Although working in many art disciplines such as: Drama, film, Cheo..., Vietnamese artists have in common that they love their profession passionately.
When hearing about the reason they entered the profession, many viewers were also no less surprised, because some people used to work in the wrong field before becoming actors.
Meritorious Artist Do Ky - Former Acting Head of the Art Department (Department of Performing Arts) - said that his path to art began from a very accidental predestined relationship.
After finishing high school, he planned to go to work immediately with the desire to become an engineer, but never thought about pursuing an acting career.
However, when he read the announcement to recruit actors from the Vietnam Drama Theater with a preferential treatment including 18kg of rice per month and a cash salary, he decided to register to try his luck.
The male artist recounted that the support level at that time, 18kg of rice and a few dozen VND salary per month, made him find the invitation attractive enough to apply.
That year's selection had about 3,000 candidates participating, but only about 40 were selected. Overcoming three rigorous rounds, he was lucky to be selected, opening a turning point that changed his whole life.
Thanks to his acting career, he met and married his wife Lan Huong, and the two had an artistic journey full of affection and laughter.
As a fairly familiar face of VTV movies, Meritorious Artist Hoang Hai said that in the late 1990s, when his acting salary was meager, he left the Hanoi Drama Theater to Da Nang to start a career.
The male artist confided that those were hard days when he traded pigs, but the pigs were sick and half died. Going to sell peanuts and beans, he could not cross the ferry due to the storm, he had to overcome it by renting tarpaulins.
By the time he flipped it up, half of the beans had sprouted into bean sprouts. Arriving in Hanoi, he screened each bag, scraping together whatever money he could sell.
In one year, the artist went to the Chinese border to buy canvas to sell at Con Market (Da Nang) but imported the wrong color, so the goods were unsold.
After five or seven unsuccessful business trips, losing several taels of gold, Hoang Hai went to work as an ironworker in Buon Ma Thuot, then became attached to the long-distance truck driving profession.
Hoang Hai said that director Quoc Trong was the one who brought him back to acting. He recounted that one day, while transporting goods, director Quoc Trong came all the way to Da Nang to find and invite him to participate in the movie "Legend of Mother".
From here, the male artist continuously received invitations to make films. Just like that, he was swept away, unable to break away from his acting career.
People's Artist Nguyen Quoc Truong - Former Director of the Army Cheo Theater - recounted that after finishing high school, his father and older brother wanted him to study finance to work at the Bac Ninh Department of Finance.
However, because he liked acting, he intended to take the entrance exam to Ha Bac Intermediate School of Culture and Arts (now Bac Ninh Intermediate School of Culture, Arts and Tourism).
But then, Hanoi University of Theater and Cinema came to the locality for enrollment, he took the exam and was admitted to the first university system of the folk drama major, so he returned to Hanoi to study.
The more I study, the more I love my profession. If I had studied economics and finance that day, my life would have turned in a different direction, but it's probably the profession that chooses people, so I have been in art until I retired," Quoc Truong said.
Tao Xa Hoi" - People's Artist Tu Long - had a journey into the acting profession full of hardships.
After graduating from high school, Tu Long studied Construction Intermediate School because at that time, he thought that only labor export could change his life.
In addition to studying construction, Tu Long used to do many jobs to earn a living. In his youth, he worked as a bus conductor, a construction worker helping to carry mortar for projects in the commune, learned carpentry, worked as a motorbike taxi driver... But then, fate again made him decide to take the entrance exam to the Cheo faculty - Hanoi University of Theater and Cinema.
Currently, NSND Tu Long is the Director of the Army Cheo Theater.
He shared that the hard work of making a living in the past has helped him have more material, life experience, and positive energy for his roles later.
