Meritorious Artist Le Van in his youth. Photo: TL
“Ha Thanh Beauty” and the roles of a lifetime
Meritorious Artist Le Van was born in 1958 in a family with a tradition of making art. Her father is People’s Artist Tran Tien, mother is Meritorious Artist Le Mai, and her uncle is Meritorious Artist Le Chuc. Below her are two younger sisters who are also active in the field of art and are famous artists, including: People’s Artist Le Khanh and dancer Le Vi.
From a young age, all three sisters Le Van, Le Khanh and Le Vi showed their innate artistic talent. Initially, Le Van was a dancer but she suddenly turned to cinema.
Meritorious Artist Le Van in a movie. Photos from the movie
With a series of diverse roles, Le Van made his acting mark through classic works in Vietnam such as: “Chom and Sa (1978)”; “Roads (1979)”; “Mother Earth (1980)”; “Sister Dau (1981)”; “Boy Mane (1987)”; “Distant Love (1988)”; “Long Tri Festival Night (1989)”; “The Oath (1996)”…
The notable role in Meritorious Artist Le Van’s acting career is the role of a young wife who lost her husband in the movie “When Until October”. This is also the role of a lifetime for Meritorious Artist Le Van. With her professional acting ability, Meritorious Artist Le Van recreated the image of Duyen, the perfect embodiment of the typical virtues of Vietnamese women: kindness, loyalty, and sacrifice. It was this role that brought her the Golden Lotus Award for “Best Actress” at the Vietnam Film Festival in 1985. This is also the role that the female artist is most satisfied with.
Meritorious Artist Le Van in the movie Ever Until October. Photo from the movie
Talking about this emotional role, Meritorious Artist Le Van confided: “When acting, I didn’t realize where the boundary was between real life and movie life.”
“Long Tri Festival Night” is considered the most successful historical film in Vietnamese cinema to date. The work is based on the novel of the same name by author Nguyen Huy Tuong, divided into 2 volumes titled “Proposal” and “Retribution”.
The film is set in the context of a society in a period of decomposition and decline. Lord Trinh Sam (The Anh) monopolizes Tuyen Phi Dang Thi Hue (Le Van) and seeks to seize power, tolerating his younger brother Dang Lan’s actions. Can.
Meritorious Artist Le Van in the movie Long Tri Festival Night. Photos from the movie
In the film, director Hai Ninh boldly put the scene of Tuyen Phi Dang Thi Hue seducing Trinh Sam on the screen, creating a “unique” hot scene that shocked Vietnamese screens at that time.
Accordingly, when she learned that Trinh Sam was coming to visit, Dang Thi Hue had a daring “bath” to seduce the king (performed by stuntwoman Le Van). In addition, the film also has many hot love scenes between Trinh Sam and Dang Thi Hue.
In 1995, when he was at the peak of his career, Meritorious Artist Le Van suddenly announced his retirement and went into hiding. During this time, the female artist kept everything related to her personal life private, hardly interacting with the media or appearing in the press.
The difficult love of Meritorious Artist Le Van
In 2006, Le Van suddenly released his autobiography “Le Van: Love and Life”. The book quickly became a topic of discussion and controversy with not only the public but also Meritorious Artist Le Van’s family. In the book, the female artist shares extremely candidly about her and her family’s difficult childhood life; Conflicts in marriage between parents and a stormy love life with 3 marriages.
When asked about the purpose that made her decide to write the book, Meritorious Artist Le Van said that she had no intention of “showing people her back”, she considered this an opportunity for her to share, confide and professedly. Despite the controversy caused by the autobiography, Meritorious Artist Le Van affirmed that, thanks to the book, she felt more at peace and understood her family better.
Meritorious Artist Le Van has found a peaceful destination in her third marriage. Photo: GĐXH
Through the autobiography, the public learns more about the love life of Meritorious Artist Le Van. She had a total of 3 relationships, including 2 unhappy marriages. Le Van’s first marriage only lasted 14 days.
Meritorious Artist Le Van revealed in his autobiography: “At that time, people did not give houses to single people. At that moment, I was bored with life so I told him okay, if as he said, in order to create conditions for people to distribute houses to you, you and I will register our marriage, but you should never think about this. That marriage certificate is binding on me. I only did it so you could ask for a house.” But Meritorious Artist Le Van soon realized that she had no feelings for her first husband and then she was the one who proactively made the decision to divorce.
In her second marriage, she married a Vietnamese-French man who had a wife and three children of his own. However, because their feelings gradually faded and they had no children together, after 10 years of living together, she and her second husband decided to “go their separate ways”.
Meritorious Artist Le Van currently resides abroad. Photo: Photo: GĐXH
It was only when she met and married her third husband, a Dutchman named Abraham, that Meritorious Artist Le Van officially found a place of perfect happiness. The couple has two children together and settled abroad.
In 2019, when interviewed, Meritorious Artist Le Van shared that she felt satisfied being a “normal person” and no one recognized her. She leads a quiet, peaceful life with her family and often does charity work with friends.
When talking about the meaning of happiness, Meritorious Artist Le Van said: “Previously, I did not believe in the word happiness because I was “confined” to the extremely narrow scope of a couple. Up to now, I have realized that the meaning of happiness is much greater when you know how to love and share.”
