Looking back at a year of many upheavals, how do you feel you have gone through 2025?
- 2025 for me is like a colorful picture and each color brings me to a very different experience. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes a little dark, but looking back at everything, I see that I have gone through 2025 with gratitude, calmness and courage, not giving up to face and try after the difficulties I have experienced. I am forced to slow down, but also because of that, I learn to listen to myself and love myself more. I realize that I have to move forward even if it is a very slow step to find joy and happiness for myself. Because happiness is sometimes simply about living the way I want to live.
After the health incident at Sao Nhap Ngu, fans are worried about you. Running Man Vietnam season 3 is a program that requires very high endurance, how have you prepared your physical and mental strength to both keep yourself safe and ensure your health?
- I feel lucky to continue to accompany my brothers and sisters and the audience on the journey of "Running Man Vietnam season 3". That trust motivates and reminds me to strive every day.
But after the health incident, I learned how to balance between effort and self-protection. I always tell myself to try because the best way not to disappoint everyone is to keep positive energy when working and contributing, but also to know how to ensure safety for myself and my health so that I can accompany the audience for a long time.
The public always meets a cheerful, energetic Lan Ngoc, even when she is facing difficulties. Have you ever, deep inside, felt tired of always having to appear strong in front of the audience?
- Yes, I'm not always strong. But I always try to choose to see things positively, because I know the audience loves me a lot because of that. I will look at the positive side of life but I am realistic enough to know that life is very complicated. I once read a very good sentence: "Each of our actions creates a corresponding energy. When we choose actions that bring joy and happiness to others, karma will bring those things to us.
It's true that there are days when I am as weak as anyone else. When I'm tired, I allow myself to "melt slowly", return to the arms of my parents and loved ones. Sometimes seeing the people I love happy and happy is also an effective way to recharge energy. The important thing is that I don't hide sadness, but learn to face it gently.
And what helps me maintain my energy is the love for art in general and acting work in particular. Besides, the affection of the audience, especially Team Cam Con (Ninh Duong Lan Ngoc's fan club name) for me is the "medicine" for me to try to cultivate and improve every day. When I see the audience still trusting me, I don't allow myself to give up.
You currently participate in many gameshows, rarely acts in movies. What is Lan Ngoc's most outstanding highlight of 2025 that the audience wants to remember?
- I often have a habit of not saying everything in advance because I'm afraid "saying in advance doesn't get through" (laughs). But I know what the audience is waiting for me and I am also waiting every day for that. I am still on a journey to cultivate and develop myself to be ready for the best opportunity. For me, every project or script that comes to me is fate, hopefully in the near future I will meet good fate to soon reunite with the audience in movies. 2025 is a brilliant year for Vietnamese cinema:
Many large projects, many young faces are rising strongly. Amidst that vibrant picture, does your "absence" make you feel a little sad or regretful?
- Actually, I'm not sad because this is the choice I made. When I see colleagues with many explosive projects, I feel happy because Vietnamese cinema is transforming and developing. Audiences are becoming increasingly demanding, which makes the quality of films and acting quality improve every day.
The time to "stop" helps me look back at myself, understand more about orientation; cultivate, recharge energy and filter out what I really want to do. No one is born already good and no one is good without trying their best. I think everyone has a different journey to explore and conquer; for me, sometimes slowing down a little is also a way to go further and more steadfastly.
Many directors and audiences still have faith in Lan Ngoc, seeing her as one of the talented actresses they always look forward to reappearing in. When you see the market developing rapidly but you have not returned, do you feel pressure, or is that a subtle motivation urging you to return more strongly?
- I think when people expect a lot, I have to be more sober. I am not afraid of the market developing too quickly, but only afraid that I am not ready enough to bring the best to my audience. The trust from the director and the audience makes me more respectful and cautious. I don't want to return just to "have a project", but want to choose the right role that is challenging enough for myself and worthy of everyone's expectations.
Looking at the overall picture of Vietnamese cinema in 2025 with many opportunities, but also full of competition, where do you think you are standing in your career journey?
- In a market with many fluctuations and competition like today, I don't put myself in any position. I only know that I am still passionate about acting, there are still many things I want to tell the audience through each character's fate.
What motivates me to return is not comparison or external pressure, but the moment Ngoc finds a role that is "touchable". When I find a role that makes me flutter, I will return. When that happens, I believe I will return with a stronger, more mature and mature version.
In the present, do you set your own milestone on getting married or building a fulfilling private life in 2026 or the near future?
- In the past, I set many milestones: 26-27 years old to get married, then 30... Now 35 and still... single (laughs). So I think it's okay, when fate comes, I will welcome it. I also don't want to force myself too much. Luckily for me, my family is not pressured about me getting married. The most important thing is when I get married, it must be a decision that makes me feel secure, happy and ready.
