May Irwin(1862-1938)

Born in Whitby, Ontario, May Irwin started her performing career at a young age, when she began a singing act with her younger sister Flora in 1874. The act was popular, and Irwin began working as an actress when she was 21 years old. She found success and was appearing in a Broadway show called "The Widow Jones" when Thomas A. Edison saw her and co-star John C. Rice exchanging a kiss on-stage. He hired them to do the same in one of his films, Le baiser (1896). This marked the first kiss in cinematic history. After participating in this milestone moment in film history, Irwin continued to be a popular performer and appeared in one more film, the silent feature Mrs. Black Is Back (1914).