When Maggie Q first arrived in Hong Kong in 1997, she was 18 years old – broke, beautiful and utterly alone. Known then as Maggie Quigley, a Hawaiian girl of American and Vietnamese heritage, she got off the plane at the old Kai Tak airport with just one US$20 bill in her pocket, two huge suitcases and the phone number of a modeling agent she had never spoken with – her sole contact in the city. Seven-and-a-half tumultuous years later, she departed Hong Kong one of the most recognizable faces in China, jetting to Los Angeles to accept a role opposite Tom Cruise in the biggest action movie of the year: Mission Impossible 3. She has seldom looked back – mostly because, for the past few years, she hasn’t had a moment to spare.
Immediately following Mission Impossible, Q was cast as an exotic foil to Bruce Willis in Die Hard 4.0; after which, she was soon seen leading an imperial army across the Gobi Desert in the Chinese period action drama Three Kingdoms, co-starring Andy Lau. In essence, Q’s story traces the timeworn arc of the American dream, except that Hong Kong, China, is the place that made it all possible. From misfit American teenager, to Asian supermodel, to struggling Hong Kong action actress, to international screen star, Q’s ascension has been fast, rocky and improbable at every turn. “Maggie is the only young talent of her generation to come out of the Hong Kong system and make the transition to Hollywood success,” says local film producer and Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan, who was one of Q’s confidants and frequent collaborators during her later Hong Kong days.
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