Trivia

His father had been the governor of the Chiba Prefecture in Japan.

One of 12 actors of Asian descent nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category. The others are Miyoshi Umeki who won Best Supporting Actress nominated for Sayonara (1957), Mako nominated for El cañonero del Yangtzé (1966), Ben Kingsley who won Best Actor for Gandhi (1982), Haing S. Ngor who won Best Supporting Actor for Los gritos del silencio (1984), Pat Morita nominated for El Karate Kid (1984), Ken Watanabe nominated for El último samurái (2003),Rinko Kikuchi nominated for Babel (2006), Hong Chau nominated for La Ballena (2022), Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan all nominated for Todo En Todas Partes Al Mismo Tiempo (2022), with the latter two winning Oscars.

He and his wife Tsuru Aoki were famous for their lavish parties during the early 1920s. According to historian Kalton C. Lahue, they held frequent luncheons for 150 guests, buffet suppers for as many as 900 and sit-down dinners for 250.

During the high point of his career, he and wife Tsuru Aoki lived in a landmark home, built in the style of a French castle, at the corner of Argyle and Franklin streets in Hollywood. Demolished in 1956, this corner is now the site of the Franklin Street entrance to the Hollywood (101) Freeway.

According to silent film historian Kalton C. Lahue, Hayakawa owned a gold-plated Pierce-Arrow and hired a liveried footman to go along with it. When Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle also acquired the same type of car, Hayakawa donated his no longer one-of-a-kind auto to the Long Island Fire Department.

His father belonged to the military nobility but left the Naval Academy for a theatrical stage career. He worked with the female tragic star Sada Yacco. Then he traveled through Europe, studying the classics, and returned to Japan where he presented works by William Shakespeare ("Otelo" in his own translation), Henrik Ibsen and others, in the Imperial Dramatic Company. During a US tour in 1913, legendary producer-director Thomas H. Ince noticed him and prompted him into a film career playing exotic villains.

Honored as "Star of the Month" by the Turner Classic Movies channel for May 2024.

Mentioned in All Chiefs and No Indians (1965).

He has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Cheat (1915), The Dragon Painter (1919), & El puente sobre el río Kwai (1957).