Hiep Thi Le
Biography
Hiep Thi Le was an American actress who came to films through an open casting call and won the lead in Oliver Stone's Heaven & Earth (1993). Born in Da Nang and raised in Northern California, she was a student at the University of California, Davis when she was chosen from among roughly 16,000 Vietnamese-Americans to play Le Ly Hayslip opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Joan Chen. She had no acting training; Stone called her a natural, and critics including the Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan praised her performance as a woman aging from 13 to 38. Her later credits included Dead Men Can't Dance (1997), Green Dragon (2001), with Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker, and Bugis Street. After leaving the film industry she opened The China Beach Bistro, a Vietnamese restaurant in Venice, Los Angeles.
46years old at death
- Born Da Nang
- Died Los Angeles
- Star sign: AquariusLast day of the sign, on the Pisces cusp
Movie Career
- Films
- 4
- Career span
- 8 years1993 to 2001
Every film, newest first
- 2001Green DragonIMDb rating 6.1
- 1999Cruel IntentionsIMDb rating 6.8
- 1997Dead Men Can't DanceIMDb rating 4.4
- 1993Heaven & EarthIMDb rating 6.8
Genres
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Big break
Casting scouts for Oliver Stone's Heaven & Earth looked at 16,000 Vietnamese-Americans, and Hiep Thi Le was the one picked for the starring role.
Big break
While a college student, Hiep Thi Le attended a Bay area open casting call with friends who were doing it for fun. She landed the leading role in Oliver Stone's third Vietnam film, Heaven & Earth.
A change of course
After leaving the film industry, Hiep Thi Le opened The China Beach Bistro, a Vietnamese restaurant in Venice, Los Angeles, in 2002. Ten years later she closed it and started Le Cellier, a French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant.
A change of course
Hiep Thi Le competed on the Food Network game show Chopped in the eighteenth-season episode "Beer Here!", which aired February 23, 2014. She made it through the appetizer round but was eliminated in the entree round.
Hiep Thi Le movies on Netflix
Worked with
Hiep Thi Le made one film with each of them. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Forest Whitaker's page
Tommy Lee Jones's page
Michael Biehn's page
John Carroll Lynch's page
Reese Witherspoon's page
R. Lee Ermey's page
Roger KumbleDirector, 1 film, 1999
All films by Roger Kumble
All films by Oliver Stone
Timothy Linh BuiDirector, 1 film, 2001
All films by Timothy Linh Bui
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.