Kathleen Luong (November 13, 1974 – October 28, 2020) was a

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...

actress and model. She is usually credited as Katie Luong. Luong was born in

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

. In 1979 her family left

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, and sailed to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. They immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and eventually settled in

Orange County, CA Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

where Katie was raised. Luong's first work in television was during her high school years when she was offered a job to appear in a Vietnamese karaoke video. After starring in a few music videos, she fell in love with acting and being in front of the camera. Her first of 15 television and film credits was a 1996 appearance in an episode of the television series ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bonann, ...

'', followed by one-off appearances in '' 2 Days in the Valley', '' JAG'', ''

The Magnificent Seven ''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay by William Roberts is a remake – in an Old West–style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself initially relea ...

'' and ''

Threat Matrix ''Threat Matrix'' is an American drama television series created by Daniel Voll that aired on ABC from September 18, 2003 to January 29, 2004 which lasted 16 episodes. The plot consisted of the events in a United States Homeland Security anti-t ...

'', along with film roles in '' Green Dragon'', ''

Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the ...

'', ''Missing Brendan'' and '' In Search of a Midnight Kiss'' (2007), her last credited role. In her later years, Katie opened Katie's Munchies in

Westminster, CA Westminster is a city in northern Orange County, California, known for its many Vietnamese refugees who immigrated to the city during the 1980s. They settled largely in Little Saigon, and the city is known as the "capital" of overseas Vietnames ...

serving mostly local high school students. Luong died of cancer on October 28, 2020. She was 45 years old.

References

External links

* 1975 births 2020 deaths People from Ho Chi Minh City 20th-century Vietnamese actresses Vietnamese emigrants to the United States American film actresses Vietnamese film actresses {{US-tv-actor-1970s-stub