Nguyễn Thị Anh Thư (born April 26, 1982) commonly known by her

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Anh Thư, she known as one of the icons of

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

and

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ** Filmmaking, the process of making a film * Movie theate ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

in the 2000s. She was dubbed "''The First Vedette of the 2000s''". Not only that, she is the first model in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

to successfully build the image of a versatile model. Her career is described as "''glorious''" with many outstanding achievements in both fields. In 2013, she began to gradually reduce her activities to take care of her family. It was not until 2022 that she returned to the stage with many new roles. However, in 2024, she continued to reduce her activities to do

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

Career

The pinnacle of career

She started her career while still in

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

. In 2000, she won the runner-up prize of Miss ''Nguyễn Hiền'' High School. In the same year, the school sent her to participate in the ''Giọt mực tím dễ thương'' (Cute purple ink drops) organized by the City Youth Union and the Youth Cultural House and won the "Giọt mực tím dễ thương thứ ba" prize (i.e. the second Runner-up) and the Miss Hazeline award from the sponsor, becoming the representative face of Hazeline. After that, she participated in

Miss Vietnam Miss Vietnam (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''Hoa hậu Việt Nam'') is the oldest and most prestigious Beauty pageant#National and international pageants, national beauty contest in Vietnam, that has been held biennially since Miss Vietnam 19 ...

2000 organized by Tiền Phong newspaper and reached the top 22. A year later, she participated in the Miss Vietnam Photogenic 2001 contest organized by Women's World newspaper and reached the top 10, along with award: ''Most Favorite Beauty award voted'' and ''Miss Civic White'', and also became the representative model of the Vera brand. Anh Thư first ventured into acting when director Hồ Ngọc Xum invited her to star in his TV series "''Sương gió biên thùy''" (2002), which received a nomination in the Golden Kite category for TV dramas in 2002. In 2002, modeling in

was still new and prejudiced, not yet recognized as a profession by the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

and was only considered a supporting role in art programs, such as '' Charming Vietnam Gala'', ''Huế Festival'', Anh Thư became the first

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

and the second model in history to appear in a national TVC officially when she was chosen as the main advertising model for

Ajinomoto is a Japanese multinational food and biotechnology corporation which produces seasonings, cooking oils, frozen food Freezing food Food preservation, preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farm ...

and then became an ambassador for many other brands and programs. Even before that, in 1999, she and

Ngô Thanh Vân Ngô Thanh Vân (born 26 February 1979), also known as Veronica Ngô or by her initials NTV, is a Vietnamese actress and singer. Early life and education Ngô Thanh Vân was born on 26 February 1979 in Trà Vinh, Vietnam. She is the youngest ...

co-starred in a TVC for the campaign to launch the ''Sirius'' line of motorbikes in the Vietnamese market of the

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

brand, but at that time, Thanh Vân was working as a

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and had not yet worked as a model, so she was the first

to be recorded in a nationally televised commercial. By 2003, Anh Thư continued to participate in advertising campaigns and TVCs for Acecook and Enchanteur. Her influence along with other big names in the fashion industry such as designers Minh Hạnh, Sỹ Hoàng, Đức Hùng, ... models

Trương Ngọc Ánh Trương or Truong is a Vietnamese surname. Individuals with the surname Trương make up approximately 2.2% of the population and rank eighth on the list of the most common surnames in Vietnam. They are primarily of Kinh ethnicity (Vietnamese p ...

, Vũ Cẩm Nhung, Ngô Mỹ Uyên, Ngọc Thúy, ... created conditions for the establishment of official catwalks dedicated to models, such as: ''Vietnam Fashion Week'', ''Fashion and Life'', ''Fashion and Passion'', ''Đẹp Fashion Show''. After 3 years of successful activities and making her mark as a pioneering commercial model in the modeling industry, along with the formation of mainstream fashion shows, Anh Thư began to focus on developing a high

career. She appeared more and more on major domestic shows, and reached her peak when she took on the lead role in the movie "'' Long-legged Girls''" (2004). On November 7, 2004, ''Long-Legged Girls'' won the Silver Lotus Award at the 14th Vietnam Film Festival, which was also the first time a film by a private company participated in the

Vietnam Film Festival The Vietnam Film Festival (Vietnamese: Liên hoan phim Việt Nam), founded in 1970, is a domestic film festival of Vietnam. It is considered as the major event of Vietnamese cinema with awards for numerous categories ranging from feature film t ...

and won an award. A resounding commercial success, the film became a milestone that brought Anh Thư's name to the spotlight, recognized as the most successful and highest-paid model of the 2000s. She appeared frequently in many famous major magazines such as Cinema Theater, Marketing and Family, Fine Arts,

Beauty Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes them pleasure, pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, art and taste are the main subjects of aesthetics, one of the fie ...

, Women's World, Women's World, Sports World and Men. On January 29, 2005, Anh Thư won Golden Apricot Award 2004 for Actress in Film and Television, becoming the first

in history to be honored at a national film award. Her success consolidated and created a great influence on the movement of models acting in films later on, followed by faces such as Bằng Lăng,

Thanh Hằng Thanh Hằng, real name Phạm Thị Thanh Hằng (born 22 July 1983) is a Vietnamese actress, supermodel and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the most successful Vietnamese model from 2012 to 2019, thus being usually called ''The First Vedett ...

, Trang Trần. Two days later, at the Model of the Year awards ceremony organized by

Thanh Niên ''Thanh Niên'' ( Vietnamese: ''Báo Thanh Niên'' "Young People's Newspaper") is a Ho Chi Minh City-based newspaper in Vietnam. It was the second most circulated newspaper in Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietna ...

Fashion Club, she received two awards for best model and most favorite model voted by fashion enthusiasts and audiences nationwide, bringing her a hat-trick of awards with the fastest record of being awarded, in just 3 days, until it was broken by singer

Mỹ Tâm Phan Thị Mỹ Tâm (born 16 January 1981 in Da Nang), commonly known as Mỹ Tâm, is a Vietnamese singer and songwriter. She is one of the most successful Vietnamese singers for two decades (2000s and 2010s), the most popular Vietnamese ...

with 3 consecutive music awards at the 2011 Green Wawe Awards, however, as a female model and actress in particular, she is still the only one holding this record until now. During the golden age of her career, Anh Thư's image was not only covered in

newspapers A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

magazines A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

, and

shows, but also on banners, advertising campaigns, and major TVCs at that time. She was a pioneer in opening the era of exclusive advertising between models and brands that developed strongly in

. She was often considered one of the iconic fashion models invited to appear in the first generation of advertisements. Anh Thư works as a brand ambassador for all three famous cosmetics and skin care brands belonging to the multinational Unilever system:

Pond's Pond's is an English brand of beauty and health care products, currently owned by Unilever. History Pond's Cream was invented in the United States as a patent medicine by pharmacist Theron T. Pond (1800–1852) of Utica, New York, in 1846. M ...

Lux The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the irradiance, as perceived by ...

Sunsilk Sunsilk is a British hair care brand produced by the company Unilever. The brand was introduced in 1954 in the UK and available in most countries globally. History Sunsilk was launched in the United Kingdom in 1954. and in the same year it ...

, participating in Lux's cross-

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

trade promotion advertising campaign with Thai

supermodel A supermodel is a highly paid fashion model who has a worldwide reputation and background in ''haute couture'' and commercial modeling. The term became popular in the 1990s. Supermodels usually work for prominent fashion designers and clothin ...

Marsha Vadhanapanich Marion Ursula Marsha Vadhanapanich (; ; born 24 August 1970) is a Thai pop singer, model and actress. Early life and education Vadhanapanich was born in West Germany to a Thai Chinese father and a German mother. In 1986, Vadhanapanich graduate ...

, and is also the representative face for

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

, Anlene,

,... Her family's model management company, Professional Look, is also the agency with the largest number of exclusive models in the country, leading in the number of exclusive contracts at that time. After the "Long-legged Girls", Anh Thư accepted the invitation to star alongside actor

Bình Minh Bình Minh is a town of Vĩnh Long Province, in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Under the decree No 89/NQ-CP dated Dec 28, 2012, the cabinet of Vietnam SR decided to upgrade Bình Minh of Vĩnh Long to town from rural district. The area of B� ...

in the short film called "''Nửa phía bên kia''" by veteran director Le Hoàng Hoa. The completed film is considered the premise for his favorite project, "''The Ghost of Hui Family Returns''", a follow-up to the success of the hit film "'' The Ghost of Hui Family''" (1973) from decades ago. However, he died while the project was still in its gestation stage. In 2006, the Golden Rose Awards were held to honor the achievements of young

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

in the fields of

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

including

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

. Anh Thư won the Best Model category. In the same year, she starred in two works: the movie ''Truong Ba's Soul'', ''Butcher's Skin'' (2006) by Nguyễn Quang Dũng and the TV series '' Tropical Snow'' (2006) by

Vũ Ngọc Đãng Vũ ( 武) or Võ is a common Vietnamese surname that, through genealogy records, has been present in Vietnam since the 9th century. The Vũ surname originates from general Wǔ Hún (武浑) of the Tang Dynasty in Imperial China who was appointed ...

. Rooted in a muddy, stagnant land and exploited in the direction of idol dramas with the main inspiration of fairy tales of love in everyday life, "Tropical Snow" has attracted many audiences from young to old and has become one of the small screen fever phenomena in 2006, bringing M&T Pictures a Silver Kite in the category of long-running dramas organized by the Vietnam Cinema Association VCA for the 5th time. At the same time, Anh Thư received two nominations in the category of film and television actress of the year at the Mai Vang Awards and the category of most favorite leading actress at the HTV Awards. Having worked closely with the director of the film "''Mouse''" (Chuột) through two famous films recognized by the academic community, Anh Thư is often called the first muse of Vũ Ngọc Đãng. In 2007, Anh Thư returned to the big screen with the classic "'' Muoi: The Legend of a Portrait''", co-starring with

and Hồng Ánh. This was the first horror film in

after 1975, and was the first shot that opened the horror film movement in Vietnam later on. In the film, she played the female ghost Muoi, a haunting image that made her known as one of the most typical female horror ghosts of Vietnamese cinema at that time. In 2008, she starred in "'' Bird of Paradise''" after a period of absence from the small screen, the film won the 7th Silver Kite Award.

Reduce activities

At the peak of her career, she gradually reduced her activities to take care of her family. During her ten years of absence, a new name appeared and became the second "Vietnam's photogenic queen"

. In 2012, Anh Thư accepted an invitation to participate in the

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

contest - a reality TV show jointly produced by

Vietnam Television Vietnam Television (), operating under its official abbreviation VTV, is the State media, national television broadcaster of Vietnam. As the state broadcaster under the direction of under the Government of Vietnam, VTV is tasked with "propaga ...

and ''Cát Tiên Sa Company'' and won the final Bronze Prize. In 2017, Anh Thư made a brief return to the stage with 10 closing shows and a guest role in "'' Tháng năm rực rỡ''" by director Nguyễn Quang Dũng. Despite creating a strong impact on the public and being sought after at the time of its premiere, she did not choose to continue her career. In 2021, she participated in the movie "''Sám hối''". Then she was a judge of

Miss Grand Vietnam 2022 Miss Grand Vietnam 2022 () was the inaugural Miss Grand Vietnam pageant, held at the Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on October 1, 2022. At the end of the event, Đoàn Thiên Ân of Long An province, Long An was crowned ...

. In 2023, she participated in the movie "'' Flower King''" of VieOn, she caused a surprise effect when participating in the movie "''Muoi: The Curse Returns''", during this time she appeared continuously on fashion shows. She was a coach at the program

The Face Vietnam ''The Face Vietnam'' ( (season 1–2) or from season 3) is a Vietnamese modeling-themed reality television series, based on the US television series of the same name, and one of several national editions in the international ''The Face'' fr ...

with Vũ Thu Phương, Kỳ Duyên and Minh Triệu, in final walk her contestant Huỳnh Tú Anh winner.

List of roles

Movies

TV series

Music video

Programme

Judger/Contestant

Color keys

Achievements

Notes

References

Annotate

* *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anh Thu 1982 births Living people Vietnamese actresses Vietnamese television actresses Vietnamese film actresses Vietnamese female models 20th-century Vietnamese actresses 21st-century Vietnamese actresses People from Ho Chi Minh City