Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên ( (born 30 June 1965) is a

Vietnamese-American Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese people, Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth ...

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 ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, and master of ceremonies and co-host of ''

Paris by Night ''Paris by Night'' (commonly abbreviated as ''PBN'') is a direct-to-video series featuring Vietnamese-language musical variety shows produced by Thúy Nga Productions. Hosted mainly by Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên, the ...

''.

Early life and education

Kỳ Duyên was born on June 30, 1965, in Saigon,

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

as the only daughter to

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (; 8 September 1930 – 23 July 2011) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who served as the chief of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of Sout ...

, a former South Vietnamese

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, Vice President, and Air-Force General. Her father was from

Sơn Tây ''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnamese or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted else ...

and grew up in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

. Her mother is

Đặng Tuyết Mai Đặng Tuyết Mai, also known as Madame Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (4 October 1941 – 21 December 2016) was the former wife of Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, former Republic of Vietnam Air Force commander and politician, who served as Prime Minister of South Viet ...

who was from

Bắc Ninh Bắc Ninh () is a city in the Northern Vietnam, northern part of Vietnam and is the capital of Bắc Ninh province. The city is the cultural, administrative and commercial center of the province. The city area is 82.60 square km, with a populat ...

and also spent most of her childhood in Hanoi. Because of her parents' roots in Northern Vietnam, Kỳ Duyên speaks Vietnamese with a distinct Northern accent, despite growing up in the south. At around the age of ten during the

Fall of Saigon The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...

on April 30, 1975, Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên moved to the United States. When first moving to America, Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên lived in Fairfax, Virginia, then later moved to Huntington Beach, California in which she studied at Marina High School. She enrolled for a law major at Western State College of Law at Argosy University and graduated with honors. She learned piano since age 5. During the time when she was 13 to 19 years old, she learned music theory and vocal training. Her debut appearance was to host at Miss Ao Dai Competition in Long Beach, California. In 1984, she recorded her first music CD at Tung Giang Studio. In 1985, she debuted as a singer in Seattle, Washington, but her first recording was in 1993 for Hollywood Night Center. She often performs at Las Vegas, California and Paris. Kỳ Duyên is currently a master of ceremonies for

Thúy Nga Productions Thúy Nga Inc. () ( dba Thúy Nga Productions, variously referred to as Thúy Nga Incorporated, Thúy Nga Paris, and Trung Tâm Thúy Nga) is an American entertainment company founded in 1984 in Paris, and currently based in Westminster, Californ ...

's ''

'' series alongside

Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn (born 9 March 1945 in Sơn Tây in Hanoi) is a Vietnamese-Canadian writer, essayist and television personality. Ngạn was born in Sơn Tây (present-day Hanoi), but his family moved to South Vietnam when the Geneva Acc ...

. Kỳ Duyên has shared that when she first began her career as an MC, she did not read and write in Vietnamese, so her mother helped her memorize her lines.

Education

Kỳ Duyên went to school in

Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146. Fairfax is pa ...

during her childhood, moving to

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, United States. The city was originally called Pacific City, but it was changed in 1903 to be named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 as of ...

in her high school years, and graduating from Westminster High School in

Westminster, California Westminster is a city in western Orange County, California, United States. Westminster was founded in 1870 by Rev. Lemuel Webber as a Presbyterian Temperance movement, temperance colony and was incorporated in 1957. Westminster is bordered by ...

. She received her Bachelor of Undergraduate Education degree at

California State Polytechnic University California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) is a public polytechnic research university in Pomona, California, United States. It is the largest of the three polytechnic universities in the California State University syst ...

, and later obtained her Graduate Law master's degree with Honors from

Western State University College of Law Western State College of Law at Westcliff University is a private, for-profit law school in Irvine, California. Founded in 1966, it was acquired by Westcliff University in 2019. It offers full and part-time programs and is approved by the Amer ...

Personal life

Her first marriage was to Nguyễn Quang Li, a surgeon, then Trịnh Hội, a lawyer (whom she divorced in 2008). Following two marriages and two divorces, she fell in love with David Duy Han, a financial analyst and writer. She currently resides in

with her two daughters from her first marriage.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
Interview with Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', 2004
Interview with Nguyễn Cao Kỳ DuyênVagifirm product by Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Cao Ky Duyen 1965 births Living people Vietnamese emigrants to the United States American women pop singers American women singer-songwriters Western State University College of Law alumni California State Polytechnic University, Pomona alumni Musicians from Ho Chi Minh City American women record producers Thuy Nga Productions Vietnamese Buddhists American Buddhists