HCM CITY — Many of the child and teenage actors cast in TV series featuring family issues have won audience acclaim in recent years. One of the most popular actors, eight-year-old Hien Lam, began acting in TV series while he was still in kindergarten, and has appeared in more than 100 TV series.
In his latest role in Du Gio Co Thoi (Although the Wind is Blowing), he was cast as the chubby, big-eyed boy with a passion to be a king.
The popular child actor is playing the lead role in the 52-episode Con Yeu Me (I Love Mum), screened on Viet Nam Television (VTV) Channel 3 every Saturday at 7pm.
Lam's acting, which is very natural in scenes of sorrow, said he was able to burst into tears quickly if he thought about whether his own mother had suffered from a fatal disease or disappeared mysteriously while shopping.
His mother, film-maker Lam Uyen, said Lam went to school every day and works with film-makers on weekends or holidays.
The performance of 14-year-old Gia Ky in the children's series Gia Dinh Phep Thuat (A Witchcraft Family) has won the hearts of young audiences.
With a script by Kwon In Chan from South Korea, the 500-episode A Witchcraft Family can be seen on HTV 7, on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 7pm.
"Seeing Ky performs so naturally in Khu Rung Bi An (A Mysterious Forest) and Co Tien Xanh (A Blue Fairy), I decided to offer him the lead role in my new series, "said Chu Thien, who made A Witchcraft Family.
Ky started acting in TV series and dramas when he was eight years old.
The talkative youngster says he enjoys acting because it's interesting. "Hard work does not bother me and I enjoy the opportunities for travel and making new friends," he said.
The emotional acting of Nguyen Van Tien and Nguyen Ngoc Trang in the TV series Vong Tay Am (Warm Embracing Arms) screened on HTV last month moved many viewers to tears. "The casting board selected Tien and Trang from more than 70 children," director Nguyen Vo Duy Ngoc, who made Warm Embracing Arms, said.
The 30-episode series tells a moving story about two children on their way to many regions of the country seeking their lost mother who suffered from a mental disorder after her husband left her and married a young woman.
On instinct
Well-known director Lam Le Dung said he enjoyed making films and TV series for children.
Dung has made many interesting TV series and films, including Co Tich Viet Nam (Vietnamese Legends) and U-14.
He will make Vo Duong Vui Nhon (A Jolly Martial Art Club) this year, and all the actors will be children and teens.
"Child actors don't get professional training. They have an instinct for acting and can do well in children films," young director Nguyen Phan Quang Binh said.
"However, they don't play the roles of adults well when they grow up, and most of them give up acting, " Binh said.
A decade ago, audiences were captured by scenes involving performances by a teenage actor, Hung Thuan who played the lead role in the well-known series Dat Phuong Nam (The Southern Land).
The series about the fight against French aggressors in a southern village provides the audience with scenes of rivers and forests, and the script includes stories and the traditional customs of southern people.
Thuan hasn't appeared in any films and series for many years. This year, the star child actor in 1999 was selected for a minor role in the new TV series Cong Mat Troi (The Sun Gate) featuring the life of a group of college students.
"Despite my love for performance, I can't act well like the young actors graduating from the Stage Arts and Cinematography College," Thuan said. — VNS