Hot in Hong Kong, boffo in Beijing

Sukrit “Bie” Wisetkaew and Nawat “Pong” Kulrattanarak left for China yesterday to “star” in the TV Drama Awards 2011.

Bie’s Chinese fans picked him as the handsomest actor and he’s going to sing for them, a Thai song with Chinese lyrics.

Pong is among seven overseas talents nominated for the inaugural Best Foreign Actor trophy. “I’m honoured to be among the nominees since this year is the first time the award will be given,” he says.

According to a firm called TWind, which gathers data from China’s leading webboard, Mario Maurer is the mainland’s favourite Thai star, based on the number of fan clubs.

Then comes Mario’s “Love of Siam” castmate Witwisit “Pchy” hiranyawongkul from the band August. Bie is third. Pong’s working on it.

Mario has more than 40,000 Chinese people regularly browsing www.MarioFans.com. Stand back, because the number is going to skyrocket now that his movies and TV series have started airing there.

Once a fan …

Nuengthida “Noona” Sophon, star of the blockbuster “Hello Stranger”, knows exactly how people feel when they’re asking for her autograph or to have their picture taken with her – because she’s still a fan, too.

Noona loves getting stars’ autographs and souvenir photos with them. Her targets are South Korean actors and singers, she said on Channel 3’s “Tonight Show”.

So Noona knows the thrill of scoring a signature – and also the heartbreak of missing out. “There’ve been times when I was really in a rush and had no chance to sign autographs. I know the fans were upset. When I miss an opportunity, I feel the same.”

Noona took this opportunity to complain to host Traipob Limprapat that he didn’t tell her he was having Korean pop troupe JYJ on the show. “You could have hired me to serve them water!” she said, still bitter that she missed their appearance.

She can’t be that big a fan. Real fans would have served them water for free. Real fans would have paid Traipob to let them serve the water.