早川雪洲（，，），本名早川金太郎，出生於日本千葉縣安房郡千倉町（現南房總市），青年時赴美國芝加哥大學攻讀經濟學，後來活躍於好萊塢等歐美電影界，並成為20世紀10年代中期至20年代晚期的超級巨星，風靡了許多女性觀眾，其地位堪與同時代的查理·卓別林、范朋克等人相提並論。早川雪洲也是第一位在西方電影界達到頂峰成就的日本人和東亞人。晚年參與《桂河大橋》的演出，並獲提名為1957年的奥斯卡最佳男配角奖。

雖然早川雪洲卓越的演技從無聲電影時代到有聲電影時代皆得到了西方人的肯定，但卻因1915年在電影《The Cheat》中扮演一個冷酷殘忍的日本青年而遭受祖國日本輿論的猛烈抨擊，並被扣上了國恥大帽，此事讓愛國心極強的早川雪洲深覺遺憾與不平。二戰結束後，早川雪洲積極地回到日本活動，參與了多部日本電影的演出。1966年因妻子青木鶴子過世的影響而正式息影，1973年於東京都千代田區神田的杏雲堂醫院因腦溢血病逝，享壽87歲。

早川雪洲對於自己的演技如此評論：

電影作品

 1914: O Mimi San 
 1914: The Courtship of O San
 1914: The Geisha
 1914: The Ambassador’s Envoy
 1914: The Wrath of the Gods/The Destruction of Sakura-Jima or The Wrath of the Gods – Lord Yamaki
 1914: A Tragedy of the Orient
 1914: A Relic of Old Japan
 1914: Star of the North
 1914: The Curse of the Caste
 1914: The Village ’Neath the Sea
 1914: The Death Mask 
 1914: The Typhoon – Tokorama
 1914: The Hateful God 
 1914: The Vigil – Kenjiro
 1914: Mother of the Shadows – Running Elk
 1914: The Last of the Line – Tiah - Gray Otter's Son
 1915: After Five – Oki, the Valet
 1915: The Famine – Horisho 
 1915: The Chinatown Mystery – Yo Hong 
 1915: The Clue – Nogi
 1915: The Secret Sin – Lin Foo
 1915: The Cheat (1915) (The Cheat) − Hishuru Tori/Haka Arakau
 1915: Temptation – Opera Admirer
 1916: Alien Souls – Sakata 
 1916: The Honorable Friend – Makino
 1916: The Soul of Kura San – Toyo 
 1916: The Victoria Cross – Azimoolah
 1917: Each to His Kind  – Rhandah
 1917: The Bottle Imp – Lopaka
 1917: The Jaguar’s Claws – El Jaguar
 1917: Forbidden Paths – Sato
 1917: Hashimura Togo – Hashimura Togo
 1917: The Call of the East – Arai Takada
 1917: The Secret Game – Nara-Nara
 1918: The Hidden Pearls – Tom Garvin
 1918: The Honor of His House/Honor of the House – Count Ito Onato
 1918: The White Man’s Law – John A. Genghis
 1918: The Bravest Way – Kara Tamura
 1918: The City of Dim Faces – Jang Lung 
 1918: His Birthright - Yukio
 1918: The Temple of Dusk – Akira 
 1918: Banzai – The American General 
 1918: United States Fourth Liberty Loan Drive/An Untitled Liberty Loan Film
 1919: Bonds of Honor – Yamashito/Sasamoto
 1919: A Heart in Pawn – Tomaya
 1919: The Gray Horizon
 1919: The Dragon Painter – Tatsu, the Dragon Painter
 1919: The Illustrious Prince – Prince Maiyo
 1919: The Tong Man – Luk Chen
 1919: The Courageous Coward – Suki Iota
 1919: His Debt – Goto Mariyama
 1919: The Man Beneath – Dr. Chindi Ashutor
 1920: The Beggar Prince  – Nikki/Prince 
 1920: The Brand of Lopez – Vasco Lopez
 1920: The Devil’s Claim – Akbar Khan/Hassan
 1920: Li Ting Lang/Traditions Altar – Li Ting Lang
 1920: An Arabian Knight – Ahmed
 1921: The First Born –  Chan Wang
 1921: Black Roses –  Yoda
 1921: Where Lights Are Low –  T Su Wong Shih
 1921: The Swamp –  Wang
 1922: Five Days to Live – Tai Leung
 1922: The Vermilion Pencil – Tse Chan/The Unknown/Li Chan
 1922: Night Life in Hollywood/The Shriek of Hollywood
 1923: About everything the fatherland, or the battle (La bataille)
 1924: Sen Yan's Devotion – Sen Yan
 1924: The Great Prince Shan – Prince Shan
 1924: The Danger Line – Marquis Yorisaka
 1924: J’ai tué!/Fidélité/I Have Killed – Hideo the antiquarian
 1929: Sessue Hayakawa in 'The Man Who Laughed Last' 
 1931: Daughter of the Dragon – Ah Kee
 1931: Around the World with Douglas Fairbanks 
 1932: Running Hollywood 
 1932: Taiyo wa higashi yori/The Sun Rise from the East –  Kenji
 1934: Bakugeki hikôtai
 1935: Tôjin Okichi
 1935: Kuni o mamoru mono: Nichiren
 1937: The daughter of the samurai/Atarashiki tsuchi/The New Earth/The New Soil – Iwao Yamato
 1937: Yoshiwara – Isamo, Kuli
 1937: Branded (Forfaiture/The Cheat) – Prince Hu-Long
 1938: Storm over Asia (1938) (Tempête sur l'Asie) – Le prince Ling
 1939/1942: Macau gambling/Macao, l'enfer du jeu/Gambling Hell/Mask of Korea – Ying Tchaï
 1942: Patrouille blanche – Halloway
 1943: Soleil de minuit, Le – Matsui
 1943: Malaria – Saïdi
 1946: Le cabaret du grand large – Professeur Wang
 1947: Quartier chinois – Tchang
 1949: Tokyo Joe – Baron Kimura
 1950: Three Came Home  – Colonel Suga
 1950: Harukanari haha no kuni/The Motherland Far Far Away – Joe Hayami
 1950: Re mizeraburu: kami to akuma/Les Miserables: Gods and Demons 
 1950: Re mizeraburu: kami to jiyu no hata 
 1953: Onna kanja himon − Akô rôshi
 1953: Kurama Tengu to Katsu Kaishû
 1953: Higeki no shôgun: Yamashita Tomoyuki
 1954: Nihon yaburezu
 1955: Tokio−Story (House of Bamboo) – Inspector Kito
 1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai – Col. Saito
 1958: The geisha boy – Mr. Sikita
 1959: Green Mansions – Runi
 1960: Hell to Eternity – Gen. Matsui
 1960: Swiss Family Robinson  – Kuala, Pirate Chief
 1961: The Big Wave – The Old Man
 1966: The Daydreamer – The Mole 
 1967: Junjô nijûsô

電視演出 
 1958: Kraft Television Theatre: The Sea Is Boiling Hot
 1958: Studio One: Kurishiki Incident – Sato
 1958: Wagon Train: The Sakae Ito Story  – Sakae Ito
 1961: Here’s Hollywood (1961) 
 1963: Route 66: Two Strangers and an Old Enemy– Takasuka

文學出版 
 Sessue Hayakawa: The samurai's son. The life of Sessue Hayakawa. Henry Goverts Verlag, Stuttgart 1963.
 S. Noma (Hrsg.): Hayakawa Sesshu. In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993. ISBN 4-06-205938-X, S. 511.
 Donald Kirihara: The Accepted Idea Displaced. Stereotype and Sessue Hayakawa. In: Daniel Bernardi (Hrsg.): The Birth of Whiteness. Race and the Emergence of U.S. Cinema. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick NJ 1996, ISBN 0-8135-2277-3, S. 81–99.

参考来源

千葉縣出身人物
日本男演員
無聲電影演員
日本電影導演
芝加哥大學校友
日本留美學生
罹患腦溢血逝世者
好萊塢星光大道
日本裔美國演員