Viet Celeb on Pinterest Boards

VietCeleb.BlogSpot.com personally invites you to check out our boards featured on Pinterest.com.  This along with our Facebook page were created to provide further information to our tributes of those individuals honored here on VietCeleb.BlogSpot.com.  In addition to the complete biographies provided here on this blogsite, our Pinterest boards also contain photographs and videos associated with our celebrities.  Here are the following boards linked with Viet Celeb on Pinterest that you are all invited to follow.

Overseas Vietnamese Entertainers

Viet Celebs of Pre '75 Saigon

Famous People of Vietnamese Descent

Celebrities of Present Day Vietnam

Viet Celebs in Photo (From Top to Bottom):  Nhu Quynh (singer), Thanh Thuy (singer), France Nuyen (actress), Dam Vinh Hung (singer)

Thanh Lan

Thanh Lan (1948-     ) is a famous Vietnamese singer and actress who had been an iconic pop music superstar of South Vietnam, mostly known for her interpretations of French popular music.  Born in Vinh, Nghe An, Vietnam, Thanh Lan graduated from the prestigious Marie Curie High School in Saigon.  After graduating from high school, she went on to graduate from the University of Saigon, School of Literature in 1973.  Thanh Lan began her music career from the early age of 9 when she was taken under the wings of musicians Tham Oanh and Nghiem Phu Phi who guided her on her beginnings on the road to fame.  While still in high school, she appeared regularly on VTVN Radio as part of the group, Viet Nhi, directed by Nguyen Duc.  From 1967 to 1968, Thanh Lan appeared on Truyen Hinh Sai Gon singing folkloric Vietnamese music.  In college, Thanh Lan gained national fame as a singer of popular music.  In 1970, she starred in her first motion picture, Tieng Hat Hoc Tro.  In 1973, she toured Japan with musicians Ngoc Chanh and Pham Duy where her recordings of the songs, Tuoi Biet Buon and Tuoi Mong Mo, were featured at the International Music Festival of Yamaha.  Among Thanh Lan's most popular films prior to the Fall of Saigon include Le Da (Tears of a Stone) (1971), Ganh Hang Hoa (Carried Load of Flowers) (1972), both starring La Thoai Tan, Xin Dung Bo Em (Please Don't Desert Me) (1973) starring Tham Thuy Hang, and Number Ten Blues (1975), later renamed as Goodbye Saigon upon its re-release in 2014, a Japanese film directed by acclaimed filmmaker Norio Osada.  Goodbye Saigon was featured at the Vietnam International Film Festival held on April 12, 2014 in Orange County, California.

Thanh Lan in her film debut, Tieng Hat Tuoi Hoc Tro (1970)

After 1975, Thanh Lan continued with both her careers in music and films for many years.  From 1984 until 1987, she replaced actress Thuy An in the role portrayal of Thuy Dung in the last five sequels of the wildly successful movie series, Van Bai Lat Ngua, starring opposite Nguyen Chanh Tin.  In 1990, she was cast as leading actress in Ben Kia Man Suong, a Vietnamese-American produced movie directed by Le Tuan and costarred singer/actress Nhat Ha.  In 1993, Thanh Lan starred in another movie produced and directed by Le Tuan, Tinh Nguoi, which costarred overseas Vietnamese singer ZaZa Minh Thao.  Prior to leaving her homeland, Thanh Lan was enjoying a thriving singing career with a full nightly performing schedule at major venues in Ho Chi Minh City such as the Rex Hotel, Nha Hat Thanh Pho (Saigon Opera House), Hoa Binh Municipal Theater and the Caravelle.  She was also recording for various major record labels in Vietnam like Ben Thanh Audio, Saigon Audio and Vafaco.  Then at the end of 1993 Thanh Lan traveled to the United States for what had been planned originally as a brief tour would ultimately lead to her seeking political asylum at beginning of the year in 1994.  She has since remained active as a pop music performer in the overseas Vietnamese community and continues to be in high demand to this day.


Among Thanh Lan's most popular songs have included Tinh Thien Thu, Khi Xua Ta Be (Bang Bang), Em Dep Nhat Dem Nay (La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser), Trung Vuong Khung Cua Mua Thu (Tell Laura I Love Her), Tinh Yeu Oi Tinh Yeu (Oh Mon Amour) and Mua Dong Cua Anh, in which she had recorded as a duet with legendary singer / songwriter Nhat Truong.  Since resettling in the United States, she has continued with numerous audio recordings and video appearances in collaboration with some of the biggest overseas Vietnamese production labels such as May Productions, Thuy Anh, Diem Xua, Lang Van, Asia Entertainment and Thuy Nga Paris.  Among Thanh Lan's most memorable appearances on the Paris By Night stage during the 1990s were her performances of several Pham Duy-penned songs like Con Quy Lay Chua Tren Troi, Tra Lai Em Yeu, Ky Vat Cho Em and Chiec Bong Ben Duong.  To date, her last appearance on Paris By Night was on volume 50 in 1999 where she performed a duet medley of popular French love songs with Elvis Phuong.  Thanh Lan has appeared on video performing similar medleys of popular French love songs known as Lien Khuc Nhac Phap for Asia Entertainment on three other volumes of the live show series.  Perhaps the most well received of these French medleys partaken by Thanh Lan was in 1996 as part of a trio with two other iconic French-language Vietnamese singers, Jo Marcel and Julie Quang.  In 2008, she would team up with Paolo Tuấn to repeat the same theme, a medley of French torch songs, and again in 2012 as a trio alongside Sy Dan and Vu Tuan Duc.

Thanh Lan was once married and divorced while in Saigon during the early 1970s.  A daughter had come from that marriage, whom she affectionately had given the nickname, "Boo".  Sometime after Thanh Lan's resettlement to the United States, Boo, then already a young adult, also made the decision to leave Vietnam and take up permanent residence in Australia.

Link(s):

50 Most Beautiful Vietnamese Women of All Time
Thanh Lan on Facebook

Lam Truong

Lam Truong

Lam Truong (1974-     ) is a Vietnamese singer who had found fame in a genre of Vietnamese popular music known as "Nhac Tre", music which appeals to the younger adults demographics of Vietnam.  Born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City to ethnic Chinese parents, Lam Truong decided from early on to pursue a career as a professional singer much to the dismay of his father.  In 1995, Lam Truong entered a major talent contest known as Thap Dai Tinh Tu sponsored by the national ethnic Chinese community of Vietnam and took home the second place winning prize.  Less than two years later, he released his debut solo studio album, Baby, I Love You, which spawned positive reviews from music critics and considerable attention from the general audience of Vietnamese music lovers.  His good looks and smooth style of singing quickly turned him into a teen heartthrob sensation in Vietnam.  In 1998, Lam Truong enjoyed the biggest hit single of his career with Tinh Thoi Xot Xa, a song written by Bao Chan that would also become his signature song most requested at his live show performances throughout his career.  Other major hit songs would immediately follow such as Mua Phi Truong, Nao Ai Biet and a couple of duet songs recorded with singer Thu Phuong, Trai Tim Khong Ngu Yen and Thoi Anh Hay Ve.  All of which would contribute to Lam Truong being catapulted to superstardom as one of Vietnam's top performers of popular music, a status in which he has successfully sustained to this day.

In the early 2000s, Lam Truong embarked on several new ventures in his career as an entertainer.  At the turn of the century, he made his television special debut with the highly successful taping of his live show performance entitled as Loi Trai Tim Muon Noi.  He became a successful songwriter with such popular hit songs such as Co Mot Ngay and Cho Ban Cho Tinh.  In addition to consistently coming out with well received studio albums and performing at sold out live concerts for Vietnamese audiences around the globe, Lam Truong has also taken on an accomplished acting career.  Some of his most notable Vietnamese movies include Nu Tuong Cuop, Ngoi Nha Hanh Phuc and Bep Hat.  Currently, Lam Truong has been serving on the panel of celebrity judges on Vietnam's widely popular television show, Giong Hat Viet Nhi.  

From 2004 until 2009, Lam Truong was married to Vietnamese-American college graduate and computer engineer, Y An, who had been raised in Houston, Texas.  Their marriage of five years had produced a son before ending in divorce.  As of 2013, Lam Truong has been engaged to Yen Phuong, a Vietnamese foreign exchange student at Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington who is nearly 20 years his junior.

Link(s):

• Vietnamese Celebrity Homes Part 3
• 20 Most Handsome Vietnamese Men of All Time
• Lam Truong's Official Website
• Lam Truong on Facebook

Bach Yen

Bach Yen (1942-     ) is an acclaimed multilingual songstress originally from Vietnam.  Signed with Polydor Records at age 19, Bach Yen was the first Vietnamese recording artist to reach international prominence with her abilities to sing effortlessly in six different languages which include English, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew and her two native languages, French and Vietnamese.  In the 1960s, she became a popular musical artist guest making appearances on various American television programs hosted by Ed Sullivan, Joey Bishop, Mike Douglas, Bob Hope, Pat Boone and Bing Crosby, as well as Shindig.  Bach Yen went on to share the stage with the likes of major worldly renowned entertainers such as Liberace, Frankie Avalon and Jimmy Durante on major concert live shows throughout the United States and other countries of both North and South American continents.  Being the first Vietnamese performer to tour the four major continents where she played to mostly non-Vietnamese audiences, Bach Yen would earn for herself the title of being South Vietnam's unofficial ambassador of performing arts.  Bob Hope had introduced her on stage as the Cinderella from Saigon.

Bach Yen at age 15

Her name translates as "White Swallow" in English.  Born in Soc Trang, a town located in the Mekong Delta, to an ethnic Chinese father and Vietnamese mother, Bach Yen started singing at the age of nine when she joined the school of La Providence church choir in Can Tho, of which she had attended as a grade school student.  In 1953, Bach Yen traveled to Saigon where she competed and won first prize in a youth talent contest.  Her prize winning entailed a weekly singing stint on a children's music program for a French broadcasting radio station located in Saigon.  The following year, the French would be defeated at the end of the First Indochina War which directly resulted in the French losing control of Vietnam as its colonial conquest.  For the French colonists that were living in Vietnam, this meant that the time had come to close up shop and return home.  For the little girl named Bach Yen, this was a sad time as the French-owned radio station which hosted the weekly children's program where she had been a principal performer would shut down.  This coupled with her parents' separation with her father moving to Phnom Penh leaving her mother alone to care for Bach Yen and her siblings in a small rented house in Saigon proved to be of challenging times.  To supplement the family income, Bach Yen along with two siblings and two cousins formed a circus act as motorcycle riders which had toured all across South Vietnam until a near fatal accident took place where she had fallen while on her motorcycle twelve feet to the ground.  After a long period of recovery, while only 14 years old Bach Yen embarked on a professional singing career when she landed her first steady gig as a nightly performer at a cabaret in Saigon called Truc Lam.  In a short amount of time, she had earned quite a reputation among the nightclub circuit of performers in Saigon which would allow her to grace the stages of the largest and most popular cabarets and venues in the city such as Tu Do, Anh Vu and Hoa Binh.  At the tender age of 15, Bach Yen gained national recognition with her interpretation of what would become her signature Vietnamese song throughout her career, Dem Dong (Winter's Night), written by Nguyen Van Thuong.

In 1961, Bach Yen left her native Vietnam for Paris, France to set her sights on pursuing an international music career.  While in Paris, she landed a steady gig performing nightly at the prestigious Table du Mandarin.  This was the same cabaret venue that had also housed another performer of Vietnamese origin, Henri Salvador's protégé Tiny Yong, and to a lesser extent, Bich Chieu, who had gained prominence as a performer at nightclubs back in Saigon.  A contract with Polydor Records would shortly follow for Bach Yen where she would record three albums and appear on several music videos which aired on the then massively popular Scopitone, a jukebox of music videos and the European equivalent to MTV of today.  Unhappy with the popular style of music known as Ye-Ye Polydor had chosen for Bach Yen, after three years she decided to leave Paris and return to her native Vietnam where she would resume her career as one of the top performers in the most well known cabarets of Saigon.

Bach Yen in the film,
The Green Berets (1970),
starring John Wayne

Her return stay in Vietnam would not be for long, as she would receive an invitation from Ed Sullivan in 1965 to appear on his renowned show.  What was originally intended as a two week engagement in the United States resulted in her taking up residence there for a total of twelve years.  During the years spent in the United States, Bach Yen had become a popular guest on television variety shows and continued her career as a recording artist.  In 1968, Hollywood came calling when she was invited to make a cameo appearance in John Wayne's movie, The Green Berets.  Bach Yen also often played Vegas as a popular headliner performing alongside Liberace and toured extensively across the globe with some of the biggest names among mainstream American entertainers.

Bach Yen in a Scopitone
music video for her hit song, Et a Bas La Rentree

Tran Quang Hai and Bach Yen

Upon returning to Paris in 1978, Bach Yen met up with renowned, accomplished Vietnamese ethnomusicologist Tran Quang Hai.  This sparked a renewed interest of Vietnamese music in Bach Yen's career.  Upon becoming a wedded couple, the two have continued in collaborations focused on traditional Vietnamese folk music.  They have recorded and released a total of seven albums together and made over 3,000 recitals and concerts in five continents.  One of their albums, Vietnam, was awarded with the Grand Prix du Disque from the Academie de Charles Cros in 1983.  In 1994, Bach Yen recorded Souvenir, an album comprised of some of her most popular songs in her repertoire performed for live audiences throughout her career in four different languages:  French, English, Italian and Vietnamese.  Bach Yen has also made several memorable appearances on the immensely popular live show video series, Paris By Night, produced by Thuy Nga for Vietnamese audiences worldwide including a duet performance with singer Tran Thu Ha.  In recent years, Bach Yen had made a triumphant return performing in concert for the first time in over 44 years in her native Vietnam in 2009.  Five years later, she would be invited back to Vietnam for another live concert performance held at the Hoa Binh music venue in Ho Chi Minh City where she played to a packed audience.

Bach Yen at her live concert in Ho Chi Minh City (2014)

Link(s):

Bach Yen on Wordpress
Tran Quang Hai Official Website

Luu Bich

Luu Bich (1968-     ) as the youngest in a family of seven, her older siblings consist of accomplished Vietnamese singers Bich Chieu, Tuan Ngoc, Khanh Ha, Anh Tu, Thuy Anh and Lan Anh, she would be the last member to pursue a professional singing career.  From her first appearance on the Paris By Night video series in 1988, Luu Bich has consistently been one of the series' most popular performers.  Viewer audiences of Thuy Nga Paris instantly took notice of her beauty along with her rich, soulful singing voice.  Luu Bich's earliest recordings had been for her older sister's label, Khanh Ha Productions, which include a duet album with To Chan Phong, as well as a pair of well received solo studio albums, Hay Noi Yeu Em Dem Nay and Khi Tinh Bay Xa.  Luu Bich has since launched her own production label, Luu Bich Productions, that has produced and released her studio recordings since its inception.

Long before her debut on the Paris By Night stage, Luu Bich began her music career as a member of her siblings' pop music group known as the Uptight in 1983.  At first, Luu Bich hadn't given much thought to pursuing a full-time career as a singer.  However, as audiences began to take notice of the youngest sibling who was also lead keyboardist and until then sang mostly background vocals for The Uptight at live shows, a change of heart would come about for Luu Bich.  Upon setting her sights on a solo singing career, Luu Bich has recorded and released a series of highly successful solo studio albums.  An extremely popular live show performer, Luu Bich has graced many stages performing to sold-out crowds all over the world.  For more than two decades, Luu Bich has enjoyed a lengthy collaboration with Thuy Nga Paris appearing in numerous volumes of the Paris By Night live show video series.  She has recorded duets with various other artists including Khanh Ha, Trinh Lam, Lam Nhat Tien, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, Thuy Tien and Nguyen Hung.  Luu Bich continues to record studio albums released under her own production label.

Luu Bich (left), Anh Tu (standing center),
Lan Anh (right), Khanh Ha (front center)

Link(s):

50 Most Beautiful Vietnamese Women of All Time
Luu Bich on Facebook

Nhat Truong

Nhat Truong AKA Tran Thien Thanh

Nhat Truong (1942-2005) also known as Tran Thien Thanh, was a famous singer, songwriter, director, and film actor of South Vietnam prior to 1975.  He was considered among the top 4 male vocalists in a particular genre of Vietnamese popular music known as Nhac Vang, which appealed massively to the general music audience of South Vietnam and literally translates to "golden music", along with Duy Khanh, Hung Cuong and Che Linh.  Upon completion of high school in his hometown of Phan Thiet, Nhat Truong moved to Saigon at 16 and enrolled in military academy.  In 1965, he completed his studies and worked briefly as a high school teacher.  From the early 1960s, Nhat Truong had formed a pop music group in Saigon, known as the Nhat Truong Quartet, with three female vocalists; Nhu Thuy, Van Quynh and Diem Chi, that had performed often at various events in support of the ARVN, the military of South Vietnam.  In addition, Nhat Truong was an active participant on Dai Truyen Hinh Viet Nam, South Vietnam's nationally broadcasted television programs where he appeared as a musical performer and as an actor on numerous dramatic skits, often alongside popular singer / actress Thanh Lan.  His dedication and faithful commitments to the ARVN, the military of South Vietnam, reflected many of his compositions as a songwriter.  By the end of the 1960s decade, Nhat Truong along with Hung Cuong and Che Linh had become famous for their signature appearances on stage dressed in military uniform whenever performing which represented their deep respect and support for the ARVN.

In the early 1970s, Nhat Truong starred and directed two motion pictures in South Vietnam, Tren Dinh Mua Dong (1972) and Mong Thuong (1974).  Thanh Lan, on both films, costarred as his leading lady.  Nhat Truong also had founded his own record label and produced many of his own successful albums recorded in Saigon prior to 1975, as well as for many other famous recording artists of South Vietnam.  As a songwriter, his most famous compositions included Chuyen Hen Ho, Gap Nhau Lam Ngo, Nguoi O Lai Charlie, Khi Nguoi Yeu Toi Khoc, Chieu Tren Pha Tam Giang, Tu Do Em Buon, Tinh Dau Tinh Cuoi, Anh Ve Voi Em, Khong Bao Gio Ngan Cach, Hoa Trinh Nu and Chiec Ao Ba Ba.  After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, Nhat Truong was among the artists who had been banned from public performances under the new communist regime.  In 1984, he was finally given permission to resume his career as a music performer, but chose to remain inactive due to his anti-communist beliefs.

Nhat Truong and My Lan

In 1993, Nhat Truong moved to the United States and shortly remarried to overseas Vietnamese singer My Lan.  In 2005, he died from lung cancer in Westminster, California at the age of 63.