Nancy Kwan was training for a career as a ballet dancer when a combination of talent and luck led to her film debut in the title role of “The World of Suzie Wong” in 1960. Less than a year later she radiated wholesome sexuality as nightclub dancer Linda Low in the 1961 film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ground-breaking Broadway musical “Flower Drum Song.” With those performances Kwan became an inspiration for generations of Asian-American actors and dancers.

Kwan, 77, who lives in Los Angeles, will receive the Dr. Lawrence K.W. Tseu Lifetime Achievement Award during the Hawai‘i European Cinema Film Festival Awards Gala on March 31 at the Moana Surfrider. A documentary on her life, “To Whom it May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey,” will screen at 5 p.m. March 26 at Ward Stadium 16, with a Q&A with the actress to follow. Tickets are free at hawaiieuropeancinema.org/film-festival.

Kwan is also this year’s celebrity guest model for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii’s Narcissus Fashion Show April 2 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

JOHN BERGER: What would you have said at the age of 18 if someone had told you that you were going to become a film icon?

NANCY KWAN: I wouldn’t have believed them, of course, but when I was 16 I went to see a fortuneteller in Hong Kong. I was planning to be a ballet dancer, and she told me I was going to be an international actress. I didn’t believe her. You never know how things are going to turn out.

JB: What have you been working on?

NK: Last year I finished a screenplay for a film about Asians in America. The title is “Dragon’s Breath” and refers to dragons’ role in feng shui. It isn’t a big movie — there are no CGI battles or monsters — but raising the money isn’t easy. People ask why I don’t cast some Caucasians as the leads, but it’s a movie about Asians. They don’t get it.

JB: It never occurred to me that “Suzie Wong” should be seen as representative of all Chinese women. Did it seem controversial to you at the time?

NK: Not to me. Many people asked me how I could play a prostitute, but I told them, “I’m an actor playing a character. Suzie Wong is a prostitute. I’m an actor.”

JB: What is your favorite memory of “Flower Drum Song”?

NK: I have so many favorite memories of that show: working with James Shigeta and Jack Soo. Rodgers and Hammerstein are such great writers, you can’t go wrong.

“On the Scene” appears weekly in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday Magazine. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.