Marlon Brando, who had a penchant for Asian women, had a brief affair with France in the early 60s.
Bitterly complained that Amy Tan cut her best scene in The Joy Luck Club (1993) and took all known actresses off advertising in order to draw all attention to herself when promoting the film.
Born to a French mother and Vietnamese father (French is her first language) and raised in Marseilles by a cousin, she claims her mother and grandfather were persecuted by the Germans during WWII for being gypsies.
Got her role in the film South Pacific (1958) when model/agent Candy Jones took her to see director Joshua Logan, who was casting for the film. While the film was being made, Logan began talking to Nuyen about his next project, "The World of Suzie Wong", in which she would appear.
Herself a victim of child abuse, Nuyen earned a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology in 1986, and since then has made the transition to a second career in family practice counseling, working mostly with abused children, abused and battered women and women in prison.
Married and divorced twice. Her second husband was Robert Culp, whom she met while appearing on his "I Spy" (1965) TV series. Her first was a psychiatrist, with whom she had a daughter, Fleur Morell.
Of Vietnamese-French ancestry.
Received the 1989 "Woman of the Year" award in Los Angeles for her work as a consulting psychologist in treating abused children and convicted women.
She is, arguably, best known in popular culture for her role in the third season episode of "Star Trek" (1966) (aka "Star Trek: the Original Series"), "Star Trek: Elaan of Troyius (#3.13)" (1968), as "the Dohlman of Elas".
Surprisingly, the 50th anniversary celebration of South Pacific (1958) did not include her. She played the role of Liat in the 1958 film.
The second major Asian actress to become a star in Hollywood -- after Anna May Wong -- she was a tremendous success opposite William Shatner in the title role of a prostitute in "The World of Suzie Wong" on Broadway in 1958. She had to learn her lines phonetically. She began shooting the film version when she was suddenly replaced by producer Ray Stark with Nancy Kwan.