Beauty more than skin-deep for ethnic Asians

From the film version of the 1970s television show Charlie's Angels to the modernised Miss America beauty pageant, Asian-Americans are finally challenging the stereotypical image of the blonde, toothy all-American look.

Women from minority ethnic backgrounds took the top three prizes of the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City at the weekend - an event won by an Asian-American for the first time in its 80-year history.

Overall winner, Hawaiian contestant Angela Perez Baraquio, a 24-year-old teacher, was born to Filipino parents. Loyal to her Filipino-Catholic roots, Ms Baraquio said prayer helped her.

'I don't wear my faith on my sleeve, I just live it,' she said.

First runner-up, Miss California Rita Ng, is Chinese-American. A Stanford University student who wants to be a paediatrician, Ms Ng won the talent segment of the televised show with a piano recital of Beethoven's Appassionata Opus 57 .

Their success helps cap a year of a new recognition and acceptance of Asian-Americans in the US fashion and entertainment scene. Next week the much-awaited re-make of Charlie's Angels premieres in cinemas in Hollywood and New York.

Dominating the pre-publicity - including posters on bus stops and train stations nationwide - is new Angel Lucy Liu, the Chinese-American star of the Ally McBeal television sit-com. The mid-1970s show was famous for its distinctly white-bread cast, including Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson.