Lisa Lu, 98, honored with Hollywood Walk of Fame Star
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 07 May, 2025

Monday’s ceremony celebrated Lu’s successful and prolific acting career and the Asian excellence it has inspired in others.

One might say that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams, but 98 year-old movie star Lisa Lu never actually wanted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

“I couldn’t bear the thought of anyone walking on my name,” Lu told a crowd gathered to see hers become the 2,811th star added to the Walk of Fame on Monday. In fact, Lu had even turned the opportunity down years earlier. But “Today, at 98 years old,” she explained, “I embrace the star as a testament to resilience and perseverance.”

Lisa Lu’s esteemed career in film, television, and stage has spanned 65 years. In 1960 she landed her first major role as the female lead opposite Jimmy Stewart in The Mountain Road. In 1987 she starred in The Last Emperor which took home seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. 

At age 91 Lu starred as the matriarch in the history-marking Crazy Rich Asians and remains active even today. She is the only person in Hollywood who has voted at the Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, and SAG Awards. 

Monday's Walk of Fame ceremony was not just a celebration of Lisa Lu but of the Asian excellence she has inspired. Speakers included Lu’s Crazy Rich Asians co-star Awkwafina as well as Janet Yang, President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the first Asian American to hold the role. 

Lisu Lu’s star was placed next to those of both Jimmy Stewart, her Mountain Road co-star, and Amy May Wong, the famed Chinese American actress who in 1960 became the first Asian to receive a spot on the walk of fame.

In her remarks Awkwafina praised Lu for bringing “depth, grace, and dignity, to roles that rarely afforded Asian women the opportunity  to be complex or powerful,” which Lu did “Long before Hollywood was ready.”

In addition to Lu’s success in Hollywood a sizable portion of her career has been devoted to Chinese cinema, for which she has been duly recognized. Lu is a three-time winner of the Golden Horse Award, Taiwan’s equivalent of an Oscar, and was featured on a commemorative postage stamp in China in 2006.

Even the presentation of her Hollywood Walk of Fame star, meant to honor Lu for making history, was itself an historic achievement. She is now the oldest person to ever receive one.