Perhaps the busiest actress of Asian descent on American TV in the 1980s and early 90s, Chao began performing at age seven with the Peking Opera traveling company in her native California. She was appearing in TV commercials and guest shots by her teens and studying acting during Christmas and summer breaks from school. Chao's first TV role of note was playing Yul Brynner's eldest daughter on "Anna and the King" (CBS, 1972), a short-lived sitcom based on Broadway's "The King and I". Chao returned to school, earned a degree in journalism and found part-time work as a radio newswriter in Los