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Tiana Alexandra

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Tiana Alexandra-Silliphant
Alexandra in 2008
Born
Du Thi Thanh Nga

(1956-08-11) August 11, 1956 (age 68)
Saigon, Vietnam
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Actress, filmmaker, singer, activist
Years active1975–present
TitleDirector
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1974; died 1996)​
Children2
Websitewww.tianaworld.com

Tiana Alexandra-Silliphant (born Du Thi Thanh Nga, August 11, 1956) is a Vietnamese-American actress, filmmaker and activist. She is best known for her 1992 documentary From Hollywood to Hanoi,[1] the first American feature documentary filmed in Vietnam by a Vietnamese-American. The film examines the aftermath of the Vietnam War and explores themes of reconciliation.

Alexandra made her feature film debut in Sam Peckinpah's The Killer Elite (1975), co-written by her husband Stirling Silliphant. Currently, Alexandra is the director of Hampton-Silliphant Productions with Sir Christopher Hampton.

Early life

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Tiana Alexandra-Silliphant was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1956. Her father, Dư Phước Long, was a South Vietnamese politician who served as the Director of Press and Cultural Attaché in Washington DC, during the administration of President Ngô Đình Diệm.[2][3][4] Following the assassination of Diệm in 1963, the family relocated to Fairfax, Virginia, in 1966. Her father, later known as Patrick Du Long, worked for the Voice of America and authored the book The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America.[5]

Alexandra attended Thomas Jefferson Junior High School in Arlington, Virginia, where she experienced racial discrimination. She began studying martial arts under Bruce Lee and later trained with Jhoon Rhee. These experiences influenced her interest in both performing arts and martial arts.

Alexandra and Stirling Silliphant were married in a ceremony at Chasen's Restaurant in West Hollywood on July 4, 1974. As reported by CBS News, the celebrity event included Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood, William Holden and Henry Mancini.[6]

Career

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Hollywood career

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Alexandra made her film debut in Sam Peckinpah’s The Killer Elite (1975), co-written by her husband, screenwriter Stirling Silliphant. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she appeared in films and television, including the mini-series Pearl (1978) and the TV movie Fly Away Home (1981), which explored the human cost of the Vietnam War.

She also starred in Catch the Heat (1987) and co-produced the fitness program Karatecize, combining dance and martial arts. Alexandra was one of the first Vietnamese-American actresses to join the Screen Actors Guild, breaking racial stereotypes in Hollywood.

In 1978, Alexandra starred with Angie Dickenson, Robert Wagner and Dennis Weaver as Holly Nagata in the ABC mini-series Pearl,[7] which dramatized the events surrounding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1981, Alexandra starred with Bruce Boxleitner and Brian Dennehy as Mai, a Vietnamese medic in the Warner Bros. made-for-television feature film Fly Away Home.[8][9] The film critically examined the entanglement of politics and human suffering on the ground during the Vietnam War.

As an Asian actress breaking through racial stereotypes, Alexandra was invited to speak on the realities of Hollywood typecasting at venues such as the Philippine Film Festival, where she appeared with Robert Duvall in the Symposium on Film Acting.[10]

Music career

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In the early 1980s, Alexandra produced pop songs and music videos under the management of Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones. Her music, including tracks like "Feel the Heat",[clarification needed] was showcased on MTV.

Alexandra's music video of Bruce Lee, "Feel The Heat", was revamped in congruence with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 40th anniversary celebration of Bruce Lee's breakout film, Enter the Dragon.[11]

From Hollywood to Hanoi

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In 1992, Alexandra wrote, directed, and produced From Hollywood to Hanoi, which explores her personal experiences as a Vietnamese refugee and the long-term impact of the Vietnam War on both Vietnam and the United States. The film was executive produced by Oliver Stone and received critical acclaim, being screened at the Sundance Film Festival and other notable venues.

The documentary features interviews with prominent Vietnamese leaders, including General Võ Nguyên Giáp, and sheds light on issues such as Amerasian children and the effects of Agent Orange. Critics praised the film for its personal and reflective approach, with The New York Times describing it as "an intense, personal work"[12] and the Los Angeles Times calling it "engrossing".[13]

It was shown at top film festivals[14] and movie theatres across the U.S. and highlighted the plight of Amerasians, as well as the devastating effects of Agent Orange.[15] It received critical acclaim by The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Boston Globe, Playboy, The Washington Post and Time.[16] But distribution was non-existent at the time for award-winning documentaries so the film's volunteer team led by the poet Steven Kauffman distributed the film in theatres and with Alexandra touring across America's college campuses.

Indochina Film Arts Foundation

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The aftermath of the war and trade embargoes left Vietnam as the fifth poorest country in the world.[17] Despite travel restrictions and her father's admonitions not to go, Alexandra returned to Vietnam with film crews to shoot From Hollywood to Hanoi and a series of follow-up films.

In 1993, Alexandra co-founded the Indochina Film Arts Foundation to promote cultural exchange through film and the arts. The foundation organized workshops and projects in Vietnam and the United States, fostering collaboration between Vietnamese and international filmmakers. Projects were presented at the Viet Nam Cinema Dept. & Filmmakers Association in Hanoi, the Asian American Film Festivals in New York City and Los Angeles, the Cinéma Festival du Réel at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood, and the Washington Project for the Arts in Washington DC. Alexandra has been a featured radio guest on NPR's Fresh Air Program with Terry Gross,[3] as well as the Pacifica Network stations WBAI FM in New York, KFAI FM in Minneapolis and KPFK FM in Los Angeles.[18]

Alexandra has lectured at Bennington College, Bryn Mawr College, Harvard University, Columbia University, Notre Dame University, University of Southern California, Berkeley, University of California, Santa Barbara and Stanford University. She was a panelist in the "My Lai 25 Years After" conference at Tulane University. Alexandra was also appointed Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Film Studies at Dartmouth College in 1993.

Since 1998, the Indochina Film Arts Foundation has conducted ongoing production workshops to advance the skills of aspiring Vietnamese filmmakers.

Ongoing documentary, education, and feature film

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In 2000, Alexandra explored the Plain of Jars region of Laos to document the effects of carpet-bombing and unexploded ordnance on local populations. Her Bomb Art Project collected scraps of ordnance for artists to fashion into sculpture. The Bomb Art Project and Bombs Away mini-documentary were publicly presented at the Bergamot Station Art Center in Los Angeles.[19]

Alexandra also documented the 30th Anniversary Reunion of Associated Press War Photographers in Ho Chi Minh City in 2005. Her documentary, Requiem, featured Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists and photojournalists Peter Arnett, and Nick Ut, as well as the local Vietnamese youth culture that had moved on from the war.

In 2007, Alexandra went on a world tour with Oscar and Tony-winning author Christopher Hampton to help manage and promote his work on the feature film Atonement. Hampton was subsequently nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) on the film.[20]

A Tony Award Celebration was organized by Alexandra in 2009 in conjunction with the successful run of Yasmina Reza's Broadway play God of Carnage. The event celebrated the play's six Tony nominations and three wins, and honored author Christopher Hampton's 50 plays and screenplays.[21] James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Philip Glass and Phillip Noyce participated in the short documentary that Alexandra created from the event.[22]

In 2009, Alexandra filmed an odyssey to find the spirit of Michael Jackson in Beverly Hills and Viet Nam, with Le Ly Hayslip – the author and subject of Oliver Stone's feature film Heaven and Earth. Le Ly and Tiana visited the site of Jackson's death and documented the throngs of impersonators carrying on his legacy in both the U.S. and Vietnam.[23]

As co-owner of Christopher Hampton's stage play The Talking Cure, Alexandra was instrumental in developing the project into a feature film directed by David Cronenberg. The film, retitled A Dangerous Method,[24] starred Michael Fassbender as Swiss psychotherapist Carl Jung, and Keira Knightley as his patient and mistress. Alexandra is credited as Associate Producer on the 2011 release,[25] and documented the behind the scenes development of the project.[24]

In 2012, Alexandra and Christopher Hampton formed Hampton Silliphant Management & Productions, which presented the play Appomattox at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[26] The play concerns itself with historic events in America, 100 years apart in time: the historic meetings between Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, in tandem with Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass in 1865, and the later machinations of Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King – which ultimately led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Appomattox was also performed as an opera with Philip Glass at The Kennedy Center in 2015.[27]

In 2020, Alexandra went on location in Malaysia to join partner Christopher Hampton and crew, filming an international TV mini-series The Singapore Grip.[28] Alexandra documented "the making of" the six-episode drama – which portrayed the intrigues and ultimate upheaval of British colonialism during the Fall of Singapore in WWII.[29]

Filmography

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As actress
  • 1975: The Killer Elite (alternative title: The agents elite) – Tommie
  • 1978: Pearl (alternative title: Pearl Harbor) (TV Mini-Series) – Holly Nagata
  • 1981: Fly Away Home (TV Movie) – Mai
  • 1987: Catch the Heat (video title in the Federal Republic of Germany: Fire Game) – Checkers Goldberg
  • 1987: The Three Kings (TV Movie) – Jan DuLong (final film role)
As director
  • 1992: From Hollywood to Hanoi
  • 2017: The General and Me
  • 2020: The Singapore Grip: Behind the Scenes
As producer
Other performances (e.g. herself)
  • 1986: Karatix
  • 1992: From Hollywood to Hanoi

Nominations

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References

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  1. ^ Clarke Fountain (2013). "From Hollywood To Hanoi (1992)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  2. ^ Canby, Vincent (July 21, 1993). "Review of 'From Hollywood To Hanoi'". The New York Times.
  3. ^ a b Gross, Terry (July 22, 1993). "Tiana Alexandra". Fresh Air. NPR – via YouTube.
  4. ^ "Patrick Du Long Rebuts McNamara's 'In Retrospect' on CNN". CNN – via YouTube.
  5. ^ Du Phuoc Long, Patrick (1997). The Dream Shattered: Vietnamese Gangs in America. UPNE. ISBN 9781555533144.
  6. ^ "Tiana & Stirling Silliphant Married at Chasen's Restaurant". YouTube.
  7. ^ "Pearl (1978)". IMDb.com. Internet Movie Database.
  8. ^ "Fly Away Home excerpts w/ Tiana Alexandra & Kieu Chinh". YouTube.
  9. ^ "IMDb Fly Away Home (1981)". Internet Movie Database.
  10. ^ "Robert Duvall & Tiana Alexandra Silliphant at the Philippine Film Symposium" – via YouTube.
  11. ^ "Bruce Lee & Me: Karate in Beverly Hills" – via YouTube.
  12. ^ Canby, Vincent (October 4, 1993). ""From Hollywood to Hanoi; The Daughter of Vietnam Returns to Te Its Tale."". The New York Times. pp. Section C, p 13.
  13. ^ Kevin, Thomas (October 1, 1993). ""A Moving, Engrossing Personal Look at Vietnam."". Los Angeles Times. pp. p.F1.
  14. ^ "From Hollywood To Hanoi (Archives/1993 Sundance Film Festival)". Sundance Institute. Archived from the original on 2015-06-10. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  15. ^ Canby, Vincent (July 21, 1993). "From Hollywood To Hanoi (1992) Review/Film". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  16. ^ "MOVIE REVIEW : 'From Hollywood to Hanoi': A Journey of Reconciliation". Los Angeles Times. 1995-04-28. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  17. ^ Le Skaife, Jane (March 28, 2011). "Vietnam, No Longer an Undeveloped Country". newgeography.com. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  18. ^ "Tiana Alexandra Silliphant Interviewed on KPFK-FM" – via YouTube.
  19. ^ "Bombs Away". YouTube.
  20. ^ "The 80th Academy Awards (2008) Nominees and Winners". The Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
  21. ^ "2009 Tony Award Winners". The New York Times. May 4, 2009.
  22. ^ "Philip Glass, Christopher Hampton & James Gandolfini Celebrate in NYC" – via YouTube.
  23. ^ "Tiana, Le Ly & Michael Jackson Part 1 ON EARTH" – via YouTube.
  24. ^ a b A Dangerous Method BEHIND THE SCENES by Tiana Alexandra-Silliphant. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-10.
  25. ^ "A Dangerous Method (2011) Full Cast & Crew". Internet Movie Database.
  26. ^ "Christopher Hampton takes on America". TheGuardian.com. 22 October 2012.
  27. ^ Anne Midgette (2015-11-15). "'Appomattox': A superb night at the opera". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  28. ^ "HOME | thesingaporegrip.com". Archived from the original on 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  29. ^ "Philip Glass, Christopher Hampton & James Gandolfini Celebrate in NYC". 24 June 2013.
  30. ^ "IMDB Awards – Sundance Film Festival 1993". IMDb. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
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