BRIC POP: The Blog

Everyone has their doppelganger. Here are some people who sometimes get pegged as the BRIC equivalent of a western celebrity.

Ksenia Sobchak: the Paris Hilton of Russia. Unfair, because Ksenia has an education, multilingual fluency, and is likeable. She’s also #6 on Forbes Russian celebrity power list.

Next, a woman I adore, Ana Maria Braga, host of the Brazilian morning program Mais Voce. Kind of like Diane Sawyer and Martha Stewart put together, except she has a parrot for a co-host, a hunky 35-year-old husband, and has never been to jail. She put me on her show after I interviewed her for the book.

Here’s a clip of Ana and Louro José (the parrot), in a compilation of his cheekiest moments. You lose a little without the Portuguese, but suffice to say you would never catch Diane or Martha having a straight conversation with a puppet at 8:30 in the morning.

Daniel Wu. He’s from San Francisco, but is now a Hong Kong film and music star. But on the side, he’s the Johnny Knoxville of China. Here he is shooting fireworks at his friend’s chest, from ChiSeen.

Daniel’s also a serious actor. But not here. In his directorial debut, The Heavenly Kings, he Spinal Taps the whole Cantopop boy band phenomenon.

Finally, Simi Garewal. The Barbara Walters of the Indian celebrity interview. Soft focus, lots of white, inane questions. Unlike Barbara, her background isn’t journalism, but a Bollywood actress herself. The show opener is fabulous:

MTV India Comedian Cyrus Sahukar does a hilarious imitation. You can meet “Semi Girebaal” and take the complete woman quiz here.