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Dustin Nguyen
Born	Nguyễn Xuân Trí Saigon,South Vietnam
Nationality	Vietnam  United States
Occupations	Actor filmmaker martial artist
Years active	1985–present
Spouses	Angela Rockwood ​ ​ (m. 2001; div. 2012)​ Bebe Pham ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	4[1]

Dustin Nguyen (bornNguyễn Xuân Trí) is aVietnamese–American actor and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Harry Truman Ioki on21 Jump Street and as Johnny Loh onV.I.P.^[2] Recently, he starred as Zing in theCinemax/Maxmartial artscrime drama seriesWarrior. In film, he is known for starring inLittle Fish,The Doom Generation andThe Rebel.^[3]

Nguyen was born Nguyễn Xuân Trí inSaigon,South Vietnam, and was one of two sons in his family.^[4] His mother, My Le, was an actress and dancer, and his father, Xuân Phát, was an actor, comedian, writer, and producer in Vietnam.^[5] The family left Vietnam in April 1975 during thefall of Saigon.^[6]

In his teens, his family arrived inGuam as refugees, and then the family was moved to a refugee camp inFort Chaffee,Arkansas. Finally with the assistance of aMethodist church they relocated toDes Peres, Missouri, a suburb ofSt. Louis.^[6][4] The21 Jump Street season 2 episode "Christmas in Saigon", which first aired in December 1987, is based in his experiences escaping Vietnam and eventually arriving in the United States; Nguyen also served as atechnical advisor in the episode.

Nguyen graduated fromGarden Grove High School inGarden Grove, California, he attendedOrange Coast College^[2] and majored incommunications but later dropped out to pursue acting full time.^[4]

Nguyen practices several martial arts includingMuay Thai,Tae Kwon Do,Eskrima, andJeet Kune Do.^[6]

He made his acting debut onMagnum, P.I., portraying a Cambodian freedom fighter in the episode "All For One." He was a series regular on both21 Jump Street andVIP, and has guest-starred on a number of other series, includingGeneral Hospital,Highlander, and most notablyseaQuest DSV, playing the role ofChief William Shan. Moreover, he had a cameo role inCharlie's Angels. Nguyen also auditioned for the role of Liu Kang inMortal Kombat, but lost out toRobin Shou.^[7] In 1993 he played a Vietnamese man sent off to fight with the Viet Cong, in the filmHeaven & Earth. In 2005, Nguyen starred as a former heroin addict opposite Academy Award-winnerCate Blanchett in the critically acclaimedLittle Fish.^[8] He starred in the 2007 filmsThe Rebel andSaigon Eclipse. In 2008 he starred in the Vietnamese martial art filmHuyen Thoai Bat Tu (The Legend Is Alive, The Immortal Legend)^[9] where he plays a mentally disabled martial artist. Nguyen screened in 2009 the thrillerThe Gauntlet directed byMatt Eskandari; he stars with Chinese actressBai Ling. He made a small cameo in22 Jump Street as Vietnamese Jesus.^[10]

Nguyen continues to act and make films in Vietnam full-time. He made his feature directorial debut in the Vietnamese fantasy filmOnce Upon a Time in Vietnam, in which he also starred. He then starred in the Vietnamese filmGentle that premiered at the 2015 Busan International Film Festival where he received strong reception for his performance.^[11]

He was cast in Cinemax'sWarrior in a recurring role before he officially joined the main cast in season two of the series.^[12]

Nguyen also was cast inThe Accidental Getaway Driver which premiered at the2023 Sundance Film Festival.^[13]

After a car accident late at night that occurred on September 3, 2001, on California's Interstate 5 Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles during a Labor Day weekend which left his fiancée,Angela Rockwood, aparaplegic, Nguyen and Rockwood became active inThe Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center. The accident also claimed the life of Vietnamese actressThuy Trang, a member of the original cast ofMighty Morphin Power Rangers as the original Yellow Ranger, Trini. He and Rockwood divorced in 2012.

Nguyen is based in Vietnam full-time. In 2012, he married Vietnamese actress-modelBebe Pham with whom he has four daughters.

He is fluent in English and Vietnamese.

• A Tourist's Guide to Love (2023)– Consulting Producer^{[15][citation needed]}
• The Amazing Race Vietnam 2012 (2012) – Himself
• CinemAbility (2011) (filming) – Himself
• 2007 AZN Asian Excellence Awards (2007) – Himself
• The Slanted Screen (2006) – Himself
• E! True Hollywood Story – Himself (1 episode, 2004)
• Howard Stern – Himself (4 episodes, 1999)
• The Howard Stern Radio Show – Himself (2 episodes, 1999)
• Intimate Portrait – Himself (1 episode)

In March 2009, Nguyen won the Vietnamese Cánh Diều Vàng (Golden Kite Award) for best actor, for his starring role in thePhuoc Sang Films vehicleHuyền Thoại Bất Tử (The Legend Is Alive).^[16][17]For the same role, that year he won a Golden Lotus Award (Vietnam's Oscar) for Best Actor. He also won China'sGolden Rooster Award for Best International Actor at China's Golden Rooster and Thousand Flowers International Film Festival 2009.

In 2015, at the Milan International Film Festival, Dustin won the Leonardo da Vinci Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor in the Vietnamese filmGentle; an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky'sA Gentle Creature.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toDustin Nguyen.

• Dustin Nguyen atIMDb
• Lisa Lee (July 7, 2006)."No 'Little Fish'".AsianWeek.com. Archived fromthe original on October 16, 2007. RetrievedJanuary 17, 2008.
• Allan Donnelly (March 2002)."V.I.P moves are no Hollywood make-believe". Men's Fitness. RetrievedJanuary 17, 2008.
• "Dustin's destiny".Nguoi Viet Daily News. March 1, 2007. Archived fromthe original on August 5, 2009. RetrievedJuly 30, 2009.

• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
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• Male actors from Ho Chi Minh City
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• American male taekwondo practitioners
• Vietnamese male taekwondo practitioners
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• Male actors from St. Louis
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• Vietnamese male television actors
• Vietnamese male film actors
• American actors of Vietnamese descent
• Male actors of Vietnamese descent
• 21st-century Vietnamese male actors
• 20th-century Vietnamese male actors
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