The New Face Of Asia

GROWING UP IN A SMALL village in northeastern Thailand, Rojjana Phetkanha, 23, spent her childhood working in rice fields and helping tend the family's water buffalo. She never went beyond sixth grade in school. But four years ago she was discovered by a fashion designer and rose quickly to stardom. Now she is a lead model for Chanel, and her face appears at bus stops in Paris and in leading fashion magazines around the world. She's had a bit part in a Bruce Willis movie and a role in a George Michael music video. Her success, she says, may signal a breakthrough for Asian models who--like her--are darker-skinned, and have suffered from a prejudice against women considered too ""Asian-looking.'' In Bangkok, Yui (as she is known) talked with the help of a Thai translator to NEWSWEEK'S Ron Moreau. Excerpts:

MOREAU: What was your ambition as a young girl when you were growing up in your rural Thai village?

YUI: When I was 8 years old I was already helping my mom in the rice fields, looking after the water buffalo and my young nephews and nieces. That hard work made me very tough and very strong like a boy. So my role models were strong people who wore uniforms, like the police and soldiers. I also admired the models on TV, but I never dreamed I'd ever be one.

How were you "discovered'?

I first came to Bangkok when I was 15. I began going to night school, worked in a restaurant, all the while dreaming about becoming a model, because just about everyone I met in Bangkok said I was tall enough to be a model. But I didn't know how to go about it. One day when I was 19, I was sitting at a sidewalk shop having a bowl of noodles when this Eurasian woman walked up to me and asked if she could take my picture. My first reaction was to say no, but she insisted, saying I was so beautiful. She turned out to be a fashion designer who enrolled me in an international supermodel contest being held in Bangkok. I didn't expect to win, but I did.

Was that your biggest thrill?