Frank Tokunaga
Frank B. Tokunaga was a Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter who worked in Japan and Hollywood. Biography. Career. Frank 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. Frank 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. He did all sorts of work during the silent era, often serving as an interpreter and a location man. For a time , he returned to Japan, where he was a pioneering writer and director at Nikkatsu Studios. Later on in his career, he'd return to the United States sporadically to work as a character actor in Hollywood films. Personal life. Frank 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.) The pair collaborated on a pair of screenplays: 1925's "Tôyô no Karumen" and 1926's "Zoku Tôyô no Karumen". Selected filmography. As director: As actor: