WE’VE upheld this image of the beauty queen as timid and demure, but there will always be an extraordinary few who breaks the stereotype. Some former pageant goddesses can serve as role models for the current Miss Universe, our own Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, who has inidcated her desire to be a Bond Girl after her reign. These women have ruled—or are conquering—Hollywood at various times, essaying roles that are daring, formidable and badass.
As April becomes an unofficial beauty-pageant month, specifically Binibining Pilipinas, let’s pay tribute to queens who have gone beyond the pageant stage and made great strides on the silver screen.
DANIELA BIANCHI She won Miss Photogenic and was the favorite to win Miss Universe 1960, but only emerged in second place to Linda Bement of the US. That triumph led to a role as Tatiana Romanova, a corporal in the Soviet Army Intelligence, deployed to the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul to “work” as a cipher clerk in From Russia with Love (1963). She played opposite Sean Connery as James Bond. (There was no Filipina rep in Miss Universe 1960. However, the semifinalist from Colombia, Stella Márquez, became the first Miss International the same year and founded the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. afterward.)
Claudine Auger played Domino in Thunderball (1965). As Claudine Oger, she won Miss France Monde and first runner-up in the 1958 Miss World contest. (We did not compete in the Miss World till the 1960s.)
HALLE BERRY Representing Ohio, Halle was first runner-up at Miss USA 1986 to Christy Fichtner of Texas. She went on to compete at Miss World, emerging fifth runner-up. She won an Oscar for Best Actress in 2002 for Monster’s Ball (2001) while filming Die Another Day (2002) opposite Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Halle played Giacinta “Jinx” Johnson, a National Security Agency agent. Her cool factor was amplified when she appeared in a series of X-Men movies as Storm, the tribal princess/mutant superhero who has the ability to control the weather and can fly. (Halle’s Pinay batchmate at Miss World was Sherry Rose Byrne, one of the 15 semifinalists and that year’s Asia’s Queen of Beauty.)
MICHELLE YEOH Another beauty queen-turned-Bond Girl, she played Wai Lin, a martial-arts expert/spy for the Chinese People’s External Security Force with the rank of colonel, in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Michelle’s portrayal is consistently regarded as one of the best Bond Girls ever. But as the honorable warrior Shu Lien in the Academy Award–winning Chinese-language martial-arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, she is deemed by cineastes as greatest action heroine of all time.
Michelle was Miss Malaysia, Queen of the Pacific and a Miss World candidate in 1983. Her batch mate included….
MAGGIE CHEUNG I love her in 2046. She won the 57th Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for Clean (2004) and also had acclaimed roles in Centre Stage, Chinese Box and In the Mood for Love. Opposite Jet Li (Nameless) and Tony Leung (Broken Sword) in Hero, Maggie held her own against these Chinese superstars as Flying Snow, a skilled assassin and swordsman.
Maggie represented Hong Kong and was one of the semifinalists at Miss World 1983 held in London, the crown won by hometown girl Sarah-Jane Hutt. Her and Michelle’s Pinay competitor was Marilou Sadiua.
PRIYANKA CHOPRA She was Miss World 2000 representing India. (Our bet was Katherine Annwen de Guzman.) Now she’s one of TV’s ruling action heroines in the leading role of an FBI agent in the suspense-thriller Quantico on ABC. No Bollywood actress has accomplished such a feat. She’s currently playing the badass villain in the movie adaptation of Baywatch, which previously starred….
SHAWN WEATHERLY She played Jill Riley, the most experienced of the female lifeguards, in the first season of the cult TV show from 1989 to 1990. When she won Miss Universe in 1980, her third runner-up was the beloved Maria Rosario “Chat” Silayan.
DENISE QUIÑONES The Miss Universe 2001 from Puerto Rico appeared as Andrea Rojas in Season 5 of Smallville. She helped the young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) as the metahuman vigilante known as the Angel of Vengeance, a mysterious warrior woman who defends Metropolis while hunting for her mother’s murderer. (Her Pinay competitor was Zorayda Ruth Andam.)
LYNDA CARTER Representing Arizona, she was crowned Miss World America 1972 and competed in Miss World, ending in the semifinals with our own Evangeline Reyes. As the iconic star of the TV series Wonder Woman from 1975 to 1979, Lynda was the most high-profile beauty contestant alumnae from any pageant until….
GAL GADOT As the big screen’s first Wonder Woman, she handily won Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Before winning this coveted role, Gal kicked ass in the Fast & Furious series as Gisele, a weapons expert and a former Mossad agent. In real life, she trained as an enlisted soldier of the Israel Defense Forces before winning Miss Israel in 2004. She competed in the Miss Universe with our own Maricar Balagtas. Next year Gal will have her own stand-alone Wonder Woman movie, just fitting for the most unforgettable and badass heroine of all time.