Mary Xinh Nguyen, Amerasian and Winner of Revlon's Most Unforgettable Woman Award

As a teenager who had grown up primarily in the United States, I hadn't heard of the word, Amerasian.  The first time I had ever heard of this word was in an article on Seventeen Magazine written about this beautiful half-Vietnamese, half-American young woman who had just won the coveted Revlon's Most Unforgettable Woman of the Year Award in 1989.  I was mesmerized after reading this article and couldn't get over one quote from this young lady in particular on how she said she had wanted to become a role model for Amerasians.  Well, she had me sold from that point on.

In the years that followed, I would see Mary Xinh Nguyen on television interviews as well as on ads for Revlon that had been featured on Vogue and Cosmopolitan.  Each time I would see her, she gave me a sense of pride for being an Amerasian.  I had read that she was studying at Boston University and had plans on becoming an attorney at law one day.  I really wanted to one day meet her.  But that seemed rather far fetched.

And then one day, we finally met.  I was volunteering for an organization called East Meets West Foundation that had been founded by the author, Le Ly Hayslip, who had written the novels, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War, Woman of Peace, that Oliver Stone had bought the rights to and had made a film based upon called, Heaven and Earth.  Sometime in the year of 1992, while at the screening of the film held at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, I had volunteered as one of the ushers.  One of the actors that had starred in the film was Dustin Nguyen, who had also been in attendance that night.  His date at the event was Mary Xinh Nguyen, herself.

When we met, I was rather surprised at how humble she was.  I was afraid she might be rather conceited, considering my past experiences with models.  But she was anything but that.  After I had told her of just how much I had admired her for representing Amerasians in such a classy way, she smiled and asked me about myself.  We had a lovely brief conversation.  I had never expected to meet her again.

But then sometime toward the end of 1993, we would meet up again.  This time we would work together in a benefit for Amerasians held at the auditorium of Cal State Long Beach.  Mary was the co-host of the event.  And I was one of the Amerasian singers featured in the program.  This would mark the first time I performed in front of a live Vietnamese audience.  During the rehearsals for the show, Mary and I got to become closer and a friendship between us had developed.  I especially was happy to have also gotten to know her mother, whom I called Co Thuong.  She is a lovely lady with one of the most positive attitudes of anyone I had ever met.

From Left to Right:  My Mother, Thien Phu, Luu Quoc Viet,
Jenny Trang, Mary Xinh Nguyen, Mary's Mother

Mary and I would work together again a few years later at another benefit show for Amerasians.  This time I was among the one of the
people who had put the show together.  I got to work with another Amerasian, Angela Peters, a college student and part-time fashion model who was then Dustin Nguyen's girlfriend.  All I can say about Mary and her mother is that they are among the loveliest people.  The last I heard about Mary was that she did reunite with her father.  But unfortunately, within just a year from their reunion, her father was killed in auto accident.  My heart went out to Mary for her misfortune.  Since then, from what I know, Mary now is married and has become a mother.  She is also now a successful attorney at law and practices somewhere in the Los Angeles area.  Mary Xinh Nguyen, in my opinion, will always be a role model for us Amerasians.