Damien Nguyen [p.2]

shores, we are sold as indentured servants to pay off our debt for the trip. I’m caught up in love with Bai Ling’s character, but come to understand that it can never be. So I make my final journey to Texas to find my father played by Nick Nolte, to find out why he left my mother and me so long ago.

NHA: How did you get involved with The Beautiful Country?

DN: As a struggling actor, you just don’t have a lot of choices in the roles that you play. This project came along and I was fortunate enough to be chosen for the part. I did have to go to the audition and meet with the director on several occasions to convince him that I was the right guy for the job.

NHA: Perseverance paid off for you. How was it working with heavyweights like Nick Nolte, Tim Roth, and Bai Ling? What was the atmosphere on the set like?

DN: Working with Nick, Tim, and Bai was great. They all were very generous with their time, advice, and support. They all helped me in their own special way to bring the character of Bình to life. Working with them was always a new adventure every day. You just didn’t know what was going to happen.

NHA: In previous interviews, you mentioned a quiet strength that your character projected in the film. How much do you (Damien Nguyen) relate to your character Bình?

DN: The quiet strength that my character Bình possesses is a rare quality that you just don’t see in average people in everyday life. He has that rare spirit that if you are lucky enough to come across it you consider yourself very fortunate to know this person, if only for a short while. I wish I could say that I was very much like Bình, but I suffer too from the trappings in life. I get impatient. Sometimes, I get angry in traffic. And sometimes I’m petty. I wish I could be more like Bình and share his strength.

NHA: What has being in The Beautiful Country taught you?

DN: Being in the film has shown me how fortunate I am to live the life that I have. There are so many people in the world that suffer so much on a regular basis. We have so much. Sometimes it’s hard to keep perspective on that, because we live in a society that always wants more, a society of consumerism.

NHA: You were born in Viet Nam and left at the age of 3. Your Vietnamese in the film was flawless. Did you have a speech coach? 

DN: Thank you for complimenting my Vietnamese [laughs]. I thought my Vietnamese was okay. And yes, I did work a lot with a speech coach. I didn’t have to learn the whole language but the director was adamant that I try to get the pronunciation of the words as authentic as possible. He assigned me a speech coach, and I’d spend hours every day just having conversations with people on the streets and such to build on that.

NHA: For this movie, filming locations were New York, Texas, and Viet Nam. Had you been back to Viet Nam before? What was the experience like for you? Did it change your acting in any way?

DN: This was my first time back in Viet Nam since I was a child. At first, I was very hesitant to be there. I was very afraid of not being able to acclimate to being in Viet Nam, and it showed in the character I was playing, making the character not believable. But after a couple of weeks I got past that and it became one of the best experiences of my life, personally and professionally. Being in Viet Nam was completely necessary for me to play Bình, and allowed me to give him a life that couldn’t have happened anywhere else.

NHA: The number of films made by Vietnamese American directors and producers has increased significantly in the last few years. Vietnamese American actors are also gaining tremendous support from the community. VIFF (Vietnamese International Film Festival) is now a biennial event. Have you been involved with VIFF in the past? Do you plan to work with Vietnamese Diaspora filmmakers?

DN: I haven’t been involved with the VIFF community in the past and was not aware of them until you just mentioned it in this interview. As far as working with any filmmaker in the future, I think it will depend on the quality of the project and story.

NHA: Does being Vietnamese American affect your acting career in any way?

DN: Being in this profession is very difficult, and being a Vietnamese American is even that more difficult. The quantity and quality of roles for ethnic actors are very limited. But I think that’s slowly beginning to change.

NHA: You mentioned that The Beautiful Country gave you new perspectives on being Vietnamese American and on life in general. Can you elaborate on that? 

DN: Being in the movie has opened my horizons. I’ve been able to travel abroad to film festivals and do press junkets. I’ve met people from all over the world who have shared their thoughts about the movie, and all these experiences I will always hold dear to me in my heart.