Another Lovely Amerasian, Olivia Munn, Graces Magazine Cover

This month's edition of Modern Luxury Riviera Magazine couldn't have selected a more beautiful model to grace its cover than Olivia Munn, an Amerasian of Vietnamese, German / Irish-American descent and one of Hollywood's most beautiful actresses today.  I'm very proud to see that one of our own has succeeded to the level of being featured on the cover of a magazine.  It is both an honor, as well as a victory whenever I see a fellow Amerasian rise to the top.

Olivia Munn is starring in the recently released comedy film, Mortdecai, with Johnny Depp.  Watch out for this girl!  I predict that she'll be taking Hollywood by storm in the very near future.  For more information about Olivia Munn, click on the links listed directly below.

Link(s):

Olivia Munn Bio and Tribute on VietCeleb
Olivia Munn on Twitter 

Mary Xinh Nguyen, Amerasian and Winner of Revlon's Most Unforgettable Woman Award

As a teenager who had grown up primarily in the United States, I hadn't heard of the word, Amerasian.  The first time I had ever heard of this word was in an article on Seventeen Magazine written about this beautiful half-Vietnamese, half-American young woman who had just won the coveted Revlon's Most Unforgettable Woman of the Year Award in 1989.  I was mesmerized after reading this article and couldn't get over one quote from this young lady in particular on how she said she had wanted to become a role model for Amerasians.  Well, she had me sold from that point on.

In the years that followed, I would see Mary Xinh Nguyen on television interviews as well as on ads for Revlon that had been featured on Vogue and Cosmopolitan.  Each time I would see her, she gave me a sense of pride for being an Amerasian.  I had read that she was studying at Boston University and had plans on becoming an attorney at law one day.  I really wanted to one day meet her.  But that seemed rather far fetched.

And then one day, we finally met.  I was volunteering for an organization called East Meets West Foundation that had been founded by the author, Le Ly Hayslip, who had written the novels, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War, Woman of Peace, that Oliver Stone had bought the rights to and had made a film based upon called, Heaven and Earth.  Sometime in the year of 1992, while at the screening of the film held at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, I had volunteered as one of the ushers.  One of the actors that had starred in the film was Dustin Nguyen, who had also been in attendance that night.  His date at the event was Mary Xinh Nguyen, herself.

When we met, I was rather surprised at how humble she was.  I was afraid she might be rather conceited, considering my past experiences with models.  But she was anything but that.  After I had told her of just how much I had admired her for representing Amerasians in such a classy way, she smiled and asked me about myself.  We had a lovely brief conversation.  I had never expected to meet her again.

But then sometime toward the end of 1993, we would meet up again.  This time we would work together in a benefit for Amerasians held at the auditorium of Cal State Long Beach.  Mary was the co-host of the event.  And I was one of the Amerasian singers featured in the program.  This would mark the first time I performed in front of a live Vietnamese audience.  During the rehearsals for the show, Mary and I got to become closer and a friendship between us had developed.  I especially was happy to have also gotten to know her mother, whom I called Co Thuong.  She is a lovely lady with one of the most positive attitudes of anyone I had ever met.

From Left to Right:  My Mother, Thien Phu, Luu Quoc Viet,
Jenny Trang, Mary Xinh Nguyen, Mary's Mother

Mary and I would work together again a few years later at another benefit show for Amerasians.  This time I was among the one of the
people who had put the show together.  I got to work with another Amerasian, Angela Peters, a college student and part-time fashion model who was then Dustin Nguyen's girlfriend.  All I can say about Mary and her mother is that they are among the loveliest people.  The last I heard about Mary was that she did reunite with her father.  But unfortunately, within just a year from their reunion, her father was killed in auto accident.  My heart went out to Mary for her misfortune.  Since then, from what I know, Mary now is married and has become a mother.  She is also now a successful attorney at law and practices somewhere in the Los Angeles area.  Mary Xinh Nguyen, in my opinion, will always be a role model for us Amerasians.

Ngoc Anh, the Amerasian Singer

Back in the 1990s when I first started out singing for the Vietnamese community, whenever anyone heard the name, Ngoc Anh, there was no question as to who she was.  This lovely Amerasian gal was everywhere.  She was seen on television, on the covers of Vietnamese magazines, on stage as an actress in comedy skits, music videos for various Vietnamese production labels, most notably the ones produced by Nhat Ha Productions, and whenever she wasn't out of town touring, on weekends here in Orange County she could be seen singing live at the Can Club.  We all loved her when she appeared on the Hollywood Night music video series as part of an ensemble called Ngu Long Cong Chua together alongside with Lynda Trang Dai, Giang Ngoc, Thuy Vi and Za Za Minh Thao, and even more so when she, Giang Ngoc and Thuy Vi formed Ma Nu Da Tinh, that also featured Yen Mai and Ngoc Anh's older sister, Ngoc Han.  These girls were show stoppers everywhere they had performed.  I particularly liked the one mixed Amerasian girl who often stood in the middle.  That was Ngoc Anh, the one and only.

As of late, there has been another singer by the same name who since moving to the United States from Vietnam has become quite popular with her appearances on Paris By Night.  Now whenever the name, Ngoc Anh, pops up during conversation, it seems as if people have already forgotten our original, beloved Amerasian gal.  But I must admit, this other newer Ngoc Anh does have one killer voice. But she lacks the charm and attractiveness that our Amerasian gal, Ngoc Anh, had.  But that's besides the point.  Afterall, these two singers have completely different voices and styles of performing.  It just saddens me how people have forgotten a singer that had once been so adored.

When I think of Ngoc Anh and my friendship with her which goes way back, I'm filled with the fondest memories.  She was absolutely charming and always had more than a pocket full of the funniest jokes to share.  Whenever we ran into each other, whether it be a nightclub or at some show that we had worked on together, I can't remember a time that I didn't end up laughing.  She was just hilarious.  I had often told her that if she had ever gotten tired of her singing career that maybe she should one day consider pursuing a career as a comedienne.  But then just as she was at the top of her game, she disappeared.  Sometime in the early 2000s, it seemed as if Ngoc Anh had just gotten up and left show business without ever saying goodbye to her audience.  Where did she go? Nobody knew.

It wouldn't be until the year 2008 that I would hear anything about Ngoc Anh again.  I was starting to come back to the singing profession right around that time after nearly a decade long hiatus.  One of the organizations that I had been approached by to do live shows out of town was Gia Dinh My Viet, an organization that had been founded by a group of Amerasians that would produce live shows all around the United States in order to generate proceeds to help the less fortunate Amerasians that, for one reason or another, have not been granted entrance to the United States under the Amerasian Homecoming Act and are now still living in Vietnam in rather harsh conditions, for the most part.  One of the shows that I had been invited to perform at was to take place in Orlando, Florida on April of 2008.  To my pleasant surprise, just weeks prior to the engagement, I discovered that Ngoc Anh would also be performing with me that night along with Randy and Hoang Dung.  I was very happy and couldn't wait to finally see her again after so many years.  When we met up at LAX that morning to board our flights out to Orlando, despite how our physical appearances had changed a bit after so many years, I was really glad to see that Ngoc Anh, as a person, really hadn't changed at all.  Still with the same great humor and countless jokes to tell, she made the total of nine hours up in the air flying from Los Angeles to Philadelphia and then another connector flight from Philadelphia to Orlando seem like the shortest flight ever.

Ma Nu Da Tinh: (from left to right) Yen Mai,
Ngoc Han, Thuy Vi, Ngoc Anh and
Giang Ngoc

The time we spent together on that Orlando booking was, for the most part, a pleasant experience.  We laughed, drank, and caught up talking about the events in each of our lives.  That was when I found out that she had been in Houston all these years.  It turns out she had left California and the stage to start both a business, a karaoke hang out bar, and a new life in Houston almost ten years prior.  After enjoying several years of success, her business in Houston plummeted and she was forced to close it down.  My heart went out to her about her misfortune, but at the same time I was glad that she had made the decision to perform again.  I never did ask her why she had quit singing in the first place.  I didn't want to pry.  But like I said, I was just happy that she was back.  Our joyous reunion on that Orlando booking would end in a sour note somewhat.  On the night of the performance, a misunderstanding had emerged between myself and Hoang Dung and Ngoc Anh had to act as the referee.  Oh, the things we get ourselves into after having one too many drinks!

Since that time in Orlando, I've run into Ngoc Anh several times here in Southern California.  It seems she hasn't really returned to singing full swing.  But neither have I.  Everytime we have seen one another, just like the good old days, she always makes me laugh.  Some things never change.  Whenever Ngoc Anh is around, guaranteed there will be laughter in the air.  

Pauline Ngoc

How I met Pauline Ngoc was rather surprising.  I had stumbled across one of her songs on YouTube, her rendition of Les Fueilles Mortes (Autumn Leaves), and liked it quite a bit.  But I couldn't pinpoint just where I had heard her name before.  It took me a few days and then I remembered that Julie Quang had mentioned her name a few times in conversation.  From what I remember from what Julie had said was that Pauline Ngoc was a singer back in the day in Saigon prior to 1975 and that she was considered the Vietnamese equivalent to Diana Ross.  Well, that sparked my interests.  I've always been a big fan of Miss Ross and furthermore, I'm also very interested in learning about other Vietnamese performers of mixed heritage like myself.  After I remembered where I had first heard her name, I then decided to take a gamble and leave her a private message on her YouTube channel asking if indeed she was the same Pauline Ngoc that I had heard of.  She responded immediately with a yes.  In the days that followed, she and I would write to one another back and forth.  A friendship had developed between the two of us through these emails we had written to each other.  And before you know it, one day she sent me an email telling me she was about to travel over to the United States to visit me.  I couldn't believe it.

When I met Pauline Ngoc in person, she was everything I imagined she would be.  She was gracious, sweet, and full of wisdom.  I loved spending time with her.  We'd have the best conversations where she would reminisce about the good old days and her fond memories working with the likes of Julie Quang, Vy Van, Anh Tu, Khanh Ha, Tuan Ngoc and Carol Kim.  I had always wished that I had been born earlier so that I could have experienced some of the magical times that Julie Quang and Anh Tu and even my own mother would often talk about whenever they would take a stroll down memory lane and share their stories with me.  It seemed like Vietnamese singers in Saigon of that generation all had such fantastic memories to share.

For those of you that aren't familiar with Pauline Ngoc, let me familiarize you a bit with her background.  Pauline Ngoc is of Vietnamese and African-French mixed heritage.  She was among the top performers at cabarets and nightclubs in Saigon back in the day.  And for many years, she had performed alongside many of Saigon's brightest young performers at venues reserved for US military personnel.  She had the abilities of singing in all three languages; Vietnamese, English and French.  To Vietnamese audiences, she is best known for such songs as Une Larme Aux Nuages and La Petite Gamine.  In addition to singing, she also had a brief career as an actress with a supporting role in the Vietnamese movie, Tu Quai Sai Gon, which had starred Tham Thuy Hang, La Thoai Tan and Kim Cuong.  Prior to 1975, Pauline Ngoc had left Vietnam to resettle in Europe.  For the past several decades, she has made her home in Germany.

During her trip here in the United States when I first got to meet her in 2010, there was a night put together in her honor by various Vietnamese singers held at a small, intimate venue in Orange County.  I was present that night.  I was really surprised to see how so many singers had shown up to be reunited with Pauline.  Among the many singers present that night included Manh Ha, Vy Van and Tuan Ngoc.  I was really impressed by her singing.  It seemed as if the songs she sang that night which included Proud Mary, Le Temps de L'amour, Hold On I'm Coming and Autumn Leaves were her own songs since she delivered them with such vigor and full of emotions.  It truly is an honor to have become acquainted with Pauline Ngoc.  Afterall, she is a legendary Vietnamese performer and a pioneer for Eurasians in the Vietnamese music industry.

Link(s):

Pauline Ngoc's Official Website

Jenny Trang: The Amerasian Girl With a Huge Voice

Jenny Trang has been one of my best friends for the last 20 years. How we met was on a show featuring Amerasian singers hosted by Mary Xinh Nguyen held at the Cal State Long Beach auditorium in 1993.  Back then she had just arrived from Vietnam to the United States and was married to Thanh Le.  Out of all the performers that night, what I saw in this girl was star potential reminiscent of Julie Quang and Carol Kim.  She had a naturally powerful voice, none like any other.

A few years after that show, I would meet Jenny Trang again when she called me out of the blue.  I was very happy to hear her voice.  She told me she had just divorced from Thanh Le and was beginning a new life.  Jenny and I started to hang out quite often.  By then, I was already a professional Vietnamese singer.  In 1996, Jenny Trang was a regular performer at the Can Nightclub in Garden Grove, California.  She was about to release her first studio album, Kiep Con Lai, to be released by Bien Productions.  Jenny Trang and I had worked together on several occasions.  Most notably was a show we had worked together with Hoang Liem and Thuy Vi.

What is there to say about Jenny Trang except she is an all around great girl.  She loves to sing and is passionate about her craft.  Our friendship has grown through the years to be more like that of a brother and sister.  If I had had an actual sister, I would want her to be just like Jenny Trang.

After the release of her album, Jenny put her career on hold to start a family.  Today she is happily married with three beautiful daughters.  She still can belt out a song today just as she had done so years ago, but her primary focus lies within raising her family rather than the stage.  Most recently, Jenny Trang and I met up when she told me she was moving to Arizona to start a manicuring business.  I am happy for her.  But part of me still wishes she had pursued her singing career further since she was blessed with such a fantastic voice.

For all Amerasians, Jenny Trang, as a singer, did do us a service by singing what is considered the anthem for our people.  The name of the song that Jenny Trang is most associated with is called Kiep Con Lai, in which she had appeared on a music video for Hollywood Night.  It's hard to watch this video without shedding a tear.  It happens to me everytime.  

Thanh Ha and Phi Nhung Bios on Viet Celeb

Thanh Ha

Phi Nhung

Here are two of the most celebrated divas of Vietnamese popular music who happen to also be Amerasians.  I'm very proud of these two artists.  As an Amerasian, it is encouraging to see how these two have defied the odds in an often conservative culture to make it to the very top.  All I can say to these two divas is keep going.  Whenever I see how they shine, it is a victory shared by all Amerasians and Eurasians.  To read their bios and tributes on VietCeleb.BlogSpot.com, click on the following links.

Link(s):

Thanh Ha Bio and Tribute on Viet Celeb
Phi Nhung Bio and Tribute on Viet Celeb