HONG KONG — Despite landing roles alongside Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis, Hawai'i-born Maggie Q says Asian actors still have a hard time getting good roles in Hollywood movies.

The 29-year-old said yesterday that 90 percent of the scripts she receives are written for Caucasian characters.

"The first part of it is going into a room (for an audition) and trying to quell this stigma that people have about Asians only doing certain kinds of roles and Asians only being looked at a certain way," Quigley said. "You run into these stereotypes a lot."

She was speaking in Hong Kong to promote the video game Need for Speed Undercover, which features a character she portrayed.

Born Maggie Quigley to an American father of Polish-Irish descent and a Vietnamese mother, she first made her name in the Hong Kong film industry.

She said competing for roles in Hollywood is a "battle."

"You got to win roles. You really got to fight for them. When I left Asia and went to the U.S., essentially I was starting over. It's very hard. It's a lot of work," she said.

MADONNA, RITCHIE DIVORCING SOON?

LONDON — British newspapers say Madonna and Guy Ritchie are splitting up.

The Sun reports the American pop star and British movie director want a divorce finalized by Christmas.

The Daily Mail says a statement on the couple's future will soon be released. The newspapers cited unnamed sources.

Madonna has been linked to the recent breakup of New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez and his wife, Cynthia. Over the summer, the pop star denied rumors of a romance with Rodriguez and denied her own marriage was on the rocks.

KEYS LEADS IN AMA CATEGORIES

LOS ANGELES — Alicia Keys has a leading five nominations for the 2008 American Music Awards, including artist of the year and favorite female artist in both the pop/rock and soul/R&B categories.

Coldplay and the Eagles got four nominations each, and Chris Brown and Lil Wayne three apiece. They are also contenders for artist of the year, awards host Jimmy Kimmel announced yesterday.

Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Taylor Swift and the Pussycat Dolls will perform at the Nov. 23 awards ceremony that will be broadcast live on ABC.

Winners will be determined by online voting. Votes will be accepted until Nov. 7.

DEGENERES URGES 'NO' VOTE ON BALLOT

LOS ANGELES — Ellen DeGeneres has made a public service announcement urging California voters to oppose a ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage.

DeGeneres married actress Portia de Rossi on Aug. 16, two months after the California Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage took effect. The popular talk-show host has been criticized in the gay press for not donating to the campaign to defeat Proposition 8 or otherwise lending her star presence to the cause.

She hasn't made a campaign contribution, but yesterday posted a video on her show's Web site. DeGeneres' mother, Betty, has given $700 to help defeat the initiative.