Born as Ha Thi Thu Ba in Saigon, South Vietnam in 1952, she is the second eldest in a family of 9 children. Her mother was the third wife of cai luong musician Chin Trich. Her father's first wife was the younger sister of stage actress Bay Nam, mother of legendary actress of stage and film, Kim Cuong. At the age of 13, she was accepted into Quoc Gia Am Nhac, National Conservatory of Music in Saigon, to study cai luong. Due to her family's financial difficulties, she was unable to complete her studies at the conservatory in order to obtain her degree. With only a year left to go, Tu Trinh had to continue with her studies at the conservatory after her third year there. With only a year left to go for her degree, Tu Trinh had to accept the harsh fact that she wasn't able to It was while she studying at the conservatory that she delved into a short-lived career stint on the cai luong stage. Tu Trinh had just turned 14 when one fateful night she was given the opportunity to fill in for a small part as a blind girl in a cai luong play by veteran actress Bich Thuan. After several weeks of performing nightly with Bich Thuan's folk opera theater company, she along with the rest of the cast were featured on national Vietnamese television. Her impeccable performance portraying a blind girl on television would catch the attention of several major dramatic theater troupes such as Kim Cuong and Tham Thuy Hang who would soon after contact Tu Trinh to offer her parts in plays.
In the years to come, Tu Trinh would become more established as a stage actress. However, it was her pleasant speaking voice that would finally enable her to finding her niche in the Vietnamese entertainment industry as a voice actress. Right around the beginning of the 1970s decade, Tu Trinh embarked on a lucrative new career which took her out of poverty. She worked alongside a group of established actors and actresses such as La Thoai Tan, Hong Phuc, Lam Hung and Nguyen Hanh doing voice overs in the Vietnamese language for Indian, Chinese and French films shown in theaters across South Vietnam. In the 1973 film, Chiec Bong Ben Duong, Kieu Chinh's character was dubbed with Tu Trinh's speaking voice.
Like many other performers who had become established prior to the Fall of Saigon, Tu Trinh was banned from working in Ho Chi Minh City by the communist regime for the first couple of years after 1975. During this difficult period, she found work in plays at theaters in smaller towns and provinces outside of Ho Chi Minh City. In 1978, the communist regime eased up on Tu Trinh allowing her to work with the Bong Hong Theater Troupe based out of Ho Chi Minh City but with the usage of the stage name, Thu Ba. Shortly after that, she was able to join the Kim Cuong Theater Troupe performing in playhouses located in Ho Chi Minh City with the full usage of her original stage name, Tu Trinh.
Beginning in the mid-1990s, Tu Trinh has delved into both television and feature films in her acting career. In 1995, she costarred with Viet Trinh, Huynh Anh Tuan and Hoang Phuc in the television movie, Song Dai. The following year, Tu Trinh was cast in the wildly popular television mini-series, Nguoi Dep Tay Do (1996), which also starred Viet Trinh along with Chi Bao and the late Don Duong. Among her feature films include Xin Loi Em Chi La (2010) starring Lan Phuong, Ngan Khanh and Viet Anh and Ngoc Vien Dong (Pears of the Far East) (2011) starring Truong Ngoc Anh, Kieu Chinh, Ngo Thanh Van, Diem My, Huy Khanh and Nhu Quynh.
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| Huu Nghia and Tu Trinh in the play, Giong To (2010) |
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| Cao Phi Long and Tu Trinh |
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