How Asian-American uber-babe Maggie Q kissed, partied and climbed her way to the top of Hollywood

In Asia, actress Maggie Q is known for her ice queen public image and not-so-fluent Chinese. But recently, this American-Vietnamese model-turned-actress said something clever enough to impress her Chinese fans. When asked how she felt about beating out Zhang Ziyi to become spokesbabe for a well-known digital brand, she replied, “Well she has a boyfriend and I do not.” This casual remark caused the gossip mills to grind overtime.

Ever since Maggie Q’s memorable appearance in “Mission Impossible III,” the actress originally named Maggie Denise Quigley has been quietly gaining a profile in Hollywood, culminating in this year’s “Live Free or Die Hard” where she played a criminal mastermind with both brains and babe-a-liciousness. Her asking price for roles has quietly climbed over the million dollar mark.

Maggie Q, daughter of a Polish-Irish American father and a Vietnamese mother, has never been short of boyfriends. She started off doing TV commercials in Hong Kong in 1998, but gained notoriety when she came between best friends Daniel Wu and Edison Chan during the filming of “Gen X Cops 2.” Maggie Q continued to act in Hong Kong action films and thoroughly enjoyed her status as a Hong Kong celeb, reportedly dating Nicolas Tse, Gilbert Yeung and the Japanese football star, Hidetoshi Nakata. Aside from the string of big name boyfriends, Maggie Q’s fun-loving life in Hong Kong always finds its way into press. Once she was caught kissing and cuddling a man in a Hong Kong café and a few months later, the tabloids found her partying and making out in a car. Once at a party, she confessed to a tabloid reporter, “Daniel Wu is actually the love of my life.”

Whoever helped Maggie Q land her role in “Mission Impossible III” and convinced her to get serious about acting is a genius. Her American background has made it easier for her to enter Hollywood than Zhang Ziyi and other Chinese stars. Her Eurasian looks also afford her a wider ranges of roles, not just typecast Chinese ones. Given her own charm and solid fan base in Asia, it is easy to explain why Maggie Q has suddenly become Hollywood’s darling.

“For a future boyfriend, he has to be confident, humorous and most importantly have a clear direction in life,” Maggie Q told reporters in Shanghai last week. Clearly, it’s because she seems to have found her own direction now.

So who is the hottest Asian babe? According to Fengdu (Chinese Maxxim), Maggie Q only ranks number four. Topping the list is model and TV host Lin Zhiling. Number two is the former soft core porn actress from Taiwan Shu Qi. Number three is minx Zhang Ziyi. Coming in at number five is the elfin actress Zhou Xun.