After her retirement from the entertainment industry, she ran an editing machine business in Los Angeles for several years.
Appeared on a 1958 cover of Time magazine along with actress Pat Suzuki while appearing on Broadway in [i]Flower Drum Song [/i].
As of 2011, she is the only person of East Asian descent to win an Academy Award for acting.
One of eight actors of Asian descent nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category. The others are Sessue Hayakawa nominated for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Mako nominated for The Sand Pebbles (1966), Ben Kingsley who won Best Actor for Gandhi (1982), Haing S. Ngor who won Best Supporting Actor for The Killing Fields (1984), Pat Morita nominated for The Karate Kid (1984), Ken Watanabe nominated for The Last Samurai (2003) and Rinko Kikuchi nominated for Babel (2006).
She recorded for Mercury Records, 1955-1959. Released five 45rpm singles and two LPs as a lead vocalist. One more LP was a recompiled budget release. There's also a various artists compilation LP which contains one track by her. Before that, she recorded for RCA Japan as Nancy Umeki.
Son, Michael Randall Hood.
The first Asian actor to win an Academy Award, for best supporting actress in Sayonara (1957).
Was already famous as Nancy Umeki in Japan with several hit songs and film appearances to her credit before coming to the U.S. in 1955.
Was nominated for the 1959 Tony Award as best actress in a musical for [i]Flower Drum Song[/i], a role she recreated in the film version, Flower Drum Song (1961).