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Frank Tokunaga

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Frank Tokunaga
Born
Frank B. Tokunaga

Occupation(s)Actor, director, screenwriter
SpouseKomako Sunada

Frank B. Tokunaga was a Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter who worked in Japan and Hollywood.[1]

Biography

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Career

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Tokunaga began his career in show business in 1912 while managing a troupe of Japanese acrobats for Barnum & Bailey, and later worked as an actor in Broadway productions.[2]

Tokunaga then began working at Thomas H. Ince's motion picture studio in Santa Monica, before taking on roles for Louis B. Mayer and then joining Universal's stock company.[3] He did all sorts of work during the silent era, often serving as an interpreter and a location man.[4]

For a time, Tokunaga returned to Japan, where he was a pioneering writer and director at Nikkatsu Studios.[2] Later on in his career, he would return to the United States sporadically to work as a character actor in Hollywood films.

Personal life

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Tokunaga was married to Komako Sunada, an actress who was known as the Japanese answer to Mary Pickford in the press. (She was born in Japan but raised in Los Angeles.)[5][6] The pair collaborated on a pair of screenplays: 1925's Tôyô no Karumen and 1926's Zoku Tôyô no Karumen.

Selected filmography

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As director:

As actor:

References

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  1. ^ Anderson, Joseph I.; Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1982). The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691007922.
  2. ^ a b "Film Director Plays Farmer in Picture". The Gazette. 11 December 1956. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Tokunaga at Home in Hollywood". The Arizona Republic. 19 August 1956. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  4. ^ Motography. 1916.
  5. ^ "Schoolgirl Wins Crown and Japan Director". The New York Daily News. 13 May 1927. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  6. ^ "Japanese Movie Star Arrives". The Marion Star. 31 May 1927. Retrieved 9 November 2019.