Once Outcasts, Mixed-Blood Thais Ascend to Pop Stardom as Hip Icons

Twenty years ago, a tinge of red hair or prominent nose marked them as society’s outcasts, the “leftovers” from amorous encounters with American GIs based here during the Vietnam War.

Today, mixed-blood Thais--known as luk krueng, or half-children--are fashionable and hip.

Luk krueng are among the country’s most popular models, TV actors and pop singers. They are ubiquitous in advertisements, pitching soap, toothpaste, film, coffee and tea.

Nopadol Chatprasert, a social historian at Bangkok’s Thammasat University, said the Thai conception of beauty has changed as Thais have absorbed Western cultural influences through mass media.

“If you look at classical Thai literature, beauty according to Thais in the past was defined by curved eyebrows, petite lips and smooth skin. Neither the pointed nose nor the white skin of Westerners was considered beautiful,” he said.

With the GIs long gone, mixed-blood children now often are the offspring of Thai mothers and American or European executives for multinational corporations, a shift in class background that gives them a leg up in life.

“They have a lot of self-confidence, good figures; they’re tall, have nicely shaped faces, and are good at acting,” said Jirati Chaiyasang, a talent scout for the Jim Modeling agency. “My clients prefer them to present their products as they look more international.”

The trend is not unique to Thailand. In the Philippines and Indonesia, both colonized by Western countries, actresses and models of mixed blood also have a high profile. They are a mainstay in Japanese pop culture as well, and have had their moments in South Korea, despite a general prejudice against them in that country’s homogeneous society.

Top of the heap in Thailand are the singing stars, and the latest sensation is Nat Myria Benedetti, the 22-year-old daughter of a Swiss father and a Thai mother.

Marsha Vadhanapanich, a 25-year-old German-Thai, is another top singer, who started out modeling at age 14. Singer Christina Aguilar, whose mother is French and father Filipino, is an old hand at age 29 but still hot enough to be the showering star of commercials for Lux soap.

All three have been promoted for their sex appeal as much as their voices, taking advantage of their more buxom Western figures to appeal to a crossover audience of young males in addition to their natural constituency of teenage girls.

Then there’s Tata Young, whose debut album last year has reportedly sold more than 1 million copies. She is the highly visible spokeswoman for Colgate toothpaste and Fuji film.

The 16-year-old Amerasian looks every bit the gawky adolescent, and legions of teenage Thai girls have imitated her way of dressing in baggy jeans with undersized T-shirts.

Luk krueng also are prominent on the soap operas that dominate Thai television. Model Claudia Chakrabhandu appeared in five TV serials last year in addition to several plays and her own TV talk program.

It’s on TV that male luk krueng make their mark. But few have reached the heights of popularity of female luk krueng.

The hosts of “Teen Talk,” a variety show for teenagers, are luk krueng, as are about two-thirds of its guests.

The show is not a showcase for luk krueng, insists Panida Padungvichean, part of the production team. It’s just that if it didn’t feature luk krueng, it would be considered square by its target audience of 12- to 16-year-old girls, she said.