The three producers sought Chinese, or at least Asian, actors to fill the cast, an idea that was, at the time, considered "very risky". In the 1950s, there were relatively few Asian-American actors; Rodgers believed that Asians avoided acting because of shyness. Critics note, in any case, that Asian-Americans "had found few opportunities in mainstream theatre." Joshua Logan recommended a young Japanese actress, Miyoshi Umeki, whom he had discovered and cast the previous year opposite Marlon Brando in the film "Sayonara" (for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar); she was cast as Mei Li. They cast Keye Luke, well known as Charlie Chan's Number One Son, as Master Wang. Rodgers and Hammerstein considered young talent from "The King and I" who might fit the parts, and came up with teenager Patrick Adiarte, a Filipino-American who had played several of the young princes as he grew up, before finishing as the crown prince, Chulalongkorn. A talented dancer, he was cast as Wang San, Ta's thoroughly Americanized younger brother. Pat Suzuki, a Japanese-American who had been interned during World War II, was a recent arrival in New York who had made strong positive impressions for her singing on such television programs as "The Tonight Show" (with Jack Paar) and "The Ed Sullivan Show". She became the first Linda Low, as Ta's nightclub love interest was renamed.