Meet Parinya Charoenphol, also known as Nong ToomShe is Thailand’s former Northern Region Muay Thai champion, and one of the most famous transgender people in the world.
She has recently started her own non for profit foundation "Parinya Muay Thai"
This organization has just started, and they're still raising money to build the school. But this is incredible. They're creating an LGBT positive boxing school, that is consciously GREEN. Click HERE to learn more.
The above picture is from 12 yr old boxer to 21 year old actress
Her story is amazing...
I'm quoting this from thestar.com an online news source based in Malaysia.
"She started training to be a kick-boxer when she was just seven, and had her first fight at the age of 12.
Apart from her insistence on wearing lurid red lipstick while kickboxing – she started doing so at the age of 13 – she became famous for her ability to perform seldom-seen moves.
She was particularly renowned for the spectacular technique called Rue See Bod Ya (Thai for Hermit Grinding The Herbs), in which she would leap into the air and then smash her opponent’s head with her elbow as she landed.
But life in Muay Thai wasn’t always rosy, especially since she was a woman trapped in a very macho male body.
Her rise in the sport was testament to her genuine talent. By 16, she had already won 20 of her 22 career bouts, 18 by way of knockout. Then at 17, she captured the imagination of the Thai public when she made her big league debut in Bangkok’s Lumpini Boxing Ring. She sported red lips, mascara and drawn eyebrows – and proceeded to floor her opponent after five rounds.
Of her 10 years in the sport, she says: “Yes, I did feel like an animal in the zoo, but I told myself that as long as I fought like a man in the ring, no amount of make-up could cover my love for, and dedication to, Muay Thai.”
She adds: “When everyone started to see that I could knock out real men in the ring repeatedly, they began to give me some respect.”
She earned it. Her routine as a kick-boxer began every day with a 10km run at 5.30am, followed by 30 minutes of rope skipping, then punching, kicking a sandbag for close to an hour, and 300 sit-ups – with trainers hitting her abdomen repeatedly to harden it. She would break at 10am, and resume the routine from 3 to 7pm.
She kept that gruelling schedule until she turned 21, when she retired from Muay Thai and went for her sex-change operation in Bangkok. She has no regrets about the procedure, saying: “I was very happy and comfortable with myself.”
In 2003 Parinya's unique life story was made into a film, Beautiful Boxer, in 2003, directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham, the artistic director of Singapore drama company Action Theatre.
In the movie 'Nong Toom' was played by real life boxer Asanee Suwan. They are pictured here together.She also received a Utopia Award
For 6 years the annual Utopia Awards have been recognizing individuals and organizations that have contributed to improving the quality of life for the gay, lesbian, and transgendered communities in Asia.
The unique design of the Utopia Award incorporates the shape of a lotus bud, hand-glazed with the six colors of the gay pride rainbow, using the techniques of classic Thai benjarong porcelain.
Learn more about Utopia, Asian Gay and Lesbian Resources, here
Parinya is now a successful model and actress, her recent work was a show produced in Singapore called Boxer Caberet.
I rented the movie on Netflix and fell in love with the story. To see the real person and realize that she is more beautiful in real life was wonderful. You see, I am 72 and been gay all my life in America. I did not know what anything when I was young, only that I was different. Bless you for educating others. P.S. I have had a wonderful life also and know now that I was special and blessed.
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