Vu Long stars in the children’s series Kinh van hoa (Kaleidoscope)

Many Vietnamese child actors have shone in their first roles only to fade into obscurity.

The then 13-year-old played a motherless boy who goes searching for his father, who works secretly for the revolutionaries.

Made in 1997, Dat phuong Nam revived interest in Vietnamese films at a time when Hong Kong dramas dominated the local scene, and became the country’s first TV series to be exported when it was sold to the US in 2000.

Another acclaimed first timer was Tran Thien Tu for her moving portrayal of Ngo, a 12-year-old girl who shares a white ao dai (traditional Vietnamese tunic), a touching gift from her impoverished mother, with her elder sister in Ao lua Ha Dong (White Silk Dress), directed by Luu Huynh.

Ao lua Ha Dong won Best Film at the 2006 national Golden Kite Awards, the Audience Choice award at the 2006 Pusan International Film Festival and the Kodak Vision/Audience Choice award at the 2007 Fukuoka International Film Festival.

It was also Vietnam’s nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film at last year’s Academy Awards.

Hieu Anh’s role as Nhut in Son’s Trang noi day gieng (Moon at the Bottom of the Well) stands out in the film, which picked up a Silver Kite for Best Picture earlier this month.

“Hieu Anh’s outstanding acting made the film go smoothly and helped me act better,” said co-star Hong Anh, who won the Murh Award for Best Actress in the Asia/Africa category at the 2008 Dubai International Film Festival and the prize for Best Actress at the 2008 Golden Kite Awards.

In Cu va se se (Owl and the Sparrow), 10- year-old Pham Gia Han portrays Thuy, an orphan who runs away from her draconian uncle’s bamboo factory and finds her own way through a world of both despair and hope. For her performance, Han won a Golden Kite for Young Promising Actress in 2008.

Yet the sad truth is that, even if they achieve overwhelming initial success, few child actors manage to carve out professional acting careers for themselves.

Despite appearing in a few films soon after Dat phuong Nam, Thuan has not acted in any film as an adult and is only remembered for his first role.

“My success as An was so overwhelming, I cannot escape it,” the now 26-year-old said.

Typecasting has been the bane of Vu Long’s existence since he played Tieu Long, one of the young “detectives” in the teenage series Kinh van hoa (Kaleidoscope), adapted from Nguyen Nhat Anh’s eponymous best-selling stories.

“I didn’t act in any films after Kinh van hoa because I was only offered characters like daft Tieu Long. Typecasting is the kiss of death,” said Long.

“Sure, acting is a passion for me, but it must stay on the backburner for a while,” said Long, 19, who is now a photo journalist for several magazines.

Thuan had a short stint as a singer before trying to find film work again, but the going is tough.

“Directors now tend to work with familiar faces, like Vu Ngoc Dang always picks Tang Thanh Ha and Luong Manh Hai, while Nguyen Quang Dung sticks with supermodel Thanh Hang and [singer-turned-actress] Minh Hang. I can’t get a foot in the door,” he said.

Vinh Son, Dat phuong Nam’s director, laments: “I’m really sorry that Thuan, a gifted actor whom I painstakingly searched for, hasn’t been able to fulfill his acting potential. Several other youngsters have had little chance to shine after their initial success either.”

Charlie Nguyen, who directed the 2007 hit Dong mau anh hung (The Rebel), is more philosophical. “A young actor can be successful in one role but fail in another. Pham Gia Han was outstanding in Cu va se se, but she didn’t do that well in the audition for my TV series Chuyen nha toi (My Family’s Story),” he said.

“After their initial success, the odds of untrained young actors succeeding in subsequent films are slim. If they are to tackle different roles, they definitely need training,” said director Xuan Phuoc.

In other countries, actors can be properly trained from an early age.

Azharuddin Ismail and Rubina Ali, the child stars of “Slumdog Millionaire,” which won eight Oscars at the 81st Academy Awards last month, have been being trained by Bollywood to shine in the future.

Elsewhere in the US, acting schools train thousands of youngsters each year and, nearer home, Thailand runs a number of acting academies for children.

Not so in Vietnam, where the absence of such training handicaps the fledgling film industry.

Ironically, Vu Long and Ngoc Trai, who played Quy rom – another young “detectives” in Kinh van hoa, could not attend the Ho Chi Minh City College of Stage and Cinema because they failed the entrance examination. Hung Thuan did manage to attend but dropped out when he became “disillusioned.”

Reported by Diem Thu