Maggie Q
Forget those stereotypes about models not being able to act. Maggie
Q is making critics sit up with her stage performances
By Lionel Seah
TELL Hong Kong-based Maggie Q that she is a Model-Turned-Actress
and the beautiful one laughs out loud. 'Yes, I'm a cliche. But I
don't care,' the 24-year-old exclaims in a girlish voice,
unembarrassed.
Maggie Q - her surname stands for Quigley - was in Singapore on Aug
14 as the new flawless face for American skincare brand,
Dermalogica.
'I don't blame these stereotypes,' she rattles in an American
drawl. 'Look at Cindy Crawford and Elle MacPherson. Just because
one can doesn't mean one should,' she says, referring to the
lacklustre acting efforts by the supermodels.
While the sylph-like Eurasian would not comment on her own craft,
critics have been kind towards her few roles to date. Her most
famous role was playing an FBI agent in Gen Y Cops (2000), which
also starred Nicholas Tse.
Last year, her stage debut in Hong Kong even earned her rave
reviews. South China Morning Post journalist Tom Hilditch wrote
that Maggie's was 'a star performance'.
In British playwright David Pinner's All Hallow's Eve, she tackled
the role of a 16-year-old exploring her budding sexuality. She
calls the 13-show stint one of her most memorable experiences, and
believes the intense six-week rehearsals have honed her thespian
skills.
'It was David who pushed and told me that I could do it at times
when I doubted myself,' she says. For all her good luck in theatre
and films, Maggie - who measures a stunning 34-24-34 and is dressed
top-to-toe in an all-Celine get-up of blue satin top and smooth
leather pants - still has her grouses.
At her suite at the Four Season's Hotel, she laments that rehearsal
periods, which are common in Western film productions, are scarce
in Asia.
'Here, it's one rush job after another because of insufficient
funds or time,' she explains earnestly. 'Asian actors lack focus.
Most dabble in a bit of this and a bit of that. The end product
suffers.'
As if on an offensive, the 1.7m-tall vivacious star did not reserve
her criticisms just for the Asian film industry. She also took
shots at the Hong Kong paparazzi.
'I'm not nice to them because they aren't to me. It cuts both ways.
The media there thrives on the bad press. I can do no good.'
She recounts one of her brushes with them.
'The media often ran pictures of me blinking or laughing, and the
next thing, they'd say I'm high and drunk. Please,' she says,
contorting her face for effect.
Her latest run-in with the media was related to her most recent
film, Manhattan Midnight. She went topless for the 2001 film, which
was directed by Alfred Chung and stars Michael Wong and American
actor Richard Grieco.
'The scene was just three minutes. But the press made the entire
film sound like a pornographic flick. The media never
differentiates that it's the character I played that stripped, not
Maggie Q.'
Then comes the coda.
'Press reports can hurt sometimes. It makes it hard to have a
decent relationship,' she admits.
She ended a highly-publicised relationship with Chinese-American
actor Daniel Wu in 2001. The couple were an item before either of
them became famous.
'I LIKE ASIAN MEN'
BORN Margaret Denise Quigley in Honolulu, Hawaii, she is the
youngest in a family of four girls and a boy. Her New York-born,
Irish-Polish father met her Vietnamese mother while serving as a
G.I. in the Vietnam War.
It explains her unique, head-turning looks: fine cheek bones and a
smooth-as-china complexion accented with a few cute freckles.
At 17, she headed for Japan for six months of modelling after her
Eurasian friends told her there was money to be made. A year later
in 1998, she went to Taiwan for two months. It was a trying time -
she did not get any assignments.
'I had a one-way ticket to Hong Kong. It was my last chance. If I
didn't make money, I'd go home,' she recalls.
Thankfully, commercial work rolled in. She modelled for the likes
of Chanel and Gucci and appeared on magazine covers. Her big break
came in 2000, when she had a role in Gen Y Cops. These days,
Maggie, who idolises fellow actress Maggie Cheung, takes it at a
slower pace. She is in the process of developing her own low-budget
independent movie about a supermodel who stalks her fans. It is
co-written with her scriptwriter friend, Bey Logan, whose writing
credits include Gen Y Cops and Twins Effects.
Then, there is Love Asia, a Sports Illustrated-styled publication,
lensed by Singaporean photographer Leslie Kee. Maggie is one of 12
models featured in the title, which is due out later this
year.
Probe her about her romances, and Maggie, who was last romantically
linked with Nakata Hidetoshi, the midfielder of Italian football
club Parma, becomes all pensive.
'I like Asian men. I cannot fathom dating Caucasians. They don't
have to be pretty boys or beautiful. I can accept flaws in a man,'
she says cautiously.
Have any of her former boyfriends come close to fitting that mould?
She smiles. 'One of them was my ideal type, but I'm not naming
names,' she teases.
And although she is a picture of composure and confidence, she
admits to feeling insecure sometimes. 'I lack faith sometimes. I
feel that I don't live up to other people's expectations of me,'
she says.
But she looks confident, you point out.
Then comes her riposte, delivered with an exaggerated voice and
impish expression.
'Why, that's because I'm a good actress!'
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Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights
reserved.
