Yellowface: Esther Kim Lee

Yellowface? Isn’t that a pretty old idea? Is it still going on? Dr. Esther Kim Lee, author of Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era will explore the topic with us. She will take us through history, examining how writers, directors, and makeup artists meticulously “make up” non-Asian actors to play Asians in theatre and film industry. Although the yellowface concept can be traced back to centuries ago, the prime era in the US is during the time of exclusion: 1860s to 1940s. The lingering effect of both Asian exclusion laws and yellowface practice can still be felt in performance, casting-practice, and anti-Asian violence today.

Esther Kim Lee is Professor of Theater Studies, the International Comparative Studies, and History at Duke University. She is also the Director of Asian American & Diaspora Studies Program at Duke. She teaches and writes about theatre history, Asian American theatre, Korean diaspora theatre, and globalization and theatre. She has authored three monographs: A History of Asian American Theatre (2006), which received the Outstanding Book Award given by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education; The Theatre of David Henry Hwang (2015); and Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era (2022). She edited Seven Contemporary Plays from the Korean Diaspora in the Americas (2012) and the four-volume collection, Modern and Contemporary World Drama: Critical and Primary Sources (2022), which challenges the prevailing Eurocentric reading of modern drama.

To know more about Esther Kim Lee, please visit