Christina Kokubo(1950-2007)
- Actress
Christina Kokubo built her screen career across film and television through the 1970s and 1980s. On the film side, she appeared in the neo-noir gangster picture The Yakuza (1975), set in Japan, and in Midway (1976), where she played a Japanese-American woman caught in a troubled wartime romance with an American naval officer. She also participated in documentary films examining the yakuza crime syndicate in Japan.
Her television work included a recurring role as Paramedic Faith Yee on St. Elsewhere, the acclaimed medical drama, appearing in thirteen episodes between 1984 and 1988. In 1984, she took on stage work as well, portraying a samurai's wife in Three Confessions at the Cast-at-the-Circle theater in Los Angeles.
Beyond performing, Kokubo dedicated years to arts education and accessibility. She taught acting at the Braille Institute of America in Los Angeles for seven years and founded what became the city's first nonprofit theater company serving blind audiences, known as Changing Perceptions. After her death, her legacy was carried forward through Kokubo's Class, a nonprofit drama therapy organization for disabled people in the Los Angeles area, established in her memory.
Her television work included a recurring role as Paramedic Faith Yee on St. Elsewhere, the acclaimed medical drama, appearing in thirteen episodes between 1984 and 1988. In 1984, she took on stage work as well, portraying a samurai's wife in Three Confessions at the Cast-at-the-Circle theater in Los Angeles.
Beyond performing, Kokubo dedicated years to arts education and accessibility. She taught acting at the Braille Institute of America in Los Angeles for seven years and founded what became the city's first nonprofit theater company serving blind audiences, known as Changing Perceptions. After her death, her legacy was carried forward through Kokubo's Class, a nonprofit drama therapy organization for disabled people in the Los Angeles area, established in her memory.
