Nguyễn Thái Nguyên
Nguyễn Thái Nguyên, sometimes known as Vincent Nhat Le, is a Vietnamese actor raised in the rural Cà Mau Province in Vietnam. Both Nguyen's father and his grandfather are former officers in the South Vietnamese naval forces.
Early life
Nguyen had a rough childhood due to his family's due past southern support. His grandfather was imprisoned in a reeducation camp, and his father was jailed for revolutionary actions. Nguyen engaged in theft, assaults toward students, and the attempted murder of a Northern man who was accused of the raping of his older sister but was proven innocent. Charges against Nguten were after chairman of Cà Mau Primary Academy, Chairman Bành, vouched for him. Bành sought to reform Nguyen through a social therapy that teaches children to releasing, which led Nguyen to acting out emotions at his primary school. When Nguyen was 11, Bành sent him to a Hát bội and Cải lương competition for the Cà Mau Senior Academy school's Opera Club.
Career
Ham Tran, a Vietnamese film director heard of Nguyen during his vacation to Saigon, Vietnam, and went to Cà Mau Primary Academy to see the young actor in action, later casting him in his movie about the Vietnamese Boat People struggles during the Vietnam War. Nguyen portrayed Lai Nguyen in "Journey from the Fall," a boy fresh off the boat who longs for his missing father who is in a reeducation camp. The film faced controversy over its perceived exaggeration of events and the Ministry of Public Security's newspaper Công an Nhân dân featured an article warning about the "poisonous film" and claiming that "most overseas Vietnamese are indifferent or critical of this movie".
With the movie completed, Nguyen's parents thought it would be best to live in the United States, moving to Boston, MA. He currently lives in Texas with his parents, grandfather, and younger brother. He attends Jesuit Dallas College preparatory school, but is continuing his acting career through Theater Productions around the Dallas/Ft Worth Area. He has been nicknamed trăm khuôn mặt (the boy of 100 masks) due to his impressive talent at smoothly changing his facial character on command.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Journey from the Fall | Lai Nguyen |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Broken Standards | Officer Trần |