Linh Dan Pham


Linh Dan Pham is a Vietnamese-born French actress.

Biography

She was born in Saigon, South Vietnam, but moved with her family to France a year later, just before the capture of Saigon by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces, and grew up in Paris. She has also lived in New York, The Hague, Singapore and Vietnam and now resides in London.
She is known most for her role as an orphan of the Nguyen Dynasty adopted by a French plantation owner in the 1992 Oscar-winning French epic Indochine, starring alongside Catherine Deneuve. Pham received a César nomination for most promising actress for that performance.
Despite appearing in a few other productions afterwards, Pham eventually decided to take a decade off from acting, focusing instead on her studies. She studied commerce and worked as a senior marketing manager in Vietnam after graduation.
In 2000, she married Andrew Huntley, a British investment banker whom she had met while they were both living in Ho Chi Minh City.
She began her return to film when she trained in acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.
In 2005, Pham made a return to acting with her role in the BAFTA and César winning French film The Beat That My Heart Skipped, opposite Romain Duris for which she was nominated again for the most promising actress César award. Her lines are spoken in Vietnamese with a Northern accent, and though many people believe she plays a Chinese character because she is introduced by a Chinese musician friend who knows her from Beijing, in fact she plays a Vietnamese who studied music at the conservatoire in Beijing. In the film her friend claims that she can speak Chinese, Vietnamese and a little English. In reality Pham speaks French, English and Vietnamese fluently.
In that same year Pham appeared on a popular Vietnamese diaspora music variety show where she was honored for her work.
In 2005, Pham moved back to Europe to pursue her acting career. Since then she has appeared in lead or supporting roles mostly in films such as Dante 01, Pars vite et reviens tard, Mr. Nobody, Le Bruit des Gens Autour, Le bal des actrices and Tout ce qui brille.
She starred in her first Vietnamese production when she appeared as Cam in the 2009 film Adrift by the director Bui Thac Chuyen, which won the FIPRESCI award at the 66th Venice International Film Festival. The film deals with social and personal issues in modern-day Vietnam, which are not often portrayed in Vietnamese cinema, such as homosexuality and loneliness. In the film Pham speaks in Vietnamese with a fluent Northern accent.
She had a cameo role in the 2010 The Wachowskis produced action thriller Ninja Assassin, playing an assassin sent to kill the film's hero played by the Korean singer Rain.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleDirectorNotes
1992IndochineCamilleRégis WargnierNominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress
1994JamilaJamilaMonica Teuber
2005Les mauvais joueursLu AnnFrédéric Balekdjian
2005The Beat That My Heart SkippedMiao LinJacques AudiardCésar Award for Most Promising Actress
2006Les hommes de coeurNawinÉdouard MolinaroTV Series
2006Chea SanMathias LutherTV Series
2007Have Mercy on Us AllCamilleRégis Wargnier
2007This Life + 10Me-LinhJoe AhearneTV Movie
2008Dante 01ElisaMarc Caro
2008Le bruit des gens autourThe spectatorDiastème
2009AdriftCâmBui Thac Chuyên
2009Mr. NobodyJeanneJaco Van Dormael
2009Ninja AssassinPretty NinjaJames McTeigue
2009All About ActressesHerselfMaïwenn
2009Pigalle, la nuitSinhHervé HadmarTV Mini-Series
2010Tout ce qui brilleJoanHervé Mimran & Géraldine Nakache
2011De forceAhnFrank Henry
2011The Shape of Art to ComeJulien LevyShort
2012Associés contre le crimeMarie Van DinhPascal Thomas
2012Zombie chériAuroreJérôme GenevrayShort
2013Les yeux fermésClaireJessica Palud
2013The Big Bad WolfLaiNicolas & Bruno
2014Divin EnfantMarieOlivier Doran
2014DépareilléMichaël PierrardShort
2014The InnovatorsMic-MacCarmen ChaplinShort
2014One ChildPan QianyiJohn AlexanderTV Mini-Series
2015The Very Private Life of Mister SimLiamMichel Leclerc
2016UchroniaThe secretaryChristophe Goffette
2018CasualtyAnh TranKaren KellyTV Series
2019Allée des JasminsLoanStéphane Ly-CuongShort
2019Qu'un sang impur...Abdel Raouf DafriPost-Production
2020Faites des gossesMeïPhilippe LefebvreTV Series
Filming
TBABlue BayouParkerJustin ChonPost-production

Theater