Hiep Thi Le
Hiep Thi Le (February 18, 1971 – December 19, 2017) was an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of Le Ly in Oliver Stone war drama film Heaven & Earth (1993).
Hiep Thi Le
- Name
- Hiep Thi Le
- Born
- 18 February 1971
- Birthplace
- Da Nang, South Vietnam
- Died
- 19 December 2017
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Education
- University of California, Davis
- Occupation
- Actress
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
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Hiep Thi Le (February 18, 1971 – December 19, 2017) was an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of Le Ly in Oliver Stone war drama film Heaven & Earth (1993).
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Note VALÉORINE
Hiep Thi Le (1971–2017) was an actor, actress and film actor, among other activities, of American nationality. The actor was born in Da Nang and died in Los Angeles. Hiep Thi Le was educated at University of California, Davis. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1617424 · wikipedia · Hiep Thi Le
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Hiep Thi Le • Born — 18 February 1971 • Birthplace — Da Nang, South Vietnam • Died — 19 December 2017 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Other Names — Hiep Le • Education — University of California, Davis • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1993–2011
Early life
Early life
Le was born on February 18, 1971, in Da Nang, South Vietnam. In 1978, her father became a refugee, leaving Vietnam for Hong Kong. When Le was nine years old, her mother arranged for her and her younger sister to join their father. We were told by my mom that we had to go look for Dad, and that he had gone to someplace called 'America', which we interpreted was the city across the river, since it had lights. Along with approximately 60 other refugees, the girls hid in a secret compartment behind a galley pantry on a fishing boat sailing to Hong Kong to reunite with their father. Sometime during the night, just as we arrived at a Vietnamese checkpoint, my sister woke up and started screaming for our momma... "Everyone thought we were going to die", she says. That night, the boat captain grabbed her screaming 7-year-old sister and put a knife to her throat. Le witnessed it and it scarred her for life. "Tears rolled down her face, but there was no more crying... I thought her eyes were going to fall out of their sockets", she says. Her sister survived, and when they both reached port, they stayed in a Hong Kong refugee camp. They eventually reunited with her father in Hong Kong. Le's entire family – her parents and five children – were eventually reunited in Northern California. Eventually, Le lived in Oakland, California as a child. There her mother worked at a French-Vietnamese restaurant. She graduated from Oakland High School. She attended the University of California, Davis with a major in physiology. Le originally planned to graduate in June 1993 and pursue a career in science. As a college student, she went to an open casting call in the Bay area "because all my friends were doing it for fun". She ended up being cast in the leading role of Oliver Stone's third Vietnam film, Heaven & Earth (1993), set amid the turmoil of the Vietnam War.
Heaven and Earth
Heaven and Earth
Le was one of 16,000 Vietnamese-Americans seen by casting scouts for Oliver Stone's Heaven & Earth and was finally chosen for the starring role (of Le Ly Hayslip). "I don't know how I got here... My cousin heard about these auditions for a movie, and I just went with a friend to see what it was about. They kept calling me back." In the film, she plays a woman who ages from 13 to 38, who is raped and tortured in Vietnam, and who becomes an abused housewife, mother, and businesswoman in the United States. According to Stone, "Our people saw her, put her on video, thought she was electric, and flew her down to Los Angeles. I thought she was charismatic. We worked with her, put her on video with other actors, introduced her to Tommy Lee Jones and Joan Chen and Haing S. Ngor, and then we put her on film. We tested her out for about five months, continuously, and she won the role. I didn't send her to any acting school. I didn't feel that it was necessary; she was a natural." Although the film required Le to age over 30 years and cast her opposite a number of accomplished American and Asian actors, the untrained actress received excellent reviews citing her sensitivity and actorly grace as Hayslip. In his review of the film, Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan described her as "nonprofessional but very capable." When Le was asked what she had learned from her experience with the film: "I have grown a lot. I have grown so much in the past two years, but the experiences that I went through throughout my whole life really made me what I am today."
Later career
Later career
Le subsequently appeared in Bugis Street (1995, released in the United States in 1997) and co-starred in the little-seen Dead Men Can't Dance (1997). Le made an appearance in the 1999 film Bastards. She appeared in Green Dragon in 2001, opposite Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker.
Restaurateur
Restaurateur
After her career in the film industry, in 2002 Le opened The China Beach Bistro, a Vietnamese restaurant in Venice, Los Angeles. After 10 years at that location, Hiep closed China Beach in 2012 and opened Le Cellier, a French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant on the Venice and Marina del Rey border. "Although it's not easy to find out here, French-Vietnamese food dates back to the 18th century... This unique cuisine combines the fresh herbs of Vietnamese food with the fine heritage of country French cooking", Le said. As of 2016, she owned the restaurant Le Cellier with Mark Van Gessel and Bernard Louberssac. On February 23, 2014, Le appeared on the Food Network game show Chopped, competing in the eighteenth-season episode "Beer Here!" Although she survived the appetizer round, she was eliminated in the entree round.
Death
Death
Le died on December 19, 2017, in Los Angeles from stomach cancer at the age of 46. She was acknowledged in the In Memoriam segment at the 90th Academy Awards.
Filmography
Filmography
• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1993 — Heaven & Earth — Le Ly • 1995 — Bugis Street — Lian • 1996 — Hey Arnold! — Mai Hyunh — Voice, Episode: "Arnold's Christmas" • 1997 — Dead Men Can't Dance — Sgt. Mia Yan Chun • 1998 — Tracey Takes On... — Milou — Episode: "Marriage" • 1999 — Cruel Intentions — Mai-Lee • 1999 — Bastards — Tony's Mother • 1999 — Shark in a Bottle — The Tutor • 2001 — Green Dragon — Thuy Hoa • 2001 — Return to Pontianak — Charity Yamaguchi • 2003 — National Security — McDuff's Secretary • 2007 — The Princess of Nebraska — Mother at Mall • 2008 — Julia — Kitty • 2008 — Lakeview Terrace — Nurse • 2010 — Sympathy for Delicious — Female Volunteer • 2011 — Touch — Mother — Final role
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2017
Hiep Thi Le died at Los Angeles.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Da Nang.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1617424: Hiep Thi Le
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Hiep Thi Le”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Hiep Le Obituary – Peek Funeral Home – Westminster CA. obits.dignitymemorial.com.
- 2.Ebert, Roger. OLIVER STONE CONCLUDES HIS VIETNAM TRILOGY. Chicago Sun-Times. December 26, 1993.
- 3.Mathews, Jack. One Among Thousands : First-time actress Hiep Thi Le, who beat out 16,000 hopefuls for the lead in 'Heaven and Earth', draws lessons from her fellow refugees. Los Angeles Times. January 17, 1993.
- 4.Stack, Peter. Looking for a Laugh/"Bugis Street's Le stumbled into acting and really wants to do comedy". San Francisco Gate. October 25, 1997.
- 5.Chavez, Paul. Venice Restaurateurs' Gastropub Pairs Filet Mignon with Jazz. Patch Media. June 29, 2012.
- 6.Ehrman, Mark. 'Heaven' Packs 'Em In. Los Angeles Times. December 20, 1993.
- 7.Turan, Kenneth. MOVIE REVIEW: Stone's 'Earth': Larger Than Life. Los Angeles Times. December 25, 1993.
- 8.Whaley, Donald M. The Oliver Stone Encyclopedia. Rowman & Littlefield. 2013. 9780810883529.
- 9.Stack, Peter. Gay Film Festival Mixes It All Up/Tickets on sale Friday for expanded series. San Francisco Gate. May 21, 1997.
- 10.NEW MOVIES Opening This Week. San Francisco Gate. October 20, 1997.
- 11.Johnson, G. Allen. Asian American film fest: Yes, no. San Francisco Gate. July 23, 1999.
- 12.Thomas, Kevin. A Look Back at a Time of Beginnings. Los Angeles Times. May 1, 2002.
- 13.Curiel, Jonathan. Longing for freedom/'Green Dragon' shows lives of Vietnamese refugees in U.S. San Francisco Gate. July 5, 2002.
- 14.Meyer, Carla. New look of Asian American films/Festival opens with edgy 'Better Luck Tomorrow', honors 'Chan Is Missing'. San Francisco Gate. March 3, 2002.
- 15.B, Kat. Real Gossip TV: Chopped "Beer Here" Recap (2/23/14). realgossiptv.blogspot.com.au. February 23, 2014.
- 16.Genzlinger, Neil. Hiep Thi Le, Vietnamese Refugee Who Became Film Star, Dies at 46. New York Times. December 23, 2017.
- 17.Hiep Thi Le Dies: Star Of Oliver Stone's 'Heaven And Earth' Was 46, deadline.com; accessed December 20, 2017.
References
Citations
References
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authority file
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Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
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