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.