Her father was a contract laborer in the Waikiki sugarcane plantations, then became a taxi driver important enough in the community to be a friend and frequent host to Sun Yat-sen. She attended Christian Sunday school even though the family worshiped Buddha at home.

The first major advancement of her career was the opportunity to use her fluency in Mandarin and native English as onstage translator for Mei Lanfang's Peking Opera, first in New York and then a tour of North America in 1930.

[2] While in California on tour with Mai Lanfang in 1930, she had made valuable contacts in Los Angeles, and the local newspapers reported on her return.

Soo Yong, on the other hand, was aware of racial discrimination and critical of the novel for portraying only one side of Chinese life, but nevertheless accepted the supporting and challenging role, that of the cruel aunt.

[2] The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that "When asked about the possibility for local-born orientals to break into the talkies, she simply said, 'A Chinese has a Chinaman's Chance.'"

"[2] In the late 1930s, Soo Yong developed a series of well-received solo theater pieces which introduced the American public to Chinese culture.

[2] She toured briefly with the Red Gate Shadow Puppets, a group which included Rosalind Russell, a major film star.

The group was founded by Pauline Benton, who had learned Chinese shadow-puppet theater during a residence in Peking and had probably seen Soo Yong when she interpreted for Mei Lanfang on Broadway.

organized the Honolulu Peking Opera Group, and Soo Yong continued to write and perform her Chinese culture presentations.

Her roles present a softer Orientalism that allowed ethnic dignity and did not offend her Chinese-American audiences or her Nationalist friends in China.

In contrast to Anna May Wong, who was two years younger and appeared more militant, Soo Yong, but she had spent almost no time in China, was able to balance several worlds and to sustain a position as an off-screen, cultural translator.