America Ferrera, star of US TV show Ugly Betty, has had her smile insured for $10m

Insurance market Lloyds of London said the policy was taken out by a tooth product company which is working with the actress on a US charity campaign.

Ferrera, 23, plays Betty Suarez - an ugly duckling with braces on her teeth - who works at a snobby New York fashion magazine.

She said she was "flattered" to have had her smile insured.

A spokesman for Lloyds said they had 300 years of experience of unusual insurance requests, including Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richard's fingers and Marlene Dietrich's legs.

Award winner

Ferrera's character wears garish clothes and flaunts her braces

One underwriter was once even approached to insure an un-named celebrity's chest hair, the company said.

Ferrara said: "It's very flattering to have my smile insured for $10 million, it's not something that I ever imagined happening."

Ferrara won best TV comedy actress and the show best comedy at the 2007 Golden Globes.

From the BBC information service