Teaching Artist

Born in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam in 1968 as Le Thien Toan, he later adopted the names Tony Lee in 1985 upon entering acting and Tony Le-Nguyen in 1995 upon transitioning to directing. Le-Nguyen pursued Television production techniques at RMIT, Melbourne in 1989, earning his Bachelor’s degree in Drama Arts and Community Development in 1998, and a Graduate Diploma of Education from Victoria University two years later.

Presently, he founded The Drama Lab, a research centre for drama in education in Vietnam, amassing extensive experience over three decades in acting, playwriting, directing, producing, and teaching. He taught drama at Caroline Chisholm College, Melbourne for over ten years and in Vietnam for eight years since 2013. Le-Nguyen made his stage debut in Australia in 1986, later performing with the Victoria State Opera and gaining recognition for his role alongside Russell Crowe in the 1992 film “Romper Stomper.” He established the Australian Vietnamese Youth Media (AVYM) Group in 1994, securing funding for productions like “Running in Circles.” He received acclaim for various community productions and became the first Vietnamese recipient of an Arts Council of Australia Community Development Fellowship in 2000. Since then, he has lectured and taught internationally, notably in the US, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, where he has conducted workshops and talks for numerous institutions and organizations since 2013.