1.
Chang and Eng Bunker
–
Chang and Eng Bunker were Thai-American conjoined twin brothers whose condition and birthplace became the basis for the term Siamese twins. The Bunker brothers were born on May 11,1811, in the province of Samutsongkram, near Bangkok and their fisherman father was a Chinese Thai, while their mother, Nok, was half-Chinese and half-Malay. Because of their Chinese heritage, they were known locally as the Chinese Twins, the brothers were joined at the sternum by a small piece of cartilage, and though their livers were fused, they were independently complete. In 1829, Robert Hunter, a Scottish merchant who lived in Bangkok, saw the twins swimming and he paid their parents to permit him to exhibit their sons as a curiosity on a world tour. When their contract with Hunter was over, Chang and Eng went into business for themselves, in 1839, while visiting Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the brothers were attracted to the area and purchased a 110-acre farm in nearby Traphill. Determined to live as normal a life they could, Chang and Eng settled on their small plantation, using their adopted name Bunker, they married local women on April 13,1843. Chang wed Adelaide Yates, while Eng married her sister, Sarah Anne, the twins also became naturalized American citizens. The couples shared a bed built for four in their Traphill home, Chang and Adelaide would become the parents of twelve children. However, Chichester disputes this number of children, stating Eng had 11, after a number of years, the sisters began to dislike each other and separate households were set up west of Mount Airy, North Carolina in the town of White Plains. The brothers would spend three days at each home. During the American Civil War, Changs son Christopher and Engs son Stephen both served in the Confederate army, the twins lost most of their money with the defeat of the Confederacy and became very bitter. They returned to public exhibitions, but this time they had little success, nevertheless, they maintained a high reputation for honesty and integrity, and they were highly respected by their neighbors. In 1870, Chang suffered a stroke and his health declined over the four years. Despite his brothers ailing condition, Eng remained in good health, shortly before his death, Chang was injured after falling from a carriage. He then developed a case of bronchitis. On January 17,1874, Chang died while the brothers were asleep, Eng awoke to find his brother dead and cried, Then I am going. A doctor was summoned to perform a separation, but he was too late. Eng died approximately three hours later, an autopsy revealed that Chang had died of a cerebral blood clot but Engs cause of death remains uncertain
2.
Tera Patrick
–
Tera Patrick is the stage name of an American pornographic actress and model. Patrick is the Penthouse Pet of the Month for February 2000 and is an inductee for the NightMoves, AVN, Tera Patrick was born Linda Ann Hopkins and was raised near San Francisco. Her mother is Thai and her father is of English, Irish, when she was just ten, her mother left her and she grew up with her father David Hopkins, a carefree hippie. After taking weekend classes at the Barbizon School of Modeling for two years, she was hired by a Japanese modeling agency and moved to Tokyo at the age of fourteen. At one of her first photo shoots, she lost her virginity to the photographer and she spent two years in Tokyo, where she became addicted to Valium and alcohol and spent her paychecks on shopping sprees. When her father learned she had become active, he complained to her agency. It sent her back to the United States, sixteen years old, at eighteen, she obtained a GED, briefly studied nursing at Boise State University, then received EMT certification from a local vocational school. Patrick started her career in 1999 and, in 2003. She retired from shooting scenes in the industry in 2008 but continues to operate her website, production company. She licenses her movie catalog worldwide, Patrick has appeared in Playboy and Penthouse, where she was the Pet of the Month for February 2000 and was selected as Pet of the Year runner-up. In 2003, Patrick became the publisher of Genesis. In November 2006, Patrick starred in a Vivid/Teravision production titled Tera Patricks Fashion Underground where she performed with Jean Val Jean, in the same film her husband, under the name Spyder Jonez, performed with Lanny Barby. In an interview, Tera Patrick says shes OK with him doing scenes with other girls, the two made five movies for Vivid and ten for Teravision. com. In 2008, Patrick began hosting the Playboy TV erotic instructional show and she was also the host for 25th AVN Awards ceremony. In January 2013, Patrick hosted the annual XBIZ Awards, Patrick appeared and voiced herself in episode 63 of Aqua Teen Hunger Force animated series, which first aired November 19,2006. Her television appearances include Chelsea Lately, Last Call with Carson Daly, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, MSNBC, FOX News, Patrick was on the cover of the July 2006 American edition of FHM. Patrick was made into a character in the video game Backyard Wrestling 2. Patrick was also in the video for I Cant Move by Everlast
3.
Tiger Woods
–
Eldrick Tont Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer who is among the most successful golfers of all time. He has been one of the athletes in the world for several years. Following an outstanding amateur and two-year college golf career, Woods turned professional at age 20 in late summer 1996. By April 1997 he had won his first major, the 1997 Masters, in a record-breaking performance, winning the tournament by 12 strokes. He first reached the one position in the world rankings in June 1997. Through the 2000s, Woods was the dominant force in golf, from December 2009 to early April 2010, Woods took leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage after he admitted infidelity, but he and his wife Elin Nordegren eventually divorced. His many alleged extramarital indiscretions were revealed by several different women and this was followed by a loss of golf form, and his ranking gradually fell to a low of No.58 in November 2011. He ended a winless streak of 107 weeks when he triumphed in the Chevron World Challenge in December 2011. After winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 25,2013, he ascended to the No.1 ranking once again, Woods had back surgery in April 2014 and September 2015 and has struggled since to regain his dominant form. By March 29,2015, Woods had fallen to #104, in May 2016, Woods dropped out of the world top 500 for the first time in his professional career. Woods has broken numerous golf records and he has been World Number One for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks of any golfer. He has won 14 professional major golf championships, the second-highest of any player, and 79 PGA Tour events, second all time behind Sam Snead and he has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, additionally, Woods is only the second golfer to have achieved a career Grand Slam three times. Woods has won 18 World Golf Championships, and won at least one of those events in each of the first 11 years after they began in 1999, Woods and Rory McIlroy are the only golfers to win both The Silver Medal and The Gold Medal at The Open Championship. Woods was born in Cypress, California, to Earl and Kultida Woods, Kultida, originally from Thailand, is of mixed Thai, Chinese, and Dutch ancestry. Earl, a lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran, was of mostly African American. Earls mother Maude Carter was of light skin, some suggest possible Native American and Chinese ancestry. Tiger refers to his ethnic make-up as Cablinasian, Woods first name, Eldrick, was coined by his mother because it began with E and ended with K
4.
Tammy Duckworth
–
Ladda Tammy Duckworth is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party, serving as the junior United States Senator for Illinois since 2017. She was a member of the United States House of Representatives for Illinois 8th district for two terms, in the November 8,2016, election, Duckworth defeated incumbent Republican Senator Mark Kirk for his seat in the United States Senate. Her father, an American, and her Thai-Chinese mother were working and living there at the time, Duckworth is the second Asian-American woman serving in the U. S. Senate after Mazie Hirono and next to Kamala Harris. An Iraq War veteran, Duckworth served as a U. S. Army helicopter pilot and suffered severe combat wounds and she was the first female double amputee from the war. Tammy Duckworth was born in Bangkok, Thailand, the daughter of Lamai Sompornpairin and Franklin Duckworth and her father, who died in 2005, was a U. S. Marine veteran who traced his familys American roots to the American Revolutionary War. Her mother is Thai, of Chinese descent, because of her fathers work with the United Nations and international companies in refugee, housing, and development programs, the family moved around Southeast Asia. Duckworth became fluent in Thai and Indonesian, in addition to English, Duckworth attended Singapore American School, and for a few months in her senior year was at the International School Bangkok. The family settled in Hawaii when she was sixteen and her father became unemployed for a time and the family relied on public assistance. She graduated with honors from McKinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1985 and she graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science, and later received a Master of Arts in international affairs from George Washington University. She became an officer in the United States Army Reserve in 1992. As a member of the Army Reserve, she went to school, later transferring to the Army National Guard. Duckworth also worked as a supervisor at Rotary International headquarters in Evanston. She was the first female double amputee from the Iraq war, the explosion almost completely destroyed her right arm, breaking it in three places and tearing tissue from the back side of it. The doctors reset the bones in her arm and stitched the cuts to save her arm. Duckworth received a Purple Heart on December 3 and was promoted to Major on December 21 at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and she retired from the Illinois Army National Guard in October 2014 as a lieutenant colonel. She returned to school and completed a PhD in Human Services at Capella University in March 2015, the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a statue with Duckworths likeness, and that of the Revolutions Molly Pitcher in Mount Vernon, Illinois, in 2011. The statue was erected in honor of female veterans, on November 21,2006, several weeks after losing her first congressional campaign, Duckworth was appointed Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs by Governor Rod Blagojevich. Duckworth served in that position until February 8,2009, while she was Director, she was credited with starting a program to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, and veterans with brain injury
5.
Eric Koston
–
Eric Koston is an American professional skateboarder and company owner. He has been featured in the Tony Hawks video game series, Koston co-owns both Fourstar Clothing and the skatepark/website The Berrics. Eric Koston was born in Thailand, in the hospital as fellow professional skateboarder Alphonzo Rawls. Koston was raised in San Bernardino, California, United States, one of Kostons first board sponsors was the H-Street company that was co-founded by Tony Magnusson and Mike Ternasky. During Kostons time with the company the team included Danny Way and Matt Hensley, following H-Street, Koston joined the Girl team and appeared in the videos Goldfish, Mouse, Yeah Right, and Pretty Sweet. Koston was a team rider for the éS brand and an Eric Koston éS Game of Skate was held annually over numerous years. Koston also appeared in the éS video Menikmati in which he returns to his birthplace of Bangkok, following his departure from éS, Koston joined the Lakai roster and a video was published onto YouTube to announce the move. After joining the company in 2006, Koston filmed a part for the 2007 Lakai video Fully Flared, Kostons eventual departure for a place on the Nike SB team was accompanied by a YouTube video that parodied the George W. Bush shoe-throwing incident. Nike SB immediately promoted Kostons recruitment to the team with a signature shoe—the Eric Koston 1 model—and a contest for consumers. A promotional campaign, identified by the hashtag #thelegendgrows, was launched by Nike to coincide with release of Kostons second signature model the Eric Koston 2. An advertisement that included other Nike athletes, such as Tiger Woods, and Kostons Nike SB teammates was filmed and a behind-the-scenes video was also published on the brands YouTube channel. Koston used the Eric Koston 2 design as a basis for a limited edition golf shoe, named the Koston 2 IT, but we couldn’t totally execute it…it was getting as good as I could get it, but it wasn’t quite there. And I can really, truly, feel like I can innovate, so there’s that, but not only that, they actually function, I guess from start to finish, even the marketing side of things it’s above and beyond, it’s crazy. In 2016, Nike and Koston would release the Nike SB Koston 3 Hyperfeel and this shoe would be one of the first skateboarding shoes to incorporate an ankle collar made of Flyknit material to provide support and stability. Upon the shoes release, Koston claimed it to be the most progressive SB shoe to date, as a sponsored rider for the Oakley sunglasses brand, Koston completed the Fear and Loathing in Australia video project that was filmed in early 2013. Koston revealed the injuries that he has sustained throughout his career on the micro-site for the project, few bad ankle sprains, dislocated finger, stitches and tendonitis in the knee. As of January 2016, Koston is sponsored by the companies, Nike SB, Independent Truck Company, Spitfire Wheels, Fourstar, Diamond, Supreme, The Berrics, Oakley, Jessup. In a 2009 video segment, Koston stated that his setup consisted of a Girl skateboard deck, Independent 139 trucks,50 millimetres Spitfire wheels, Bones Swiss bearings, and Bones yellow bushings
6.
Myra Molloy
–
Maneepat Myra Molloy, nicknamed Myra, is a Thai - American singer and actress, soprano, classical crossover and pop artist. In 2011 at age 13 Myra won the season of Thailand’s Got Talent with her performances of a combination of cross-over classical. In August 2014 at age 16, she placed Top 6 on ABC televisions Rising Star USA, Myra was born in Bangkok to an American father and Thai mother. She has a sister, Nina. From an early age, Myra made frequent trips to New York City where she fell in love with Broadway and she was fascinated by The Phantom of the Opera, more than once standing through the entire performance with her $26 standing-room ticket. She still tries to attend every musical that she possibly can, Myra started playing violin when she was 5, later switching to the viola. She was a member of her orchestra, as well as Senior. Myra was the first vocal scholar at Shrewsbury International School Bangkok at age 9, Myra began singing lessons at age eight. After two months, her teacher entered her for her first singing contest, representing her school in a nationwide competition, and she won first place. Her father posted a clip of her performance on YouTube and it went viral, receiving 3,000,000 views, Myra went on to win several prestigious Thai music competitions including a prize from the Princess of Thailand. In 2011 when Myra was 13, she decided to enter the first season of Thailands Got Talent, a big fan of the show in America and Britain, she enthusiastically went to the Thai auditions only a few miles from her home. In the competition she sang Time to Say Goodbye, Think of Me, Pie Jesu, Myra wowed Thai audiences winning the first season of Thailand’s Got Talent and creating a national fascination with Western classical-crossover music. The founder of Bangkok Grand Opera said he opened his new company based on the increased interest in Western classical music as a direct result of Myra’s performances. Since winning the competition in 2011, Myra has performed regularly with the Siam Sinfonietta Orchestra and Bangkok Opera. Myra has performed in Paris, China, Singapore, Thailand, and she enjoys singing classical, pop, musicals and Jazz. In 2012 she landed her first major role, playing the young Reya in Reya the Musical, based on a popular work of Thai fiction by Thaithow Sucharitkul. Every performance of the sold out. In late 2012, Myra sang from the audience at a David Foster concert in Bangkok, later in the concert David invited Myra on stage to sing a duet with tenor Fernando Varela
7.
Nichkhun
–
Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul, known mononymously as Nichkhun, is a Thai-American rapper, singer, songwriter, model and actor. He is currently based in South Korea as a member of the South Korean boy band 2PM, Nichkhun was born in Rancho Cucamonga, California to ethnic Chinese parents from Bangkok. His paternal grandmother is from Hainan, China while his grandfather is a Thai born ethnic Chinese. His mother Yenjit Horvejkul was born in Thailand to Hainanese immigrant parents from China and his mother is the chief executive officer of a Thai pharmaceutical company, Union Medical, established in 1976, which acts as an importer and distributor. He has said that he has extended family and distant ancestors from Guangzhou and he holds dual citizenship in Thailand and USA. He comes from a background, which earned him the nickname “Thai Prince in South Korea. Nichkhun has one brother, Nichan, and two younger sisters, Nichthima and Nachjaree. At the age of five, he moved to Thailand from the United States with his family and studied at Dhepkanjana School and he was scouted by a scout manager of JYP Entertainment at the Los Angeles Korean Music Festival. Park Jin-young informed him that he was required to learn how to sing and to dance, learn Korean and Mandarin Chinese and he is now fluent in Thai, English, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese and basic French. As a male citizen of Thailand, he was subject to the draft lottery in 2009. On 4 September 2008, Nichkhun debuted as part of 2PM in their first single 10 Points out of 10 Points from their single album Hottest Time of the Day and they have released five studio albums in Korea and four studio albums in Japan. Nichkhun was one of the hosts for the Korean Music Wave in Bangkok in 2010,2011, in 2010, along with Taecyeon and Yoon Eun-hye, Nichkhun played one of the main characters in a 12-minute music video drama for Cass Beer, which was released on February 8. He also hosted JYPs talent competition Superstar Survival, on June 2010, he was cast in the second season of variety show We Got Married, pairing up with Victoria of f. The couple, known as Khuntoria, was featured on the show leaving in September 2011, in 2011, Nichkhun appeared in the music video of the single Touch by Taiwanese Mandopop artist Wilber Pan, which premiered on January 31. In May, he was selected as the new model for Everlands Caribbean Bay Aqualoop CF and he also starred in the Japanese live-adaptation film of Ouran High School Host Club as Lawrence, the president of a Singaporean corporation, followed in 2012 by the Thai film Seven Something. In 2013, he filmed the Chinese TV series One and a Half Summer, the series aired between June and July 2014. In 2014, he had a cameo in the Thai movie Chalouis and he teamed up with CNBLUEs Jung Yong-hwa, B1A4s Baro, Infinites L, and Winners Mino for project group Lucky Boys for the 2014 SBS Gayo Daejun. Nichkhun and Baro also hosted the show, in 2015, Nichkhun joined the cast of the Chinese movie Forever Young, Gardenia in Blossom, starring Li Yi Feng and Zhang Hui We and a new Chinese music reality show Youth Trainee
8.
Chrissy Teigen
–
Christine Chrissy Teigen is an American model. She made her debut in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2010 and, alongside Nina Agdal and Lily Aldridge and she co-hosts Lip Sync Battle with LL Cool J on Spike TV and joined the lifestyle panel talk show FABLife. Teigen was born in Delta, Utah and her father is of Norwegian descent, and her mother is Thai. Teigens father worked as an electrician, and the family moved often, after living in Hawaii, Idaho, and Snohomish, Washington, the family settled in Huntington Beach, California, when Teigen was a teenager. She was discovered by a photographer working in a surf shop. She is represented worldwide by IMG Models in New York and she became an IGN Babe in 2004 and a substitute model on Deal or No Deal for 2006–2007. In July 2007, she appeared on the cover of Maxims calendar. She has also served as a recurring guest host and contributor on E. TMZ, MTV, FUSE/MSG, and Extra with Mario Lopez, in spring 2013, she was host of the reality competition show, Model Employee on VH1. Teigen appeared in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue in 2010, and was named Rookie of the Year and her friend and fellow model Brooklyn Decker had introduced her to the people at Sports Illustrated to cast her. She was also a part of the 2011,2012,2013 and 2014 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issues, in 2014, she appeared on the 50th anniversary cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue with Nina Agdal and Lily Aldridge. In addition to Sports Illustrated, Teigen has appeared on the cover of Ocean Drive magazine, Cosmopolitan, other side projects include designing a capsule collection with swimwear designer DiNeila Brazil and appearing as a featured character in the 2011 EA Sports video game Need For Speed, The Run. When not working in the world of modeling, Teigen is a cook. She is the author of the blog, sodelushious. com and she was also featured on an additional Cooking Channel special in February 2013, titled Chrissy Teigens Hungry, detailing her wedding menu tasting with then-fiancé John Legend. Teigen recently filmed a Cooking Channel special titled Cookies and Cocktails, in 2012, Teigen was named Spike TVs Our New Girlfriend. In 2013, Teigen appeared in her husband John Legends music video for the song All Of Me, in April 2014, Teigen appeared on an Inside Amy Schumer sketch playing a fictionalized version of herself as a relationship counselor. Teigen appears as a judge on the new MTV2 cooking show Snack-Off, in January 2015, Teigen appeared as a guest star on The Mindy Project as the girlfriend of the man to whom Mindy lost her virginity. In April 2015, Teigen became a co-host on Spike TVs Lip Sync Battle alongside LL Cool J. Teigen also co-hosted the Billboard Music Awards with Ludacris and she is the food stylist on Tyra Banks lifestyle talk show FABLife. On February 23,2016, Teigens cookbook Cravings was released, Teigen married singer John Legend on September 14,2013, in Como, Italy
9.
Brenda Song
–
Brenda Song is an Hmong-American actress, model, and spokesperson. Song started in business as a child fashion model. Her early television work included roles in the television shows Fudge and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd, after many commercials and television roles in the late 1990s, Song won a Young Artist Award for her performance in The Ultimate Christmas Present. In 2005, Song began playing the female role of London Tipton in the The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. The character is noted as one of Disneys longest continuous characters, Song made her transition into mainstream movies in 2010 when she appeared in the critically acclaimed film The Social Network. She also starred in the indie film First Kiss. In 2012 and 2013, she had recurring roles in Scandal, in 2013–2014, she starred in the Fox TV series Dads. In October 2014, Song signed a talent holding deal with Fox, since then, Song has been cast in several television pilots for NBC and CBS. She is currently starring in the CBS drama Pure Genius, Brenda Song was born in Carmichael, California, a suburb of Sacramento, to a Hmong father and a Thai mother. Her paternal grandparents were from the Xiong clan, but changed their last name to Song when the family immigrated to the United States and her parents were born in Asia and met as adults in Sacramento. Her father works as a schoolteacher and her mother is a homemaker and she has two younger brothers, Timmy and Nathan. When she was six years old, Song moved with her mother to Los Angeles, California, to support her acting career, as a young girl, Song wanted to do ballet, while her younger brother wanted to take taekwondo. She said, My mom only wanted to take us to one place, although Song cried all the way through her first class, she now holds a black belt in taekwondo. Song was named an All-American Scholar in the ninth grade, Song started in show business as a child fashion model in San Francisco after being spotted in a shopping mall by an agent from a modeling school. She began acting at the age of five or six in a Little Caesars commercial and her first film role was in the 1995 Requiem, an AFI student short film by actress Elizabeth Sung. She was very focused, and it was obvious that she loved what she was doing. The film is about a waitress/dancer named Fong who remembers her loving brother, the seven-year-old Song played a young version of Fong, who is portrayed as an adult by Tamlyn Tomita. The film won a CINE Golden Eagle award and she appeared in another short film directed by Elizabeth Sung called The White Fox
10.
Los Angeles
–
Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
Theravada Buddhism, Christian
.jpg)
