An Hollywood actress she is not, yet Lisa appears on the gatefold of the Vanity Fair issue dedicated to the biggies of tinseltown

Lisa in Louis Vuitton, third from the right

She may have attended the Louis Vuitton spring/summer 2025 show in Paris, as Zendaya did and drew as much screams from those assembled to catch more than a glimpse of the stars, but Lisa—born Pranpriya Manoban—is not a major Hollywood actress, as Zendaya is. Yet, Vanity Fair saw it fit to feature her on the gatefold cover of the magazine’s latest ‘Hollywood Issue’ (not out, surprisingly, during the Oscar season). Although she appears on the third fold of the cover rather than on the main, she is in the company of some of the better known Hollywood staples, including Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldaña, and is flanked by Johnathon Bailey and Ncuti Gatwa. “It’s the most audacious actors who power Hollywood and thrill audiences,” went the stand first of the cover story, as it “toasts a dozen of the industry’s brightest lights.” And Lisa is now one of them. Since when?

With just one TV series, the yet-to-be-broadcast third-season of HBO’s The White Lotus, Ms Manoban is now a audacity-blessed Hollywood power and the movie town’s illumination. The joke is that she has not even been seen as an actress, yet. But the fame alone, not the practice, is mighty enough. Moreover, Ms Manoban has achieved more than 15 minutes of the former. A huge fan base is not, however, synonymous with achieving proficiency in a craft. That a barely-new actor can be considered to define (or redefine) Hollywood perhaps speaks about the way pop culture is today. Anyone can be a model, an influencer, a singer, an actor, and be famous, regardless of whether the individual has achieved anything notable. A talent for fame is perhaps talent in itself. That has to be recognized and celebrated. And to be honored with a magazine cover. As Vanity Fair noted in the editorial on Ms Manoban, she and her group mates turned “into something more powerful than celebrities”.

Image used to accompany the VF feature ‘Startruck’

Sure, Ms Manoban deserves some acting credit—for playing the part of a K-pop star and coming this far. And the chutzpah for standing there with the others (each receiving no less than three movie associations) and not be afflicted by imposter syndrome. But to link her with some of Hollywood’s “brightest lights” is stretching it. Which may explain why she has to wear the most sparkling outfit of them all (even more than Nicole Kidman’s Balenciaga)—a long, sleeveless Louis Vuitton gown with armholes that open down to her waist. That she’d wear LV is hardly surprising since she is their brand ambassador (ditto for Ms Kidman who is one of the faces of Balenciaga), but that did prompt social media, not agreeable with her appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair, to suggest that her (unconfirmed) romance with LVMH scion Frederic Arnault facilitated the opportunity, which makes her the first K-pop star—and a Thai—to grace a VF cover.

The magazine’s editor-in-chief Radhika Jones said on CBS Morning Plus that Ms Manoban is “a huge star in K-pop world. Less well known in Hollywood or with a Hollywood audience, but she’s going to be on The White Lotus in the new season… Lisa’s incredibly famous, but we’re going to introduce her in a new context”. What that new context is, she did not say. It is, perhaps, immaterial that Ms Manoban has not acted before—“incredibly famous” is enough (try asking Lilies who Ncuti Gatwa is!). Who cares if her performance in the TV series would turn out to be a stinker. It’s easy to charm unthinking fans, but it is harder to convince movie buffs. Radhika Jones is not Roger Ebert; she has a magazine to sell, and not just to a “Hollywood audience”. Ms Manoban’s Labubu-clutching fans are fair targets.

Photos: Vanity Fair