Phi Nguyen- highbrow and lowbrow actor

Actor Phi Nguyen is known to the film audience as Ping Ping from the popular film sequel Bon Bini. The theatre audience knows him from stage plays. In 2023 he was nominated for the Dutch theatre prize, Louis d’Or, for his part in the play “RECHT”. The evening before her interview with Phi Nguyen, Klaartje Til had seen this play in which Nguyen played the lawyer, Jacques. “Yes, I do a lot of different things”, he explained the next day in the interview. “And that is precisely why we think you are a fascinating actor”, she replied.

by Klaartje Til

What made you decide to go to drama school?
It started in primary school. We didn’t do a musical in our final year, like all other primary schools traditionally do in The Netherlands. We did a play in our final year. I played the lead role, Mr. Johnson, who spoke Dutch with an English accent. At secondary school I picked up acting  again. Our secondary school offered acting classes. In spite of the fact that I didn’t go to these classes, one of the drama teachers asked me if I wanted to audition for his play. I didn’t even know what an audition was, but I auditioned and I was selected.

Why do you think the teacher chose you, when you didn’t even go to his classes?
During the breaks I was always fooling around in the playground, being the clown to entertain myself, not necessarily to entertain others. Maybe he noticed me then. Together with 10 other students, I rehearsed for one year, once a week. In April we were given two weeks off to prepare and perform for an audience. Every show was sold out and we performed for an audience of hundreds of people.

What plays did you do back then?
I performed in 4.48 by Sarah Cane when I was 16. I had a part in Red Rubber Balls and Romeo and Juliet: study of a drowning body, both by Peter Verhelst. The first play I did was a work by Don Duyns called Wormrot en Vuurvonk. I think I did 5 productions in total. I was a bit of a fanatic. Right after opening night of the very first play, the teacher who was also the director of the play asked for our feedback. All the actors thought it went very well and they were all super happy. But I burst into tears, I was so angry. I shouted that it didn’t go well at all, that everyone was just playing to out-shine each other, that we had rehearsed for a year to put something together as a team. But at the premiere, everyone was just out to steal their moment of glory on stage. I don’t think that’s what theatre is all about, I shouted, but you all seem to think that this is the way plays are meant to be performed.  Everyone hated me at that moment. Luckily the teacher’s response to my outburst was, “We’re not going to talk about it now, but I think Phi has a point.”

Was that a crucial moment that determined your next step?
It motivated me to continue acting. After I finished secondary school, I did a lot of courses to prepare for auditioning. I auditioned at all the drama schools in The Netherlands. I made it each time to the last round, but got rejected eventually. I decided then to try again the next year. Meanwhile, I joined a theatre company called De Nieuw Amsterdam, where I did a lot of classes: African dance, Japanese dance, dramaturgy, text analysis, improvisation and visiting a lot of theatre performances. I decided to audition one more time and was accepted by several schools, I could choose.

You chose to study at Artez drama school in Arnhem. How did you develop yourself there as an actor?
The first few years I struggled. I found understanding a script and using its text quite hard to do. I was very good at physical activities. One of the teachers recommended that I should switch to dance academy. But I didn’t want to be a dancer, I wanted to be an actor. I put a lot of time and energy into my development as an actor. I founded a book club, each week I saw about 4 plays, I didn’t skip lessons.

Why was it a struggle for you?
The teachers all said: “We all see the potential but it’s as if there is a lid on the pot. There is a lot bubbling inside of you, but it looks as if you’re holding yourself back.” In an impulse I knew what I wanted to play and how, but I was too intensely, too long occupied with this impulse. The teachers noticed that I had the right impulse but wasn’t able to express it to the audience.

How did the lid come off?
That happened during my internships, I did three internships. During one of them I created 100 scenes in 10 days, together with stage director, Ine te Rietstap. She picked out 50 scenes and we put them together in a solo play. At the time I also worked with stage director Joeri Vos, for a piece that I had written myself. And I did an internship at the theatre company, De Appel, where I worked with stage director, Wannie de Wijn. I think the lid came off due to luck and hard work. People saw what I was doing and saw the result of my hard work. At drama school I spent a lot of time thinking about the meaning of a play and my part in it. But it’s like searching for the meaning of life. It doesn’t matter what the outcome is of your search, it’s what you do with it that matters.

What are the ingredients you give a character you play?
Humanity, always. In the Bon Bini films,  Ping Ping is a larger-than-life character but he has ordinary, human traits. That’s why he’s so popular, people recognise this. Ping Ping wants to make money. Not for the money itself but because otherwise he will break down because his family will be killed. I make this up of course, because I think it’s important that a character must have a reason to do what he does. For Ping Ping the stakes are high.

Do you get this information from the director or does it come as background information with the script?
No, not at all (laughs)!

You have to discover this yourself?
Yes, my method is very basic. I sit alone in the sauna. Because it’s so warm there I can’t do anything and I tune in. I imagine what my character could be and during rehearsals I try it out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t put my view on life into my characters, but all the characters I play have a view on life. They are in contact with their environment and with the others on stage. My characters sometimes take unexpected turns and surprise the other actors. I don’t want to disrupt my fellow actors but I look for real contact and the authenticity of what is happening on stage.

You also did stand-up comedy. Why don’t you do that anymore?
I played in clubs about 30 times. A tour was scheduled, tickets were sold, but I didn’t feel the need to do that comedy show any longer. I’d just done the play The World of Who at the Dutch summer festival, Oerol. The play tells about the first 10 years of my life. My sister, my father and I were interviewed for this play and based on the interviews, Joeri Vos and Teun Smits wrote a great script. The stand-up comedy show was going to deal with the same subjects as The World of Who. It seemed a bit redundant and I shifted my focus on an international career in films and series.

You are also a trained cook. Where did the impulse come from to go to cooking school?
From the age of 15,  I have cooked for restaurants as a part-time job. It was difficult to combine with drama school and I didn’t cook for restaurants until 2016. I found the theatre sector difficult then and had no inspiration. I called the directors to explain why I wanted to put theatre on hold. If I can’t inspire myself, I certainly can’t inspire the directors. I moved to Belgium and went to cooking school.

Did cooking school also inspire your acting career?
As a cook I don’t have much ambition. I possess a natural predisposition for cooking, but I have the talent to work as an actor. Talent is the willingness to develop yourself as an actor with discipline and hard work. When people say you have a lot of talent but you don’t do anything with it, I don’t think that’s talent. It is aptitude. People sometimes say that acting comes so easily to me. Well, it took many hours of work and effort. On the other hand, I realize that theatre is not my life. Acting is not my life, it is my job. I wasn’t able to distinguish between the actor Phi and the person, Phi. I can separate them now and I think it benefits my work. Funnily enough, I’m starting to feel confident that I’m a good actor. It’s the reason I’m here, this is what I need to do. I can accept now that acting is a format that suits me and needs continuous development.

Photography: Merel Oenema