She Was the First Asian Actor to Be Nominated for an Oscar. Few Knew It at the Time.

Mayukh Sen: Merle Oberon feared her Hollywood career was over when she arrived in America in 1935 .

Oberon was 23 , unwed, and born in Bombay , India .

Sen: She had already established herself as an actress of repute back in England under the aegis of Alexander Korda , head of the influential London Films .

The suits at London Films , believing she was light-skinned enough to pass for white, willfully erased the fact that her mother was South Asian .

Merle was cast in a remake of a 1925 film called The Dark Angel , a love triangle set in England during World War I.

The studio made her go to a beauty salon and undergo skin-bleaching treatment for an entire day so that her complexion would lighten enough for the cameras.

Merle made the mistake of suntanning on the California beaches too much while shooting.

Merle Oberon was a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1936 .

She was South Asian , though most in the public saw her only as white.

Merle was born into poverty as a mixed-race, Anglo-Indian girl in British India in the early 20th century .