Loading...There probably aren’t a lot of people in Thailand who don’t know who Thai actress Praya Lundberg (Thai: ไปรยา ลุนด์เบิร์ก, ไปรยา สวนดอกไม้) is. Thai fans, however, may know her better by her nickname, Pu Praya. Given her numerous product endorsements and commercials, she’s definitely an easily recognizable face. She also has a filmography spanning more than a decade – pretty impressive considering she’s only 29 years old.
Thai fans, however, may know her better by her nickname, Pu (Thai: ปู) Praya . Given her numerous product endorsements and commercials, she’s definitely an easily recognizable face. She also has a filmography spanning more than a decade – pretty impressive considering she’s only 29 years old.
For those of you eager to know more about her, read on as we give you the most interesting facts about Pu Praya.
1. She’s half-Thai, half-Swedish and grew up in Bangkok.
As you can probably tell from her given last name, her father is Swedish. Her mother is Thai, however, and she was born in Bangkok. She spent most of her life there, and she graduated from the NIST International School in Bangkok in 2007. Upon graduation, she relocated for a few years to the UK to pursue her university education. After finishing her degree at the Oxford Brookes University, she came back to Thailand.
She posted an old picture of her and her parents, who she calls her “dream team”
In 2015, she was a guest speaker at a TEDxYouth talk that was held at her high school alma mater. She talked about how the multicultural environment in the school helped shape who she is, and how she has used her career in a positive light. You can check out the video on YouTube here.
Currently, she goes back and forth between Bangkok and New York City.
2. Her career began at 13 years old.
Sources state that she began her acting and modeling career at the young age of 13. In 2004, when she was 15 years old, she was signed by Thai television station Channel 7. She started acting in a TV series called Rak Dai Mai Tar Hua Jai Mai Pean, and that pretty much set off her career. Much of her work is in TV series’ and product commercials, though she does have two Thai movies to her name.
Her modeling career has been equally successful, if not even more so. She has been on the cover of notable lifestyle magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, and FHM, to name a few. She has also walked the runway of some pretty big names in the fashion industry. In 2016, she walked at the Prada show during Milan Fashion Week. In early 2017, she was in the Dolce & Gabbana secret show, also in Milan.
Even when she’s not on the catwalk, she’s a staple at the biggest celebrity events every year. This year alone, she’s made appearances at the 75th Golden Globes, 71st Cannes Film Festival, and the amfAR Gala New York – one of the most high-profile AIDS benefit events in the city. She has obviously made quite a name for herself both locally and internationally.
She looks gorgeous in a Michael Cinco designer gown for the 71st Cannes Film Festival
3. She was – briefly – tabloid news in her college days.
While she was studying in the UK, a Thai gossip magazine printed leaked pictures of Praya showing her partying and surrounded by different men. Naturally, the media went after her in an attempt to seek an explanation.
Just one of the few tabloid photos
According to a forum that discussed the issue, she briefly talked to some reporters and asked them not to make news out of it. What’s admirable is that she completely takes responsibility for what happened and almost refuses to pin the blame on whoever leaked the photos. Many fans also stepped in to defend her, saying she was just a teenager miles away from home. She wanted to have fun like everyone else, she just happened to be a celebrity who was always under public scrutiny.
In the TED talk mentioned above, she briefly refers to this incident as something that she is definitely not proud of. At least in the almost 10 years since it happened, she’s in the news for better things.
4. She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR.
On January 31, 2017, she was appointed as the UNHCR’s first Goodwill Ambassador in Thailand. Her support for the agency began in 2014 when she contacted them to offer her support for displaced peoples. In the succeeding years, she visited 4 refugee camps in Thailand and participated in various campaigns to gain support and raise awareness.
Praya at her appointment as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR
One of the most notable campaigns was #WithRefugees in 2016. Here, Praya and some 60 other top celebrities around the world came together to encourage supporters to sign a petition in support of refugees. At the end of the campaign, they had delivered over 1.2 million signatures to the UN General Assembly’s summit on refugees and migrants.
Not long after she was appointed, she traveled to Jordan to meet Syrian refugees and learn more about what the UNHCR does at the refugee camps.
Praya speaks with a woman and her three kids who fled Aleppo to a refugee camp in Jordan (photo credit: UNHCR/Christopher Herwig)
5. She’s currently dating Matthew Brag.
As for her personal life, she’s been dating Matthew Brag since (we think) late 2016. Their earliest Instagram post together was from December 2016, so let’s just go on that assumption. Matthew is the heir to a hedge fund company and is also a movie producer. He worked on the action short The Big Break back in 2017. He was also a producer of Billionaire Boys Club which features a slew of A-list Hollywood celebrities such as Kevin Spacey (whose reputation is obviously not that great anymore because sexual assault allegations will do that to you), Ansel Elgort, Emma Roberts, and more.
Praya and Matthew do seem very much in love. They both often post pictures of themselves together on their respective Instagram accounts. They’re often traveling together and their costume dress-up game is always on fleek. Matthew’s costumes and his general fashion sense are almost too stylish for a straight man but hey, we’re not here to judge.
The couple attended a Beatles themed wedding for Matthew’s cousin
Now we know Praya’s channeling some serious Uma Thurman here, but we’re stuck on who Matthew’s costume is supposed to be
6. She’s one of FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women.
Praya has been included in the list of 100 sexiest women in Thailand 3 times – in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
She is also a three-time recipient of the Sexy Star honor at the Star Light Awards, which is Thailand’s award show that gives out the most random recognitions to their celebrities. When I say random, I mean really random: The Most Perfect Pretty Boobies, The Most Charming Skin, Stunning Hair Style of the Year, and The Most Beautiful Leg are just some of my favorites.
In addition to being certifiably sexy (per FHM and award show standards), she was recognized by GQ Thailand as their Woman of the Year in 2017.
So there you have it, fans! We’ve got the scoop on Pu Praya, one of Thailand’s most famous and influential celebrities. We just couldn’t decide which of her breathtaking pictures to include in this feature, so we decided to put more of our favorites in a gallery, just for you. Check it out right here.
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