Nolte. Irene knew them all, and many more… some more intimately than others! But none more intimately than the Chairman of the Board himself, Frank Sinatra, with whom Irene shared a passionate and adventurous two-year relationship. Now she finally opens up about her journey from a tumultuous childhood in Shanghai, to New York and dreams of being a prima ballerina, and finally to catching the acting bug and moving to Hollywood.