Check Out Hanh Nguyen’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hanh Nguyen.

Hi Hanh, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Vietnam and came to settle in the suburbs of Philadelphia at age seven. Although I had English lessons before the move, I was conversational at best and yearned to become fluent so I could make friends. School is hard enough already when you’re the new kid – try being the new girl with a bowl haircut (thanks ma!) who doesn’t know what a HOAGIE is (sacrilege when you grow up in the City of Brotherly Love).

My best friend up to this point was Tony – the friendly janitor who would always say hi whenever he saw me sitting alone in the cafeteria and tried to cheer me up by telling me I was a good boy. Land of the free?! Home of the brave?! I told myself to set the bar higher, and thus, began a daily ritual of going to the library so I could master this foreign tongue. I became obsessed with books. I loved fairytales and Greek mythology, and my love of reading eventually piqued my interest in writing. I wrote my first three-act play in middle school and placed third in the annual playwriting competition that was held by the school district. The school put on a performance of the play where I got to act as one of my characters, and needless to say, I was hooked! I performed in various productions in high school and double majored in theater & psychology in college. Shortly after graduating, I got my SAG card from my first commercial booking & have been working in the industry ever since.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been easy, but I think the beauty is in the struggle when you’re taking the road less traveled. My first year in LA was not smooth, to say the least. I moved here without a job and was pretty much betting on myself to spin straw into gold. I cold-called for hours at a time and sent endless emails and heard back from no one. I hit a low point and I was scared, but I persisted because if there was one thing that I never doubted, it was my hustle. Slowly, I started hearing back and booked one-off jobs here and there. Whenever I worked, I made sure to network with as many people as I could to find out how to secure more jobs and later utilized the same tips to create momentum for myself. It’s an old cliche but it’s true – LA is all about who you know. Eventually, the grind paid off and I was able to count on the work coming in on a steady basis. The most important takeaway I learned from my first year here is BE KIND TO YOURSELF & NEVER STOP HUSTLIN!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m an actor by day, and I moonlight as a writer, producer, and occasional stand-in. Every year, I compete with my team (@PennsylvaniaPeopleProductions) in the nationally held 48 Hour Film Project competition. We’ve brought home awards for best writing, best cinematography, and best film which has cemented us as city champions in the past. My first feature film that I co-wrote and starred in, Hanh, Solo, premiered at 10+ festivals all across America (several of which were local – LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, Viet Film Fest, and Marina Del Rey Film Festival), and was acquired shortly after the pandemic for distribution. This was my most personal project due to its autobiographical nature, and I’m very proud to say it is now available to stream on Amazon & Vimeo with DVDs for purchase on Amazon as well. Aside from personal endeavors, my most recent project was a new show on the Discovery Channel that just premiered this year – you can catch me as a principal talent on episode 6 of The New York Post Reports on Hulu!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm4194303/
• Instagram: @hollywoodhanh
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/hanhsolomovie/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/xfvX8eHzflo
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/Hanh-Solo-Nguyen/dp/B08KSBSK8D