Bao Anh: 19 years in police uniform and the challenge of the Borderline
After 19 years of being attached to the image of a soldier, actress Bao Anh faces a new challenge with the political film 'The Borderline', which requires psychological depth and complex legal dialogue.
New challenge for political films
Actor Pham Bao Anh returns to the small screen with his familiar role as a police officer in the political drama "The Borderline". Despite having nearly two decades of experience, he admits that this role is "much heavier and more stressful" than his previous crime projects.
In the film, Bao Anh plays the role of Quyet Thang. He shared that the political film genre is a genre he used to avoid because of its difficulty, not focusing on action but on psychology and dialogue. "Reading the script already felt the pressure. The lines in 'The Line' are mostly technical, with many complex professional terms. The actors are forced to concentrate to properly express the spirit of the character and the profession," Bao Anh said.
According to the actor, the most difficult part of the film is to show the mind-boggling battle between characters in the investigation agency and the prosecutor's office. "Unlike previous crime films that only focused on investigating and chasing criminals, 'The Line' deeply depicts the legality and the struggle between right and wrong. The difficulty lies not in the action but in the psychological depth and the accuracy of each line," he revealed.
19 years and a steadfast choice for the police uniform
2025 marks 19 years that Bao Anh has played a police officer on screen. He sees this as a special journey and humorously shares: "My ultimate goal is still to be the actor who plays the police officer the most."
Explaining the appeal of this image, Bao Anh said that the role of a police officer represents justice and reason. "Many people ask why I don't try a villain role, but doing bad things is easy, doing good things is difficult. I choose the difficult role because I want to spread positivity," he said. He affirmed that he always prioritizes the role of a soldier, even when invited to play a villain role at the same time. "If I were invited to play two roles at the same time, one evil role and one police role, I would still choose the police role, even though I have less screen time."
From "Life and Death" to Confidence with "The Line"
Bao Anh said that although wearing the same green shirt, the role in "The Borderline" requires more precision in dialogue and legality than previous roles such as in the movie "The Unique Way".
He also recalled his decision to turn down a role in the film "Sinh Tu" 6 years ago because he felt he was not capable enough. "When I read the script, the first scene already had two pages of dialogue. I knew I would not be able to keep up with the filming schedule, so I decided to give the role to someone more suitable," he explained. At that time, despite having 12 years of experience, he still felt he needed to gain more experience before trying his hand at political films.
After 6 years, Bao Anh said he was confident and experienced enough to take on the challenge of "The Line". "Now I feel everything is familiar. The specialized dialogues of the police force are like breathing to me, like daily life", he said.
With an image that is so familiar, Bao Anh said that in real life, many audiences still think he is a real police officer. Through his role in "The Borderline", the actor hopes that audiences will feel the sincerity and psychological depth of a soldier on the silent front.
