An exquisite petite beauty of French and Chinese heritage, France Nuyen was discovered while working in a bakery a few weeks after she came to the Unites States from France. 20th Century-Fox chose her to play Liat in the box office smash South Pacific (1958) before she ever learned to speak a word of English.

The film's director, Joshua Logan, had so much faith in her talent that he gave her the starring role in his Broadway production of The World of Susie Wong. Despite the fact that she had to learn her lines phonetically, Nuyen was a sensation as Susie and was picked to bring the character to life on the big screen. However, after filming for a month in England she was fired and replaced by Nancy Kwan.

A dejected Nuyen returned to Hollywood and was ostracized by the community until producer Jack Webb chose her to co-star opposite Robert Mitchum in the service comedy The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961). Her career rejuvenated, Nuyen was then cast as docile Asian women in a series of melodramas such as Satan Never Sleeps (1962) starring William Holden, A Girl Named Tamiko (1963) starring Laurence Harvey, and Diamond Head (1963) starring Charlton Heston.

Though a fan favorite with mainstream audiences, Nuyen didn't make an impression on sixties genre fans until she appeared as a secret agent teamed with Jeffrey Hunter in Dimension 5 (1966). She then rode the spy wave with appearances on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and I Spy, among others. Her most fiery role was in "Elaan of Troyius" on Star Trek in 1968.

After appearing on the big screen in the western One More Train to Rob (1971) with George Pappard and as a mutant in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), Nuyen was wasted in forgettable TV-movies during the seventies. Her favorite role came during the eighties as Dr. Paulette Kiem on the hit TV medical series St. Elsewhere for two years. Later, she was also part of the esteemed ensemble cast of The Joy Luck Club (1993). Today, France still acts, is a regular at celebrity autograph conventions and is a very talented garden designer.

South Pacific

France enrolled at the Canover Modeling Agency and began working in a bakery. Before ever landing a modeling job, the agency submitted her photographs to 20th Century-Fox who was launching a campaign to find a girl to play the ingenue in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific (1958). Before she knew it, "some people at Fox picked me up at work and took me to their offices. I walked out with a seven-year contract. I only spoke French at that time. The Canover Agency paid for three weeks of English lessons for me at Berlitz before they sent me off to California."

South Pacific starring Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi was a tremendous success. France was simply enchanting as Liat, the daughter of Bloody Mary (Juanita Hall), who falls in love with the ill-fated lieutenant (John Kerr) and she received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Their scenes together are very touching. As for the making of South Pacific, France says with a laugh, "As far I was concerned it was just working but for a higher salary than the bakery. I adored John Kerr. But there really was not much communication between the cast and I except for Rossano Brazzi and Joshua Logan who were the only two that spoke French."

The World of Susie Wong

Josha Logan was so impressed with France that after filming was complete on South Pacific that "he handed me the script to The World of Susie Wong and said to me, 'If you learn this by September I will put you on Broadway.' I memorized it phonetically and he put me on Broadway. [Laughs] It was a terrifying experience. I had never been on the stage or acted before, really. I didn't know what acting was. I seemed to be doing okay but I had no control over my craft whatsoever. It was very, very frightening. I pretty much went on God's blessing. Every night I just said, 'Help me!' Somehow I did it but I can't tell you how. It was a phenomenon. The show was a success and ran for three years."

After producer Ray Stark signed her to do the film version of The World of Susie Wong (1960) opposite William Holden, super stardom seemed inevitable. However, after filming for a month on location in England, France was dropped from the film and replaced by Nancy Kwan. The tabloids and fan magazines had a field day speculating why France was let go - she had become ill, she had gained too much weight, and she had become "impossible" to work with due to an unhappy love affair with Marlon Brando, were just some of the outrageous comments. France says, "All that was orchestrated by the production company. I was distressed. No one would hire me after reading the press that was trumped up against me. I had no idea what was going on and couldn't figure it out. I was very, very grieved by it. I couldn't work because everyone was afraid of me. They said I was a drug addict, an alcoholic - everything you could imagine. I was as far from a drug addict as you can get. I never even take aspirin, for God's sakes!"

The Joy Luck Club

During the nineties France returned to the big screen most memorably in The Joy Luck Club (1993) based on Amy Tan's bestseller focusing on the struggles of four Chinese women in their homeland when they were young and their daughters' travails in America today. As for landing the role of Ying Ying, the mother of the timid Lena (Lauren Tom), Nuyen has her friends to thank once again. "I like my work but I am not a career person," confesses France. "So I don't know what I should or should not be doing with it. Basically, I just wait until my agent calls me. I am an artist - I write, I paint and sculpt and I create my gardens. I have these other interests, which keep me busy. To this day my friends say to me, 'You have to do this.' That's what happened with The Joy Luck Club. I would never have known about the book or that I could have anything to do with it if my friends didn't bring it to my attention."

As for the making of The Joy Luck Club all France (who gives a terrific performance) will say is "it was a very successful film. It was wonderful for all those young people to work in it. It was a good break for them." Nuyen's disinterest in the film is at first surprising. However, it becomes clear after reading interviews she gave in 1993 bitterly accusing Amy Tan of cutting her best moments from the film to keep the public from only associating The Joy Luck Club with Tan and not the actresses in it.