Renowned beauty queen, actress, VJ and model, Metinee Kingpayome Sharples was born in the US in 1972 and raised in the New York borough of Queens. The eldest of four children and the only girl, she was the first of her siblings to return to Thailand in 1992. “I was trying for a modelling break in the United States,” the 48-year-old explains, “but in those days my Asian ethnicity was actually hampering me from getting jobs so I decided to try my luck in Thailand.” It proved to be a smart move and that same year she entered and won the Miss Thailand World beauty pageant, which led to her representing the country at the Miss World pageant in Sun City, South Africa, where she was crowned Continental Queen of Asia and Oceania.
The recognition from these successes catapulted the young Metinee into the public spotlight back home and soon she was being hailed as Thailand’s first supermodel. A plethora of offers in the local fashion and entertainment industries followed including modelling and acting jobs, commercial endorsements and gigs as a VJ and TV host. In more recent years Lukkade—as she is also known to the Thai public—has remained in the spotlight thanks to her role as a judge and mentor on the popular reality TV series The Face Thailand.
“Modelling has always been my passion and I love acting but I didn’t realise I would enjoy the production side of things so much,” she says. “Being part of The Face Thailand has been a revelation. People like to think it is scripted but it really isn’t.” Following six seasons with the show, in 2019 Metinee took on a leading role helping to prepare Thailand’s entry in that year’s Miss Universe pageant. “Then I took a break in 2020. I needed it to rest up and work on my own little venture—it was a time to hunker down anyway with the pandemic. But now I’m back on the team to help prepare this year’s Miss Thailand for the next Miss Universe contest.”
The education-minded lady is also putting her 25+ years of experience to good use with Muse by Metinee, a modelling academy she opened last year—the aforementioned ‘little venture’. Last year the academy was awarded Dara Variety’s Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year. It offers crafted courses taught by Metinee and other leading professionals to aspiring models, actresses and beauty queens in things like walking the runway, good posture, body balance, etiquette and so on. “Our full courses have four levels: bronze, silver, gold and diamond, and each course lasts for eight weeks,” she explains. “While our classes are based around modelling, we aim to instil confidence in all our pupils—particularly with the ubiquity of social media, is about much more than one’s looks. It’s also about mindset. Our students range from youngsters of four to late middle age and they all want different things from the training.”
Metinee speaks enthusiastically about the academy but it has added unexpected personal pressure in her life. “Much of the time the students want to have the class with me,” she laughs, “which has meant a lot of running back and forth. It gets tiring but it is great fun.” She and husband Edward Sharples also have to contend with raising 11-year-old son Skye and the lady admits she sometimes struggles to balance commitments to work and family. “Breakfast and school runs in the mornings are a must though. That’s my daily quality time with Skye,” she smiles.
A philanthropist at heart, a little over three years ago Metinee organised a charity run which raised 11 million baht for Sririraj Hospital. “I am hoping to do something similar again to raise funds for underprivileged women and children across the country,” she says. “It is our duty to support children in need. They are our future.” So it isn’t a surprise when she adds that had she not gone into modelling and entertainment she would have liked to have been a kindergarten or primary school teacher. And her plans for an after-career in the public eye? “Running a small bed-and-breakfast by the beach in Phang-nga.”
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