Phuong Lien

Phượng Liên (1947-    ) is a famous actress of Southern Vietnamese folk opera known as "cải lương".

Born as Lữ Phụng Liên on July 14, 1947 in An Giang Province, South Vietnam, she was raised in a working class family.  As a child, she excelled in academics yet had sparked an interest in singing which contrasted the wishes of her parents.  During her early teenage years, she joined a local pop band in Cần Thơ called Tây Đô sharing lead vocals with her friend, singer Mộng Tuyền.  One night while during a break at rehearsals with the band, Phượng Liên hummed a few bars from the folk opera play, Người Vợ Không Bao Giờ Cưới, which had starred Thành Được and Út Bạch Lan.  Unbeknownst to Phượng Liên was the presence of veteran Vietnamese folk opera actor Phước Hậu who was friends with several members of the Tây Đô band and had dropped by for a visit.  Phước Hậu was so impressed with her voice that he followed Phượng Liên all the way to her home to ask permission from her parents if he could take her under his wings as his protegée.  Although her parents initially objected, eventually they would give in to their daughter's dreams of becoming a Southern Vietnamese folk opera actress.

At the age of 18, Phượng Liên relocated to Saigon and became a performer for various theater troupes such as Tinh Hoa, Tuấn Kiệt alongside Kim Ngọc and Phương Quang, and Kim Chưởng as their leading actress.  She often was cast opposite actor Dũng Thanh Lâm and together became one of the most popular acting couples of the Southern Vietnamese folk opera stage starring in such plays like Tiếng Hạt Trong Trăng, Quỷ Bảo and Mùa Trăng Và Nước Mắt.  In 1966, she starred with Phương Quang in the play, Người Nhạn Trắng, which won her the coveted Thanh Tâm Award, South Vietnam's equivalent to a Tony, for Best Actress.

Minh Cảnh and Phượng Liên in Mùa Thu Trên Bạch Mã Sơn

For the remaining years prior to the Fall of Saigon, Phượng Liên continued collaborations with various major theater troupes of South Vietnam such as Dạ Lý Hương, Thái Dương and Sài Gòn 1.  She continued to enjoy further success starring in numerous plays such as Lấy Chồng Xứ Lạ with Minh Phụng, Mỹ Châu, Hồng Nga, Dũng Thanh Lâm and Kim Ngọc, Đời Cô Hạnh with Minh Vương and Thanh Kim Huệ, Ngao Sò Ốc Hến with Thành Được, Ngọc Giàu, Bảo Quốc and Út Trà Ôn, Cô Gái Đồ Long with Lệ Thủy, Tấn Tài and Ngọc Giàu, Tâm Sự Loài Chim Biển with Minh Phụng, Minh Vương, Mỹ Châu, Dũng Thanh Lâm and Hữu Phước, Chuyện Cổ Bát Tràng with Kiều Mai Lý and Chí Hiếu, Mùa Thu Trên Bạch Mã Sơn with Minh Cảnh, Mỹ Châu and Diệp Lang and Trăng Thề Vườn Thuý with Bạch Tuyết and Thanh Sang.  She had also become of the most popular Southern Vietnamese folk opera recording artists in South Vietnam and together with Mỹ Châu were dubbed as 2 Bà Hoàng của Các Hãng Đĩa Nhựa (The Two Queens of Vinyl Records), while Tấn Tài was dubbed as Ông Hoàng Đĩa Nhựa (The Kind of Vinyl Records).


After the Fall of Saigon, Phượng Liên forged ahead with her career in Southern Vietnamese folk opera starring in many more successful plays such as Chuyện Cổ Bát Tràng, Nỗi Oan Thị Kính, Qua Cầu Đắng Cay, Sân khấu Về Khuya (reprising the role originally played by Thanh Nga) and what would become known as one of her signature roles as Hương in Nửa Đời Hương Phấn (reprising the role originally played by Út Bạch Lan).  She continued her active career on the Southern Vietnamese folk opera stage in Vietnam until resettling to Southern California in 1993.  Since then, Phượng Liên has continued to perform in live recitals of classic "cải lương" plays for overseas Vietnamese live audiences all over the United States and Europe.  In 1999, she appeared on volume 52 of the popular video series, Paris By Night, produced by Thúy Nga, in a performance of  Tuyệt Tình Ca alongside Thành Được.  In 2008, she returned to the Paris By Night stage in a duet with singer Phi Nhung, Tân Cổ: Kiếp Cầm Ca, which combined Southern Vietnamese folk opera with Vietnamese pop music.  In 2015, Phượng Liên celebrated her 50th anniversary in show business with a pair of highly successful live concert shows entitled as Phượng Liên 50 Năm Sân Khấu & Quê Hương Việt Nam, held at the Dynasty Restaurant in San Jose, California on May 7 and at the La Mirada Theater on May 9.  Featured guest stars at both shows included Văn Chung, Chí Tâm, Lệ Thủy, Bảo Quốc, Tài Linh, Kiều Mai Lý, Hương Huyền, Calvin Hiệp and Thiên Kim.

Phượng Liên was once married to fellow Southern Vietnamese folk opera performer, Diệp Lang.  Together, they had two children, a son and a daughter.  She currently lives in Orange County, California with her second husband, Nguyễn Đình Vinh, in Orange County, California.