"'April Wilkner: The Next Top Role 'Model'"
[Music || Jessica Simpson, "Part Of Your World"]
Edited Version
Unedited/Writer's Cut Below
“April Wilkner: The Next Top Role ‘Model’”
By Kenneth Huang
Sex appeal. Intelligence. Determination. Twenty-three-year-old April Wilkner has it all and she strives to represent girls of all ethnicities once she makes it on her own to be the top Asian American model.
Strutting her confidence on the catwalk and working the camera lens into her submission, the radiant former businesswoman was not overlooked on her first professional modeling excursion on UPN’s second season of “America’s Next Top Model.” Of the 12 wannabe hopefuls, Wilkner was the most determined to win the competition using what’s in her head, working on the advice the judges gave her instead of solely relying on her physical attributes. For example, while the other girls slacked off for an acting presentation the following day, Wilkner studied the provided script all night and conjured herself to cry on cue, easily winning the mini contest. Although each week her stunning portfolio shots brought the judges, including supermodel Tyra Banks, to an eyegasm, the ever-professional Wilkner was criticized for her lack of a giddy and bubbling rah-rah personality. Wilkner fell short of the crown, lasting until episode before the season finale, and placed a respectable fourth.
Despite losing the competition, Wilkner accomplished something much greater; she became a role model for viewers of all ethnicities because she firmly stood her ground and never allowed the judges to pigeonhole her as “The Token Asian Girl.” Former supermodel and judge Janice Dickinson was appalled that the part Irish, German, Scottish, Welsh and half-Japanese American Wilkner would not simply categorize herself based on her facial features as an Asian model so it would be easier to market. Wilkner stayed true to all parts of herself and wanted to represent not only Asian American girls, but girls from all backgrounds as well.
Smart, headstrong, confident, and beautiful both inside and out, Wilkner is an inspiration to me. Typically, Asian parents tell their children the entertainment business is risky and they should stick to more solid job markets; it took guts for Wilkner to sideline her business career, reach for her goals, and make her modeling dreams a reality on her terms. Being the only contestant with Asian blood, she wasn’t intimidated by the big bosom blondes. Instead, as weeks gradually rolled by, Wilkner, with her stunning photos and fixated lust for the win, was viewed as the other contestants’ largest threat. Eventual “Top Model” winner Yoanna House went as far as to sharpen her claws and talk behind Wilkner’s back; House painted a distorted image of Wilkner to the behind-the-scenes cameras, inferring that the leading Wilkner only wanted to win the competition for the sake of not losing.
Wilkner didn’t let the judges or contestants’ views hold her down, a characteristic I highly admire in her. When I imagine myself possibly stepping into the entertainment business in the future, I want to embody Wilkner’s confidence and will. She showed me that no one is able to categorize me into something I don’t want to be. If I’m the minority in the field, it doesn’t mean I must conform and be pushed over. Instead, I should strut my beliefs and work it, even if close-minded people have a problem with that.
It doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is as long as you have a dream and a roaring fire in your belly for success. It may sound cliché, but I am going to step out and make it on my terms. Just like Wilkner, America’s next top role model.
[Music || Jessica Simpson, "Part Of Your World"]
Edited Version
Unedited/Writer's Cut Below
“April Wilkner: The Next Top Role ‘Model’”
By Kenneth Huang
Sex appeal. Intelligence. Determination. Twenty-three-year-old April Wilkner has it all and she strives to represent girls of all ethnicities once she makes it on her own to be the top Asian American model.
Strutting her confidence on the catwalk and working the camera lens into her submission, the radiant former businesswoman was not overlooked on her first professional modeling excursion on UPN’s second season of “America’s Next Top Model.” Of the 12 wannabe hopefuls, Wilkner was the most determined to win the competition using what’s in her head, working on the advice the judges gave her instead of solely relying on her physical attributes. For example, while the other girls slacked off for an acting presentation the following day, Wilkner studied the provided script all night and conjured herself to cry on cue, easily winning the mini contest. Although each week her stunning portfolio shots brought the judges, including supermodel Tyra Banks, to an eyegasm, the ever-professional Wilkner was criticized for her lack of a giddy and bubbling rah-rah personality. Wilkner fell short of the crown, lasting until episode before the season finale, and placed a respectable fourth.
Despite losing the competition, Wilkner accomplished something much greater; she became a role model for viewers of all ethnicities because she firmly stood her ground and never allowed the judges to pigeonhole her as “The Token Asian Girl.” Former supermodel and judge Janice Dickinson was appalled that the part Irish, German, Scottish, Welsh and half-Japanese American Wilkner would not simply categorize herself based on her facial features as an Asian model so it would be easier to market. Wilkner stayed true to all parts of herself and wanted to represent not only Asian American girls, but girls from all backgrounds as well.
Smart, headstrong, confident, and beautiful both inside and out, Wilkner is an inspiration to me. Typically, Asian parents tell their children the entertainment business is risky and they should stick to more solid job markets; it took guts for Wilkner to sideline her business career, reach for her goals, and make her modeling dreams a reality on her terms. Being the only contestant with Asian blood, she wasn’t intimidated by the big bosom blondes. Instead, as weeks gradually rolled by, Wilkner, with her stunning photos and fixated lust for the win, was viewed as the other contestants’ largest threat. Eventual “Top Model” winner Yoanna House went as far as to sharpen her claws and talk behind Wilkner’s back; House painted a distorted image of Wilkner to the behind-the-scenes cameras, inferring that the leading Wilkner only wanted to win the competition for the sake of not losing.
Wilkner didn’t let the judges or contestants’ views hold her down, a characteristic I highly admire in her. When I imagine myself possibly stepping into the entertainment business in the future, I want to embody Wilkner’s confidence and will. She showed me that no one is able to categorize me into something I don’t want to be. If I’m the minority in the field, it doesn’t mean I must conform and be pushed over. Instead, I should strut my beliefs and work it, even if close-minded people have a problem with that.
It doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is as long as you have a dream and a roaring fire in your belly for success. It may sound cliché, but I am going to step out and make it on my terms. Just like Wilkner, America’s next top role model.
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