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Thursday, April 6, 2017

Van Son

Vân Sơn (1961-    ) is a famous overseas Vietnamese comedian and show producer.  He is the founder and CEO of Vân Sơn Entertainment.

Born as Dương Thanh Sơn on October 5, 1961 in Saigon, South Vietnam, he had come from a famous Vietnamese showbiz family.  His uncles, Xuân Phát and Nguyễn Chánh Tín, were both famous actors of stage and film in South Vietnam.  His older brother and sister-in-law are comedic actors, Nguyễn Dương and Thu Tuyết.  He is also first cousins with actors, Dustin Nguyễn and Johnny Trí Nguyễn, and film director Charlie Nguyễn.

Vân Sơn - Bảo Liêm
Toward the end of 1988, Vân Sơn fled from communist Vietnam by boat.  After more than two years spent living at refugee camp sites in Malaysia and the Philippines, he finally arrived in the United States on April of 1990.  A year later, he teamed up with comedian Bảo Liêm to form the comedy duo known as Vân Sơn - Bảo Liêm.  Inititially, the duo performed for weddings and parties.  After making several appearances on a weekly television program hosted by singer Ỷ Nhi, their popularity began to rapidly increase.  Soon the duo began performing at various Vietnamese nightclubs and cabarets across the United States.  In 1993, Vân Sơn - Bảo Liêm performed on volume 2 of the popular live show video series produced by Asia Entertainment.  Their popularity with viewer audiences caused the executives at Asia Entertainment to invite them back on the next three consecutive volumes of the popular live show video series.  The exposure received from their performances on Asia Entertainment led the comedy duo to numerous bookings to perform at live shows for overseas Vietnamese audiences all over the world.  In 1994, Vân Sơn formed Vân Sơn Entertainment and released the first volume of its video series entitled as Tiếng Cười Cali.  Aside from his sidekick, Bảo Liêm, the videotape was emceed by Việt Thảo and also featured other performers in comedy sketches with Vân Sơn including Diễm Lệ, Phương Nga and Ngọc Anh.  Unfortunately, after the release of the first volume of Vân Sơn Entertainment's video series, Vân Sơn and Bảo Liêm parted ways due to artistic differences.  Vân Sơn then replaced Bảo Liêm with comedian Hoài Linh.  In 1996, Vân Sơn and Hoài Linh performed on volume 35 of Thúy Nga's Paris By Night video series, which was filmed in Paris, France.  Three years later upon Hoài Linh's return to Vietnam, Vân Sơn and Bảo Liêm mended their friendship and reestablished their professional association.  From 1999 until 2008, Vân Sơn and Bảo Liêm appeared together on a total of 30 volumes of the video series produced by Vân Sơn Entertainment.  In 2008, the pair known to be the most prolific among overseas Vietnamese comedy acts once again parted ways.  Two years later, Vân Sơn found a replacement for his comedy duo act with comedian Bảo Chung.
Vân Sơn and Hoài Linh

Since the second volume of Vân Sơn Entertainment's video series, Đại Chiến Ma Nữ Đa Tình (1995), Vân Sơn had changed the format combining comedy with musical performances.  The singers featured on volume 2 of Vân Sơn Entertainment's video series were Ngọc Anh, Giáng Ngọc, Thúy Vi and ZaZa Minh Thảo.  The new format seemed to have worked as sales of the DVD went through the roof.  Vân Sơn then decided to give the title of his video series as Nụ Cười và Âm Nhạc (Laughter & Music) which would later be modified to Sân Khấu & Nụ Cười (The Stage & Laughter), in 1999 when the series became a live show production.  During the first several years, filming for Vân Sơn Entertainment's video series took place primarily at studios located in and around Orange County, California.  Toward the end of the 1990s decade, Vân Sơn decided to take his live show video series on the road with tapings held in various different cities across the United States, as well as abroad in 11 different countries including Australia, Thailand, Japan, the Philippines, China, Canada, Taiwan, Cambodia, Singapore, Czech Republic and Vietnam.  Among the lineup of performers who have appeared in comedy sketches featured on Vân Sơn Entertainment's video series include Hồng Đào, Quang Minh, Văn Chung, Ngọc Phu, Chí Tâm, La Thoại Tân, Hương Huyền, Chí Tài, Phượng Mai, Trang Thanh Lan, Ngọc Nuôi, Hồng Nga, Hoài Tâm, Lê Huỳnh, Kiều Oanh, Hữu Nghĩa, Tấn Beo, Khả Tú, Minh Nhí, Trấn Thành, Trường Giang, Bảo Quốc and Ngọc Giàu.  Among the lineup of musical guests who have appeared on the Vân Sơn Entertainment video series have included Johnny Dũng, Công Thành & Lynn, Hạ Vy, Ngọc Hạ, Hương Lan, Mỹ Huyền, Lilian, Lynda Trang Đài, Tommy NgôNgọc Bích, Phi Nhung, Trường Vũ, Tú Quyên, Tuấn Vũ, Mạnh Quỳnh, Hoàng Lan, Chế Linh, Ý Lan, Tuấn Ngọc, Thái Thảo, Diễm Liên, Nguyên Khang, Thanh Tuyền, Thanh Hà, Nguyễn Hồng Nhung, Don Hồ, Kristine Sa, Thu Phương, Giang Tử, Kasim Hoàng Vũ, Thu Minh, Ngọc Huyền, Khánh Ly, Khánh Hà, Ngọc Sơn, Cẩm Vân, Đức Huy, Đông Nhi, Bảo Thy and Giao Linh.  In addition, Vân Sơn Entertainment has also played a key part in the launching of many singers' careers such as Nguyễn Thắng, Tâm Đoan, Lương Tùng Quang, Cát Tiên, Andy Quách, Ngô Thanh Vân, Tinna Tình, Linda Chou and Hoàng Thục Linh.  Vân Sơn Entertainment has also provided an occasional platform to revive the traditional art of Southern Vietnamese folk opera known as "cải lương" with performances from veteran artists such as Bạch Tuyết, Kim Tử Long and Tài Linh.  In recent years, Vân Sơn has relocated his production company's headquarters to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.    

Married since 1990, Vân Sơn and his wife are parents of two sons.  



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