Vietnamese-Australian Teaching Artist
Originally named Le Thien Toan, Tony Le Nguyen was born in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, in 1968. He began his acting career under the name Tony Lee in 1985 before transitioning to directing in 1995 and adopting the name Tony Le Nguyen.
In 1989, Le Nguyen studied Television Production Techniques at RMIT in Melbourne. He subsequently earned a Bachelor’s degree in Drama Arts and Community Development in 1998 and a Graduate Diploma of Education from Victoria University in 2000.
Currently, Le Nguyen is Vice President of the Melbourne Living Museum of the West. He is also the Program Development Mentor for the GreenViet Biodiversity Conservation Centre in Vietnam and the founder of The Drama Lab, a research centre for drama in education in Vietnam. With over three decades of experience, he has made significant contributions to the arts as an actor, playwright, director, producer, and teacher. He taught drama and humanities subjects for 10 years from 2008 at Caroline Chisholm College in Melbourne, Australia, and has been teaching drama and life skills in Vietnam since 2013.
Le Nguyen made his Australian stage debut in 1986 with actress Maria Coustas and Handspan Theatre in “A Change of Face”, directed by Carmelina di Guglielmo. From 1990 to 1992, he performed with the Victoria State Opera in “Madama Butterfly” and “Titus” at TheaterWorks under the direction of David Pledger and Robert Draffin.
He is widely recognized for his role as “Tiger” alongside Russell Crowe in the 1992 film “Romper Stomper”, directed by Geoffrey Wright. He has also appeared in numerous Australian television shows, 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’s Most Wanted”. Le Nguyen has mentored numerous well-known Vietnamese-Australian artists, including
Khoa Do, HaiHa Le, Hoa Pham, and Dominic Hong Duc Golding.
In May 1994, Le Nguyen founded the Australian Vietnamese Youth Media (AVYM) Group at the Footscray Community Arts Centre. In 1995, the group received funding from Queen’s Trust Australia to create “Running in Circles”. The following year, he secured additional funding from the Arts Council of Australia and the Sidney Myer Foundation to present a professional rendition of “Running in Circles” at the Napier
Street Theatre in South Melbourne. In 1998, Urban Theatre Projects commissioned Le Nguyen to direct a new interpretation of the play in Sydney.
Le Nguyen continued his career with various community and professional productions, including the highly acclaimed “A Time of Our Lives” at St Martin’s Youth Theatre and Flemington Community Centre. He co-directed the pioneering Vietnamese drama “Worlds Apart”, which aired on SBS Television in Australia. Le Nguyen directed “Now I Lay Me Down” by Frank Ottis at La Mama Theatre and co-directed “Taboo”. He
co-wrote and produced the play “Aussie Bia Om”, presented at the Next Wave Festival, and directed a segment of the Maribyrnong Festival. Additionally, he produced “Children of the Dragon” at Trades Hall in 2005 and “Silence” in 2008 at La Mama Theatre in Melbourne.
In December 2024, Le Nguyen was inducted into the Multicultural Honour Roll by the Victorian Multicultural Commission. In 2000, Le Nguyen became the first Vietnamese-Australian awarded an Arts Council of Australia Community Development Fellowship to study the Vietnamese diaspora worldwide. Since then, he has been invited to lecture and teach in the US, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. Since late 2013, he has been delivering talks, drama workshops, and soft skills training for various schools and organizations, including the HCM City Dance School, HCM City Theatre, Quoc Thao Theatre, Erato School of Music & Performing Arts, KOTO Vietnam, FPT University, Hoa Sen University, Fulbright University, RMIT University Vietnam, Da Nang University, Can Tho Disability Association, Black Box Hanoi, Arttown, Ecopark Vietnam, TH School Hanoi, Hanoi Steiner School, and Sentia Primary School Hanoi.