Popularity as an actress and model in Asia and a filmography that includes work in Mandarin and Cantonese led to a common misconception that Maggie Q is a Chinese national, but the Hawaii-born actress isn't even Chinese American.

Born Maggie Quigley to Vietnamese and Irish-Polish parents, the 1997 Mililani High School graduate didn't live in Asia until she was an adult. It was only after she found herself in Hong Kong 11 years ago that she picked up some of the language and learned how to deliver lines in Cantonese and Mandarin for television and film. She also retrained her runner's body for martial arts, weapon play and horseplay for a successful career in Chinese action movies.

What looks effortless in the finished product required her to work her butt off, as she put it. "It's never easy for me," she said in a phone interview Tuesday. "I had to start from the ground up. I do all my own fighting. I do most of my own stunts."

Four years ago, Quigley moved to California , where she has worked in Hollywood films with Hugh Jackman, Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis, surprising studio executives along the way with her fluency in English. "I still go into meetings where I have to convince people that I'm American," said Quigley, who was dubbed "Maggie Q" by Hong Kong's biggest paper because her last name is difficult to pronounce.

She's added movies like "New York, I Love You," "Live Free, Die Hard" and "Mission Impossible III" to her resume, and still returns to Asia for special filmmakers such as Tian Zhuang. Zhuang, who directed "The Warrior and the Wolf." That epic fantasy set in the Qin Dynasty and filmed in Mandarin demonstrates why Quigley is so believable as a Chinese character and shows a versatility that allows her to transcend cultures, barriers and labels, for which she has earned the Hawaii International Film Festival's Maverick Award. Quigley, who is working on a film in California, will fly in tomorrow to accept the award and attend a closing-night screening of the film.

Her dramatic role is somewhat of a departure for Quigley. "It was really nice to just focus on the emotional complexity of the characters and not be inundated with fighting and weapons and training," she said. "I spent a lot of time with my co-star and director. (They) were my teachers on this one."

It wasn't until her third movie, "Manhattan Midnight," that she realized she wanted to act, feeling up to that point that she had just been faking it. Her director's belief that she was right for the role helped her overcome her insecurity and uncover her passion for the art. "That film made me realize this wasn't something I wanted to do, this was something I had to do," she said.

For more information, visit the Hawaii film festival's Web site at www.hiff.org.