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Born in Shanghai, China, to a banker father and a painter mother, Irene's family moved to Hong Kong, where she attended parochial school and studied ballet. At age 12, they immigrated to New York City, where she attended George Washington High School and Quintano's School for Young Professionals, while also studying ballet and jazz at Carnegie Hall. As a teenager, she danced in the 1961 production of Flower Drum Song, directed by Henry Koster, who later gave her her first speaking role as a teenage prostitute in his film Take Her, She's Mine, starring James Stewart, which launched her acting career.
Her career spans over four decades, featuring roles in more than 50 popular TV series and 32 feature films. Irene successfully crossed ethnic boundaries, playing not only Chinese characters but also roles originally written for other ethnicities, aided by casting directors and creative writers. Director Paul Mazursky cast her as Sheila Waltzberg, the Jewish princess wife, in Down & Out in Beverly Hills. Frank Tashlin cast her as Ray Walston's secretary in Caprice, and she portrayed a Malaysian revolutionary in Paper Tiger. She also served as the TV spokeswoman for Chevron Island Wiki Wiki Dollars for Standard Oil and Hawaiian Punch for Procter & Gamble.
Fluent in three Chinese dialects, Irene appeared in Peter Chan Ho-Sun's acclaimed Hong Kong films Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996) and Golden Chicken (2002).
She studied acting with Ned Manderino and Milton Katselas in Los Angeles. For the past two decades, Irene has been a successful realtor in Beverly Hills. Passionate about wellness, she enjoys helping people nurture their body, mind, and spirit, and teaches Bikram yoga for the Beverly Hills Department of Parks.
