Not such an ordinary Thai girl

Amy is a product of a mixed marriage. Her father, Jan Jacobs, a well-known local businessman, is from Holland. Her mother Lumduan is from Kamala. "I've visited my dad's homeland but I consider myself an ordinary Thai girl," Amy says.

Miss Friendship, a country girl

Amelia Jacobs

What was it like being in the contest? Was it like in the movie Mean Girl, with cat fights and the girls being horrible to one another? Not at all, says Amy. She was friends with everyone. In fact, she won another title during the same contest which may be even more important than the title Miss Teen: she was voted Miss Friendship. "There were 45 girls in the final round. We were all together from 16 to 27 October. One of the things we did was vote for Miss Friendship - the one among us we liked the most. I was surprised that they voted for me. I think they liked me because I'm simple; I can't fake things. As a Phuket girl, I can't speak Thai with the Central accent, which is considered the coolest dialect in Thailand. The girls actually laughed at me when I said things differently, in my southern dialect. They had a hard time understanding me. Well, I'm just a country girl."

Amy is quite a simple girl

In reality, Amy is quite a simple girl. She is 18 but rarely wears make up. On the day we interviewed her she wore none, instead showing her healthy skin. She reminded us of Kate Moss when she was first discovered. Amy lives with her parents and her 15-year-old brother, Tommy. Her jobs at home are to feed the family cats and dogs and wash the dishes after dinner. In the tourist high season, she helps out in the kitchen at Charoen Seafood, the family's own restaurant in Kamala. Her favorite food is any kind of Thai food, the spicier the better.

Money and fame

Staring soon in a Thai movie, 'The Gig II'

Since being crowned Miss Teen Thailand 2006, Amy has been on a number of TV chat shows and has done some magazine fashion shoots and other modeling jobs. Each time she makes around 5,000 baht. Her biggest project at the moment is her part in a Thai comedy movie, The Gig II which will screen in the middle of this year. She plays a character similar to her real self - a tomboyish girl from the south of Thailand. The character has an issue about love: she is not really interested in it. Indeed, she's against it. Inevitably, of course, she does fall in love. Amy says she had to do a "love scene" in the movie. False alarm; the "love scene" involved nothing physical. She and her movie "boyfriend" simply had to shout the words "I love you" to each other.

She earned a little over 100,000 baht for that - not at all bad for a girl whose sole source of income until recently was pocket money from her parents. "When I look back on the whole experience, I'm so grateful. This contest opened the door for me to work in show business. It's a dream world. There is no way an ordinary student like me could become an actress without winning Miss Teen Thailand," Amy says.

The confession

"I miss being myself," Amy says

Amy's prizes from the competition included 120,000 baht in cash, a new car and, of course, the diamond crown. But the fame and money come at a price. "I miss being myself," Amy says. "Before all this, I could do anything without other people even noticing me. I used to ride on motorbikes with friends and do a lot of fun stuff with them all over the island. I've tried doing the same things now and I can feel people are looking at me no matter where I go or what I do, even when I go out shopping with my mom in Bangkok. It makes me feel nervous. I'm not used to being stared at."

But she has a good understanding of why this is so. People, she knows, want to see Miss Teen Thailand. The winner might be anyone but this year it happens to be her. "I'm not complaining," Amy says. "I haven't stopped riding around with friends, though I have cut down on it a bit," she confesses.

A change of plan

Amy once had an ambition to become a diplomat. But, she admits, "I don't like to read text books, and I understand that it's not easy to get into this kind of work without studying hard." While she knows it may be a little too early to make lifelong decisions, she admits that the more she gets into the entertainment industry, the more she likes it, and she is now considering it as a career.

There are good precedents; most previous winners of the Miss Teen Thailand crown have done well in show business and some are now big stars in Thai movies and TV dramas. Amy Jacobs, too, could become a big name.

The parents

Amy Jacobs with her parents

"I'm a proud father," says Jan Jacobs. "I never would have thought that Amy would do this kind of thing - joining a beauty contest. She was, and still is, a very shy girl. I didn't even know she had done it until the last moment. I said to her that she would never win because she is too shy. But Amy proved me wrong," he says with a wide smile.

Lumduan Jacobs is 100 percent behind Amy. "As a mother I always support my children in every way. Amy is still going to the same school but her lifestyle is changing - and so is mine. I can't really focus on my work any more because Amy has to travel a lot to Bangkok to work. She is in Bangkok just about every weekend."

Khun Lumduan never lets Amy travel alone; she is at her side wherever she goes. As a mother she has some concerns. "I worry about her going into show business full time," she says. "The entertainment business is not the real world. Amy's innocent and tends to believe people too readily; it can be a disadvantage in this line of business. But it's her choice, so I'll always support her."