Spotlight on Dustin Nguyen

By Jenni Trang Le

Growing up biculturally in America is a beautiful thing, a fortunate thing, and at times, a struggle you cannot articulate.  And then one fateful day, you turn on your television set and watch a program about undercover cops who infiltrate the high school system and you see an Asian face.  You push aside thoughts of Christian Slater and Mark-Paul Gosselaar to make way for a new crush: Officer Ioki.  As the credits roll, your heart stops as your brain reads: Dustin Nguyen… he’s Vietnamese?! And so, for the first time in this American girl’s fantasy world, there was an Asian man.

In 2005’s Visual Communications Film Festival, members of the theatre troupe, Cold Tofu, sang a rendition of the famous 1977 hit single, “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas and changed the lyrics to croon, “all we are is Dustin Nguyen…”  Yes, indeed.

Dustin started his cinematic journey in his twenties, but originally wanted to be a director, not an actor.  “When I was rejected by UCLA’s film school, a series of events put me on the actor’s path.  That rejection was painful at the time, but turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me,” Dustin confides.  Although both his parents were entertainers back in the motherland, it took a while for them to come around to Dustin’s career choice.  But he stayed true and focused.

ViFF 2009 would like to spotlight Dustin Nguyen not only for his achievement in acting in such varied roles as “Jonny,” a heroin dealer looking for a second chance, in Little Fish (2005), “Sy,” a villain with an even darker past, in The Rebel (2006), “Troy,” an Asian American actor who wants quality roles in a stereotypical industry, in Finishing the Game (2007), “Kim,” a Viet Kieu director coming back to Viet Nam to make a name for himself, and most recently, “Long,” a victim of Agent Orange who learned to kick ass at an early age and finds himself on a happenstance quest to save a young girl’s innocence in The Legend is Alive (2009). ViFF would also like to recognize Dustin for always pushing the envelope of what Hollywood perceives is a Vietnamese Actor.  Dustin won a Canh Dieu Vang (Golden Kite) Award for Best Male Leading Actor in this year’s awards for memorable his role in The Legend is Alive.

This year’s festival will screen Little Fish, a feature film starring such Australian heavy-hitters as Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, and Sam Neill and is directed by Rowan Woods.  The film is set in Little Saigon of Sydney, Australia, and Dustin trained for months on his accent as well as immersed himself solely into the character of a man whose world of drugs collides in a car accident that changes his life forever.  Several underwater motifs in the film show how suffocated the characters feel, as they struggle to overcome economic frustrations and emotional binds post-addiction.  Dustin’s complex performance as “Jonny” takes your breath away and his silences color each scene with a deeper level of thought.  The chemistry between Cate and Dustin is raw and real, and the shower love scene is refreshingly sensual and intense.

Aside from his roles in front of the camera, Dustin has always had a hand off-camera.  In one of the more famous “21 Jump Street” episodes, “Christmas in Saigon,” it is discovered that Officer Ioki is actually a Vietnamese immigrant who took on an alias in order to have a better chance at getting a coveted spot at the police academy.  Considering how the show had aired between 1987-1990, this topic was quite progressive.  The episode tells of Ioki’s past through a series of flashbacks, even reenacting the moment when his family tries to escape Viet Nam via boat.  “That show was ahead of its time for sure.  It came about because the producers found out I was Vietnamese after they cast me.  The role was written in a non-race-specific nature.  So, they approached me about integrating the Vietnamese aspect of it into my character.  I resisted it at first because I felt it would be too predictable and cliché just because I am Vietnamese.  But when they pitched me the episode story, and enlisted me to help write it to ensure its humanity, I felt it was worthwhile.  And in the end I think many people loved that episode.  Filming it was a little unsettling because it felt too close to home.  I felt very “naked” emotionally.  But it was done with much sensitivity from the producers of the show - and it showed.”

Dustin is “very excited about the very small wave of Vietnamese American filmmakers making interesting films in the past year or so and the small movement of Vietnamese cinema that’s happening right now in Viet Nam.  These filmmakers are finding ways to make films that they want to make, [having] more control of their artistic visions and working outside the Hollywood system. I applaud them.”  Dustin speaks passionately of the “Viet Film Wave” - the new moniker for this generation of diasporic Vietnamese filmmakers who have earned a place in cinematic history by supporting each other’s storytelling.  Dustin has worked with Vietnamese diasporic directors, such as Charlie Nguyen on The Rebel and Luu Huynh on The Legend is Alive, and is constantly working on new scripts and projects to keep the wave flowing.

ViFF is a venue where community and art connect in a way that undoubtedly inspires and lights fires in an inter-generational, groundbreaking way.  “I’m a big fan of Ysa and all her staff at ViFF,” Dustin says with a smile.  “It’s the only one of its kind where Vietnamese filmmakers can show their work.  It’s extremely vital.  I hope it will continue to encourage the community, specifically Vietnamese, to come out and support the arts, which to me is an important aspect of any culture.”

Dustin Nguyen has always been a symbol of hope for Vietnamese artists everywhere and he continues to look forward to the future with optimism.  As for all the challenges that face him both personally and professionally, it is what puts even more soul into those deep, dark eyes.  And the rest is dust in the wind…