Ngọc Đan Thanh (1952- ) is a popular Vietnamese actress and singer.
She was born in Saigon, South Vietnam in 1952. Her given name at birth was
Lê Thị Huệ. At the age of 14, Ngọc Đan Thanh made her television acting debut playing the role of a grieving granddaughter of the lead character, a dying woman portrayed by legendary actress
Bạch Huệ, in a televised dramatic play. At the age of 18, she enrolled at the prestigious
Quốc Gia Âm Nhạc (University of Performing Arts, Saigon) and became classmates with fellow future established performing artists,
Kiều Phượng Loan and
Tú Trinh. During her sophomore year, she studied Southern Vietnamese folk opera known as "cải lương". Ngọc Đan Thanh was then recruited by various Southern Vietnamese folk opera theater troupes such as
Phương Nam,
Thành Công,
Phụng Hảo,
Mây Tần of
Saigon Radio Broadcasting Network and
Đài Phát Thanh Quân Đội (South Vietnam's Military Radio Broadcasting Network) and
Thanh Lịch of
Đài Truyền Hình Việt Nam (South Vietnam's National Television Network). As a dramatic theater actress, she worked with various theater troupes headed by actresses
Túy Hồng,
Bích Thuận,
Thẩm Thúy Hằng and
Kim Cương, for which she was cast in such memorable parts in the televised plays,
Dưới Hai Màu Áo and
Lá Sầu Riêng, along with Kim Cương,
Vân Hùng,
Bảy Nam,
Túy Hoa and
Ngọc Đức. Blessed with natural good looks, Ngọc Đan Thanh eased her way into a career in films. In 1972, Ngọc Đan Thanh starred alongside
Út Bạch Lan,
Hoàng Long and
Văn Ngà in the martial arts feature film,
Báo Kiếm Rửa Hận Thù. She starred in two more feature films prior to the Fall of Saigon:
Xóm Tôi (1973) directed by
Lê Dân and
Chàng Ngốc Gặp Hên (1974) directed by
Lưu Bạch Đàn.
In the years following the Fall of Saigon, Ngọc Đan Thanh continued on with her career as a theater actress. Her biggest success was her portrayal of Thanh Vân in the play,
Tình Yêu và Lời Đáp, which ran for many months at the legendary
Trần Hữu Trang Playhouse Theater and costarred
Ngọc Giàu,
Phương Quang and
Minh Châu. The play was so well received that a live taping was aired on Vietnamese national television during the 1980s.
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Ngọc Đan Thanh and Tuấn Vũ in the music video
for the song, Bức Tâm Thư |
In 1990, Ngọc Đan Thanh fled from communist Vietnam by boat in search of freedom. After several months spent at Pulau Bidong refugee camp in Malaysia, she resettled in Southern California. Immediately after her arrival, Ngọc Đan Thanh was given a warm welcome by the overseas Vietnamese entertainment industry with a sold-out night held in her honor at
Diamond Nightclub in Fullerton, California. She then began collaborating with
Người Đẹp Bình Dương, a prominent overseas Vietnamese music production label, as a recording artist. Her most successful song recorded with the Người Đẹp Bình Dương label was
Bức Tâm Thư (written by
Lam Phương), a duet with singer
Tuấn Vũ. Ngọc Đan Thanh had also found work doing voice overs of films and dramas produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the 1990s alongside veteran voice over actors
Ánh Hằng and
Việt Thảo.
In 2004, she appeared on volume 74 of
Thúy Nga's
Paris By Night live show video series as an actress in a comedy skit entitled as
Nỗi Lòng Người Mẹ along with
Mỹ Huyền,
Mạnh Quỳnh and
Chí Tài. The following year, Ngọc Đan Thanh would return to the
Paris By Night stage as a singer of Southern Vietnamese folk opera, also known as "vọng cổ", in a duet with
Hương Thủy. She would be invited back by the executives at Thúy Nga to appear on two more volumes of the
Paris By Night series in 2007: as a singer of Vietnamese pop music performing with
Phương Hồng Quế a medley of songs written by
Nhật Trường on volume 85 filmed in Toronto, Canada and again as an actress in another comedy skit,
Chồng Chúa Vợ Tôi, along with
Kiều Oanh,
Kiều Linh and
Lê Tín on volume 90 filmed at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California. From 2010 until 2016, Ngọc Đan Thanh co-hosted a total of 12 volumes of the popular live show video series produced by
Asia Entertainment alongside
Nam Lộc and
Thùy Dương from volume 67 to volume 78. In addition, she also performed several medleys in duets and as part of ensembles teamed up with others including her old singing partners, Phương Hồng Quế and Tuấn Vũ, as well as
Trung Chỉnh,
Huy Sinh and
Thiên Trang. Her accomplishments as an actress in films, as a performer of Southern Vietnamese folk opera, as a singer of Vietnamese pop music and as an emcee of variety live shows clearly are the reasons why Ngọc Đan Thanh has been considered one of the most diverse talents among Vietnamese entertainers worldwide.
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Thanh Lan (left) and Ngọc Đan Thanh (right)
at taping of Asia Entertainment's Volume 78
(Segerstrom Center of the Arts, Costa Mesa, California - August, 2016.) |
Link(s):
Ngọc Đan Thanh Facebook Page
