Bang Kieu

Bang Kieu (1973-    ) is a famous Vietnamese male singer.

Born on July 13, 1973 in Hanoi, Nguyen Bang Kieu is the youngest in a family of 17 children.  Despite his father being a doctor, he had been brought up in a family of modest means.  At the age of 16, Bang Kieu enrolled at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music.  It was there where he formed a short-lived pop music group called Chia Khoa Vang.  From 1990 until 1996, Bang Kieu sang for another pop group, Hoa Sua.  Although his tenure with Hoa Sua would earn him quite a bit of exposure and notoriety in the northern region of Vietnam, it wasn't until 1998 when Bang Kieu along with three other male vocalists, Anh Tu, Tuan Hung and Tuong Van, formed a quartet known as Qua Dua Hau that his career as a professional singer would rise to national prominence.  A little over two years after its formation, the quartet, Qua Dua Hau, officially broke up in the year 2000.

Toward the end of the 1990s, Bang Kieu had become one of the most renowned male singers in all of Vietnam.  He recorded many tremendously successful duet albums with other top recording artists of the day in Vietnam such as My Linh, Phuong Thanh, Thu Phuong, Thanh Lam and Lam Truong.  Among his most popular songs have included Em Oi Ha Noi Pho, Trai Tim Ben Le, Phut Cuoi and Trai Tim Khong Ngu Yen, in which he had recorded as a duet with singer My Linh,  In 2000, Bang Kieu recorded his first solo studio album, Ngo Vang Xon Xao, for the production label, Hang Phim Giai Phong, based out of Ho Chi Minh City.  He has since recorded over a dozen more solo studio albums both in Vietnam and in the United States.  In 2002, Bang Kieu took up US permanent residence upon getting married to overseas Vietnamese singer Trizzie Phuong Trinh.  In 2004, he made his debut appearance on the wildly popular Paris By Night live show music video series produced by Thuy Nga performing Anh Se Nho Mai, a song he had written along with musician Duc Tri.  Since then, he has made numerous return appearances on the Paris By Night stage and has become an exclusive recording artist for Thuy Nga.  He has also recorded many well-received duets for the Thuy Nga label with such artists like Khanh Ha, Thuy Tien, Tran Thu Ha, Minh Tuyet, Thanh Ha and Van Quynh.

In 2004, Bang Kieu along with fellow singer and former Vietnamese national, Thu Phuong, were banned by the Ministry of Performing Arts Department of Vietnam after both had publicly stated discontent and criticism of the current communist government in Vietnam.  For the next several years, both of these artists would be prohibited from holding any live concerts, as well as from partaking on any audio recordings or television appearances in Vietnam.  Whether these two performers were allowed to return to Vietnam was unclear.  Nevertheless, both performers would not make return trips to their native homeland for the next four years.  While Thu Phuong had been given permission to retain usage of her Vietnamese passport for travels outside of the United States during the next four years, Bang Kieu lost his Vietnamese citizenship altogether.  In 2008, Bang Kieu and Trizzie Phuong Trinh traveled back to Vietnam for the first time in four years.  Finally on September 24, 2013, Bang Kieu was granted permission from the Ministry of Performing Arts Department of Vietnam and issued a license to perform live in concert again in Vietnam.  The license allowed him the legal right to work in Vietnam as a returning overseas Vietnamese artist for a period of three months.  Singer Khanh Ly had also been issued with a similar license from the Ministry of Performing Arts Department of Vietnam simultaneously with Bang Kieu.

From 2002 until 2013, Bang Kieu was married to Vietnamese-American singer Trizzie Phuong Trinh.  The couple had three sons together.  Prior to his marriage, Bang Kieu had been in a long term romantic relationship with singer My Linh whom he had met while still living in Hanoi.  Since 2014, Bang Kieu has been romantically linked with Vietnamese fashion model and former Miss Vietnam Photogenic pageant titleholder, Duong My Linh.

Link(s):

Bang Kieu Facebook Page

Toc Tien

Toc Tien (1989-    ) is a singer from Vietnam who signed with Thuy Nga Paris in 2009 to become a regular performer on the popular video series, Paris By Night, while she was studying abroad as a foreign exchange student in the United States.

Born as Nguyen Khoa Toc Tien on May 13, 1989 to an affluent family in Ho Chi Minh City, she is the oldest in a family of three children.  At the age of 16, Toc Tien entered and won a beauty pageant in Ho Chi Minh City sponsored by Fujifilm.  A year later, she recorded a duet studio album with singer Nhu Y entitled simply as Nhu Y - Toc Tien.  Her first solo studio album, Nu Cuoi Nang Mai, was released in 2006.  Toc Tien had become a teen singing sensation in Vietnam.  

Two years after graduating from Le Hong Phong High School in Ho Chi Minh City, Toc Tien went to study abroad in the United States at Pasadena City College in 2009.  Initially, she had planned to put her singing career on hold in order to concentrate on her studies as a biology major.  But as fate would have it, Thuy Nga Paris came calling in that same year and her singing career forged ahead.  Unable to juggle with both the demands in her career as a professional singer and an academic career in college as a biology major, she switched majors to communications when she transferred to Cal State Long Beach in 2011.

Toc Tien was formally introduced to overseas Vietnamese audiences with her first appearance on Paris By Night Volume 94 performing the classical song written by Pham The My, Toc May.  Unlike her audio recordings at the beginning of her career while in Vietnam Toc Tien's appearances on Paris By Night were geared toward a more mature audience.  Through the years since signing with Thuy Nga Paris, Toc Tien has gradually changed her image from a cute teen singing sensation into a sex symbol.  She has made numerous appearances on Paris By Night and has been wildly successful with her many duets recorded with Mai Tien Dung.  Toc Tien has also performed on several ensemble numbers on Paris By Night with Nhu Quynh and Minh Tuyet.  

In 2015, Toc Tien returned to Vietnam on a triumphant concert tour.  She released what has become her signature hit, Vu Dieu Cong Chien.  Toc Tien has been a spokesmodel for products such as Pepsi, Izzi, Honda, Oppo and F247.

Link(s):

30 Most Beautiful Viet Celebs of 2015
Another 50 Most Beautiful Vietnamese Women of All Time
Toc Tien on Facebook

Johnny Tri Nguyen

Johnny Tri Nguyen (1974-    ) is a famous Vietnamese movie actor, martial artist and stuntman.  His good looks and massive appeal on the big screen have turned him into a major heartthrob in Vietnam.

Born as Nguyen Chanh Minh Tri on January 16, 1974 in Saigon, South Vietnam, he is the youngest in a family of three children.  When he was 8 years old, Johnny Tri Nguyen and his family left their native homeland for the United States resettling in Los Angeles, California.  From an early age, he trained in martial arts.  While he was a teenager, he competed as a martial artist on the US national team.  This would lead Johnny Tri Nguyen to a career as a Hollywood stuntman for such films like We Were Soldiers (2002), Spider-Man (2002), Ella Enchanted (2004), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Collateral (2004), Serenity (2005), Jarhead (2005) and The Perfect Sleep (2009).  His first speaking part was a small role in the television series, Martial Law (1998).  Johnny Tri Nguyen made his American feature film debut as an actor in the Jet Li starring vehicle, Cradle 2 the Grave (2003).

In 2003, Johnny Tri Nguyen costarred alongside Kathleen Luong, Catherine Ai and Long Nguyen in his first Vietnamese-language feature film, Buoi Sang Dau Nam (First Morning), directed by Victor Vu.  Three years later, he would play the lead role starring in another Vietnamese-language film, Hon Truong Ba, Da Hang Thit (Truong Ba's Soul in Butcher's Body), written and directed by Nguyen Quang Dung and which had costarred Anh Thu, Phuoc Sang, Phuong Thanh and Minh Thuan.

His next film, Dong Mau Anh Hung (The Rebel) (2007), would turn Johnny Tri Nguyen into one of cinema of Vietnam's biggest stars.  Production for the film had been somewhat of a family affair.  The film's director was his older brother, Charlie Nguyen.  Both Charlie Nguyen and Johnny Tri Nguyen were the film's producers, as well as writers of the screenplay.  In addition to Johnny Tri Nguyen and Ngo Thanh Van as the leading actor and actress, Dong Mau Anh Hung also starred his cousin, Vietnamese-American actor Dustin Nguyen, and his uncle, legendary Vietnamese film actor Nguyen Chanh Tin.  Upon its release, Dong Mau Anh Hung became the biggest grossing film in the history of Vietnamese Cinema with a total in domestic box office receipts exceeding 10 billion VND.  The following year, that record would be broken by another Johnny Tri Nguyen starring vehicle, Nu Hon Than Chet (Kiss of Death), with a total in domestic box office receipts of 16 billion VND.  The film also costarred former Miss Vietnam Photogenic titleholder, Thanh Hang, and comedian/actor Hoai Linh.  Nu Hon Than Chet would hold the record as the highest grossing Vietnamese film for the next five years.  In 2009, he had starred in Choi Voi (Adrift) alongside Linh Dan Pham and Do Thi Hai Yen.  Although the film did not achieve blockbuster success, it was a critical success winning the young director's award at the 66th annual Venice Film Festival.  In 2013 Johnny Tri Nguyen would break his own blockbuster record with another starring vehicle, Teo Em, directed by his brother, Charlie Nguyen, and costarred Thai Hoa and Than Thuy Ha, with a total in gross domestic box office receipts of 80 billion VND. This record has since been broken by Qua Tim Mau (Vengeful Heart) (2014), directed by Victor Vu, with a total in domestic box office gross receipts of 91 billion VND.  With such box office blockbuster success during the last decade, Johnny Tri Nguyen unquestionably has been the most bankable movie actor in Vietnam.

In addition to his acting credits in Vietnamese-language films, Johnny Tri Nguyen has acted in supporting roles in films for Tamil Cinema, 7aum Arivu (2011) and Irumbu Kuthirai (2014), and one film for Thai Cinema, Tom-Yum-Goong (2005).

From 2000 until 2008, Johnny Tri Nguyen was married to Vietnamese singer Viet Thy, also known as Cathy Viet Thi.  That marriage had produced two daughters, Hayley and Taylor.  The couple divorced in 2008.  Johnny Tri Nguyen is currently in a relationship with actress/singer Ngo Thanh Van.

Link(s):

30 Most Beautiful Viet Celebs of 2015
20 Most Handsome Vietnamese Men of All Time 
Johnny Tri Nguyen Facebook Page

Final Ten in a Row

The next ten featured on Viet Celeb are celebrities of Vietnam today.  This concludes our Ten in a Row series.

Celebrities of Vietnam Today:

Toc Tien:  Vietnamese Pop Singer 

Ha Phuong:  Vietnamese Pop Singer

Duc Tuan:  Vietnamese Pop Singer 

Van Trang:  Film Actress

Johnny Tri Nguyen:  Film Actor

Bang Kieu:  Vietnamese Pop Singer

Lan Phuong:  Vietnamese Film and Television Actress

Anh Tuyet:  Singer 

Do Thi Hai Yen:  Film Actress 

Ly Hai:  Vietnamese Pop Singer

Nick Ut

Nick Ut (1951-    ) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for the Associated Press originally from Vietnam.

Born as Huynh Cong Ut on March 29, 1951 In Long An, South Vietnam, he began working as photographer for the Associated Press at the age of 16.  He had an older brother, Huynh Thanh My, who was also a photographer for the Associated Press that was shot and killed in the battlefields by the Viet Cong.  Nick Ut is most famous for his iconic photograph, The Terror of War, of a naked nine-year-old girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, running from a napalm attack on North Vietnamese invaders in the village of Trang Bang, South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.  The photograph won him the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography.  He continues to keep in contact with Phan Thi Kim Phuc today who now resides in Canada.

Nick Ut's iconic photograph taken during the Vietnam War

Nick Ut now lives in Los Angeles and is married with two children.  He continues to work as a photojournalist for the Associated Press.  In 2005, Nick Ut and Peter Arnett were featured in filmmaker Tiana Alexandra's documentary on the 30th Anniversary Reunion of the Associated Press War Photographers in Ho Chi Minh City.  In June 8, 2007, he along with fellow Associated Press photographer Karl Larsen captured Paris Hilton in photo crying in the back of a Los Angeles Sheriff's cruiser.  Both his and Karl Larsen's photographs were widely distributed among the press.  However, Nick Ut had been given credit for the more famous out of the two photographs, despite it being actually taken by Karl Larsen.  In 2012, Nick Ut became the third person to be inducted by the Leica Hall of Fame for his achievements in photojournalism.  

Le Ly Hayslip

Le Ly Hayslip (1949-    ) is a Vietnamese-American author, former restaurateur and humanitarian activist.  She is most known for her work as author of two bestselling books, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places:  A Woman's Journey from War to Peace (1989) and Child of War, Woman of Peace (1993).  Le Ly Hayslip is also the founder of the East Meets West Foundation and the Global Village Foundation, two non-profit organizations that provide humanitarian assistance to the less fortunate living in rural areas of Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.

Born as Phung Thi Le Ly on December 19, 1949 in Ky La, a small town outside of Da Nang, Central Vietnam, she was the youngest in a pheasant family of six children.  At the age of 12, she first witnessed the ravages of war when American helicopters landed in her village as heavy fighting broke out between the Republic of South Vietnam and the communist North Vietnam.  Two years later, she was imprisoned by the South Vietnamese government on suspicion of being a "revolutionary sympathizer".  As a teenager, she would endure being tortured by the South Vietnamese Republican troops, rape by the Viet Cong and the deaths of both her father and a brother in war.

While in Vietnam, she worked a variety of different jobs in order to survive.  While she and her mother worked as housekeepers for an affluent family in Saigon, she was impregnated by her employer and subsequently lost her job.  She resettled in Da Nang as a single mother and found work in the black market, which ranged from occasional drug dealings to even once working as a prostitute.  She later juggled two jobs working as a nurse's assistant at a hospital in Da Nang by day and a cocktail waitress by night when she began a relationship with an American civilian contractor, Ed Munroe.  They married in 1969 and Le Ly gave birth to her second son.   The following year, she resettled in San Diego, California.  Three years later, Ed Munroe who was twice her age, died of emphysema making her a young widow at the age of 24 with two sons.   Le Ly Hayslip's second marriage was to Dennis Hayslip which produced her third son born on her 26th birthday.  Dennis Hayslip extended his surname to all Le Ly Hayslip's two older sons from her previous relationships, as well.  They filed for divorce in 1982 before Dennis Hayslip, an alcoholic and manic depressive, committed suicide.

(Back Left to Right) Le Ly Hayslip, Oliver Stone, Joan Chen,
 (Front) Hiep Thi Le

In the United States, Le Ly Hayslip worked as a factory worker and live-in caretaker before becoming a part owner of a successful restaurant.  In 1986, she traveled to Vietnam for the first time in 16 years.  After witnessing the harsh conditions in her native homeland, Le Ly Hayslip founded the East Meets West Foundation in 1988, a non-profit organization that provides assistance to the needy in Vietnam.  In 1989,  When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Woman's Journey from War to Peace, a book she had co-authored with Jay Wurts on her memoirs of her life during the Vietnam War and her first return trip there three years prior.  The book was published again by Plume the following year.  In 1993, her second book, Child of War, Woman of Peace, which her eldest son, James Hayslip, had co-authored, was published again by Doubleday.  Oliver Stone optioned her first book and made it into a major Hollywood production movie, Heaven and Earth (1993), which starred Tommy Lee Jones, Joan Chen, Dustin Nguyen and newcomer Hiep Thi Le.  The cast also included veteran film actor from South Vietnam, Doan Chau Mau, as well as a cameo appearance by Le Ly Hayslip, herself.  In 1999, Le Ly Hayslip founded the Global Village Foundation.  In 2009, she participated in a filmed odyssey with Tiana Alexandra entitled as Heaven on Earth:  Tiana, Le Ly and Michael Jackson in search of the late pop music icon's spirit and featured impersonators of Michael Jackson in Vietnam and the United States.  Le Ly Hayslip has been honored with numerous awards for her humanitarian efforts and has lectured at many different university campuses all over the world.

Link(s):

Global Village Foundation Official Website

Sher'e Thu Thuy

Sher'e Thu Thuy (1952-    ) is a Vietnamese-American singer, songwriter and actress who had gained international prominence with her biggest hit single, Gonna Lose My Heart, released in the 1980s when Italo Disco/ Euro New Wave music was at its peak in popularity.

She was born on October 21, 1952 in Saigon, South Vietnam, the fourth eldest in an affluent family of nine children.  Her father was the owner and CEO of Vopco, one of South Vietnam's most prolific import/export trading companies prior to the Fall of Saigon. Sher'e Thu Thuy and her siblings were each raised with a privileged upbringing and given a French education.  At 15, she began singing professionally with her older brother, Manh Ha, in their band, The Mavericks, nightly at a local venue in Bien Hoa, Vietnam which catered primarily to US military personnel patrons.  She and her older brother performed covers of popular American songs at the venue and quickly developed a following within the community of US military personnel stationed in Bien Hoa.  She was then known to her audience by the stage name of Sandy.

After a few years as the female lead singer of The Mavericks in South Vietnam, Sher'e Thu Thuy left her native homeland for the United States at the end of 1970 and married an American by the name of James Roy Wycoff shortly thereafter.  Putting her music career behind her, she resettled in Southern California and embarked on a new career as an actress for American mainstream television and films.  Among her television acting credits include appearances on popular shows such as All My Children, Too Close for Comfort, Highway to Heaven, Divorce Court and China Beach.  Sher'e Thu Thuy has also appeared on a number of major Hollywood produced films like A Rumor of War (1980), Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder (1982) and Wanted:  Dead or Alive (1987).

Sher'e Thu Thuy in the music video It's Only You

After a 13-year hiatus, in 1983 Sher'e Thu Thuy resumed her music career when she along with her two brothers, Manh Ha and Alan Nguyen, and musician Trung Nghia formed a band in Burbank, California called The Survivors.  Other singers recruited as regular performers for The Survivors band included Vy Van and Tuan Dung.  The Survivors became quite successful performing mostly at gigs for Vietnamese-American audiences.  Sher'e Thu Thuy would go on to perform at major cabarets within the Vietnamese-American community in Orange County, California throughout the 1980s such as Saigon Cabaret, Lang Van - Dem Mau Hong and Ritz.  She also toured extensively performing at live shows for overseas Vietnamese communities throughout the United States and Canada sharing the stage with the likes of Khanh Ly, Thanh Thuy and Elvis Phuong.  In 1985, Sher'e Thu Thuy formed her own music production label and released her first studio album, Nu Hon Dau (First Kiss), which also featured singers Ngoc Lan and Nhu Mai.  In 1987, she became one of the very few overseas Vietnamese artists to have a single record released on vinyl with a song she had co-written with her younger brother, Alan Nguyen, entitled as Gonna Lose My Heart.  To her amazement, the single became an international hit making the charts in several European countries where Italo Disco and Euro New Wave were massively popular and also in countries of East Asia, particularly Hong Kong where it became a top ten hit.  The unexpected international success of Gonna Lose My Heart generated a fan base for Sher'e Thu Thuy that spanned all over the globe.  The overwhelming requests from fans prompted Sher'e Thu Thuy and her brother, Alan Nguyen, to plan a music video to go along with her first international hit single.  But unfortunately, Sher'e Thu Thuy was involved in an automobile accident right before the scheduled day of principal shooting for the music video and the project was cancelled.  She followed up the success of Gonna Lose My Heart with another international hit single, It's Only You, in which she again had co-written with her brother, Alan Nguyen.  Like her previous international hit single, It's Only You was also released as a record single on vinyl.  Recorded Vietnamese versions of both of these songs would be featured on Sher'e Thu Thuy's next studio album, Chi Minh Anh (It's Only You), released in 1988.  This time around, a music video would be made for It's Only You.  While being interviewed on Vietnam Performing Arts Television on channel 18  KSCI-TV in the spring of 1988, she premiered her music video for It's Only You to Vietnamese-American viewer audiences.  Among Sher'e Thu Thuy's other popular hit songs include I Feel Your Love, Prisoner of Love, Bring My Heart to Light and I Don't Like You.  It should be noted that Sher'e Thu Thuy was the first Vietnamese-American female singer to have written a published hit song in English.

The beginning of the 1990s decade Sher'e Thu Thuy was still very much at the top of her game, but yet she abruptly walked away from the music industry and chose to remain out of public view for the next twenty years.  Her videotape, Bien Tinh, which comprised of several of Sher'e Thu Thuy's music videos of her hit songs from the 1980s including It's Only You along with guest performances from singers Y Lan and Phuong Loan was released in 1991.  That would mark the last release from TT Productions, her own music label she had formed back in 1985, for the next two decades.  No formal announcement of retirement was made by Sher'e Thu Thuy to her fans which resulted in many speculations that circulated in the rumor mills of Vietnamese communities worldwide of her whereabouts.  Nobody knew exactly where she had gone or why she had left the music industry, as it seemed like she had simply just vanished from the spotlight without a trace.  Then in 2010, Sher'e Thu Thuy resurfaced with the release of Dem Nay, her first studio album in over 20 years which featured Solitaire, a track recorded in French written by her brother, Alan Nguyen.  In an interview on 106.3 FM with actress/singer/radio talk show hostess Bang Chau, Sher'e Thu Thuy candidly disclosed that the primary reasons for her departure from the music industry twenty years ago had to do with health and money matters.  Although she did not go into much detail with her health matters, she did say that it was something she had dealt with in the past and that she is in good health today.  In terms of the frustration she had experienced with financial matters back in the early 1990s, Sher'e Thu Thuy revealed that she, like so many other artists, had not been able to capitalize on the international success of her previous hit songs such as Gonna Lose My Heart and It's Only You due to copyright infringements and pirated duplication of her music that took place in several countries, mainly Hong Kong where her first single had been a top ten hit.

Sher'e Thu Thuy at the Whiskey A Go Go
 in West Hollywood, California, USA (September 18, 2013)

Since her return to the stage, Sher'e Thu Thuy has performed in a series of well received live concerts.  In 2010, she performed at Bleu Nightclub, a popular venue in the Vietnamese community of Orange County, California to a sold out crowd.  In September of 2013, Sher'e Thu Thuy fulfilled a successful week long engagement at the legendary Whiskey A Go Go venue in West Hollywood, California.  In addition to her careers as a professional singer and actress, Sher'e Thu Thuy is also a fashion designer.  Many of the wardrobes and costumes she has worn at her live shows on stage were designed by Sher'e Thu Thuy, herself.

Link(s):  

Sher'e Thu Thuy on Facebook