David Henry Hwang

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David Henry Hwang

American playwright

Written by Kathleen Kuiper

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Feb 20, 2024 • Article History

David Henry Hwang

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Category: Arts & Culture

Born:: August 11, 1957, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (age 66)

Notable Works:: “Aida”; “Chinglish”; “FOB”; “Golden Child”; “M. Butterfly”; “M. Butterfly”; “Rich Relations”; “Yellow Face”

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Feb. 20, 2024, 4:40 PM ET (AP)

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David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) American playwright, screenwriter, and librettist whose work, by his own account, concerns the fluidity of identity. He is probably best known for his Tony Award-winning play M. Butterfly (1988), based on the true story of a French diplomat who had a long affair with a singer in the Beijing opera. The woman he loved later proved to be not only a man but also a spy for the Chinese government. Hwang’s parents were both Chinese-born, though his mother was reared in the Philippines. They immigrated separately to the United ...(100 of 646 words)

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