Esquire magazine has chosen singer and actress Ngo Thanh Van as the sexiest woman alive in Viet Nam, the first time a Vietnamese woman was selected for the magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive Atlas, which anoints one woman per country.

In Asia, Chinese model Liu Wen and Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were also included on the list.

Van, 32, has also been named as 2010's most beautiful woman by Vietnamese magazines.

"All the selections are valuable," said Van. "I have to try my best to maintain a beautiful image."

Van moved to Norway with her family at age of 10 but returned to Viet Nam in 1999, when she participated in a beauty pageant sponsored by Vietnamese Women's World magazine, finishing as second runner-up.

She began a career as a pop singer in 2002 with the help of producer Quoc Bao and has since had a successful acting career, with roles in popular films like Sai Gon Love Story, 2 in 1, and The Rebel. She won the Best Actress award at the 15th Viet Nam Film Festival in 2007. Her latest movie, Oriental Pearl, will be released in March

Last year, she became the first champion in the Vietnamese version of Dancing with the Stars, and she has been active in supporting the charity Heartbeat Viet Nam, which brings needed heart operations to disadvantaged children.