France Nuyen (born France Nguyễn Vân Nga on 31 July 1939) is a French actress, model, and psychological counsellor. Early life Nguyen was born in Marseille. Her mother was French, and her father was widely reported to be Vietnamese, although she has stated that he was "probably of Chinese origin". During World War II, her mother and grandfather were persecuted by the Nazis for being Roma. Nguyen was raised in Marseille by a cousin she calls "an Orchidaceae raiser who was the only person who gave a damn about me." Having left school at the age of 11, she began studying art and became an artist's model. In 1955, while working as a seamstress, Nguyen was discovered on the beach by Life photographer Philippe Halsman. She was featured on the cover of 6 October 1958 issue of Life. Career France Nuyen became a motion picture actress in 1958. In her first role, she appeared as Liat, daughter of Bloody Mary (played by Juanita Hall) in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. Nuyen was then cast to star in the film adaptation of The World of Suzie Wong, but was fired during production by producer Ray Stark and her scenes re-shot with her replacement, Nancy Kwan. In 1978 Nuyen guest-starred with Peter Falk and Louis Jourdan in the Columbo episode "Murder Under Glass". In 1986 she joined the cast of St. Elsewhere as Dr. Paulette Kiem, remaining until the series ended in 1988. Nuyen appeared in several films including The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961) Satan Never Sleeps (1962), A Girl Named Tamiko (1962), Diamond Head (1963), Dimension 5 (1966), Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), The Joy Luck Club (1993) and The American Standards (2008). With William Shatner France Nuyen worked several times with actor William Shatner. At age 19, she was cast in Shatner's 1958 Broadway play The World of Suzie Wong. After a dubious initial opening, the play ran for more than 500 performances and was quite financially successful. Both Nuyen and Shatner later collected notable accolades for their work on the show, at the 1959 Theatre World Awards. Nuyen worked again with Shatner across three US television projects, starting with "Elaan of Troyius", a 1968 third season episode of the original Star Trek in which Nuyen was the title character. She would later appear with Shatner in the 1973 made for TV movie