Biography
Tony Le-Nguyen was born in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam in 1968 with the name Le Thien Toan and changed his name to Tony Lee as he began working as an actor in 1985 and finally changed his name to Tony Le-Nguyen in 1995 as he began working as a director.
Tony Le Nguyen began touring Australia in 1986 with actress Maria Coustas, Handspan Theater, in the play "A Change of Face" by director Carmelina di Guglielmo. In 1990-1992 he worked with the Victoria State Opera, acting in “Madama Butterfly” and “Titus” at TheaterWorks directed by David Pledger and Robert Draffin.
Tony Le-Nguyen studied Television Productions Techniques at RMIT, Melbourne In 1989 and completed his Bachelor's degree (Drama Arts and Community Development) 1998 and a Graduate Diploma of Education from Victoria University in 2000.
He is best known for his role as "Tiger" opposite actor Russell Crowe in the 1992 film Romper Stomper directed by Geoffrey Wright. He has also appeared in many other Australian television episodes including: “Stingers, SeaChange, Raw FM, GP, Fast Forward, All Together Now, Embassy, Secrets, The Damnation of Harvey McHugh, Paradise Beach, English at Work and Australia Most Wanted”.
In May 1994, he founded the AVYM (Australian Vietnamese Youth Media) Group with the support of David Everist at the Footscray Community Arts Centre. The AVYM group received its first funding from the Queens Trust Australia in 1995 to produce the first version of the play "Running Around", which he himself wrote and directed. In 1996, it received funding from the Arts Council of Australia and the Sidney Myer Foundation to recreate version 2 "Running Around" in a larger and more professional way at Napier Street Theatre, South Melbourne. And in 1998, he was invited by Urban Theater Projects to recreate the 3rd version of "Running Around" in Sydney. In addition to the above works, Tony Le-Nguyen has directed and produced professional community productions such as “A Time of Our Lives” at St Martins Youth Theater and Flemington community centre.
In 1996, he was invited to co-direct "World's Apart" with Gary McKechnie, a short drama about the generational conflict in a Vietnamese family in Australia. It was first shown on Australian television station SBS in December 1997.
In 1997 - 1998, he staged "Now I Lay Me Down" by Frank Ottis at La Mama theater and "Taboo", at the Next Wave Festival. In 2001 Tony Le-Nguyen was the Author and Producer of the play "Aussie Bia Om". In 1997 and 2000, he was one of the directors for the Maribyrnong Festival.
In 2000, he was the first Vietnamese to be awarded a Community Development Fellowship by the Arts Council of Australia to study popular arts around the world. Since then, he has been invited to teach and give lectures in many places in Australia, USA, Canada, Italy and Hong Kong.
In 2005, he produced "Children of the Dragon" at Trades Hall and in 2008 he produced "Silence" at La Mama Theater in Melbourne.
