Little-known stories about People's Artist Thu Hien's family

During the 2021 National Drama Festival, many audiences were surprised to see People's Artist Thu Hien appear in the VIP audience. She wore a black ao dai like when performing and sat watching very attentively.

People's Artist Thu Hien comes from a family of theater artists.

It turns out that the real brother of People's Artist Thu Hien is a veteran People's Artist in the theater industry: People's Artist Hoai Hue. On the stage of the Binh Dinh Bai Choi Opera Troupe, People's Artist Hoai Hue and People's Artist Ho Thu (Hoai Hue's wife) are two shining faces.

Nowadays, artist Hoai Hue performs less and has switched to directing and is known as the "award-winning boss" with most of the plays he directs being highly appreciated by experts, regularly winning gold and silver medals at theater festivals.

People's Artist Thu Hien's younger brother and his wife: People's Artist Hoai Hue and People's Artist Ho Thu's wife

People's Artist Thu Hien comes from a family of theater artists. Her father is Meritorious Artist Nguyen Hoai An, famous with the nickname Tam Ken of the Inter-Zone V Folk Song Troupe (the predecessor of the Binh Dinh Bai Choi Opera Troupe), her mother is the Thanh Hao Tuong opera actress, originally from Thai Binh, the daughter of a famous theater manager.

Passionate about singing since childhood, Thu Hien had a knack for the stage at the age of 10, and at the age of 15 she became a lead singer, her voice resounding from the North to the Central, on the fiercest battlefields such as Quang Tri. Until now, at the age of U70, she still maintains her powerful high-pitched voice and gentle beauty.

At the age of nearly 70, she still retains her powerful, high-pitched voice and gentle beauty.

People's Artist Thu Hien said: "I remember going to Quang Tri in 1972, I sang the songs "Looking at the tree, remembering you" and "Please don't come back" in the middle of Dong Ha land, at that time, to introduce to the Provisional Revolutionary Government. After that, I was ordered to go to Thach Han River (the largest river in Quang Tri province) to sing to the other side of the Citadel. At that time, I thought that the loudspeaker on the other side of the Citadel was very loud, our loudspeaker was very small and the river was wide, how could I sing like this to the other side? But the reality was even worse. I had to sing through a loudspeaker, I had to squeeze it to make a sound, I could sing a sentence and then forgot to squeeze it, and when I squeezed it, I forgot to sing. Then the political commissar took a very long stick and hit my back, and after the song was over, my back was in pain. But in the end, luckily I still completed the task of "transmitting the spirit" from one side of the river to the other side for my comrades."

The sweet, soulful voice of People's Artist Thu Hien quickly conquered the audience, turning her into an idol of the time.

People's Artist Thu Hien and her husband.

In a program called Quan Thanh Xuan, singer My Linh talked about the first days of performing with People's Artist Thu Hien, whom she affectionately called U Hien: "When Ms. Hien started singing, half of the audience were men who were fascinated. After singing, she sat next to me, and all the men with Central accents came out to express their admiration. She just sat there smiling gently, and gave me water, chocolate, candy, and cakes. I had nothing, she loved me, when I returned, I would share all those gifts in half."

My Linh said that the two of them had many memories from the times they performed together: “The first time I performed in Europe, I shared a room with U Hien. The crew warned me, “Be careful, U is very difficult.” But after a short time, U Hien and I became close friends and went out together every day. Sometimes U also scolded me, but I listened with pleasure, because U said things that I never got to “scold” about.”

With a voice that grew up on the battlefield, People's Artist Thu Hien's life is closely connected with soldiers, her husband is also a soldier - Hero of the Armed Forces Vu Ngoc Dinh. People's Artist Thu Hien said that she loves and is attached to her husband because of his simple lifestyle, understanding and sharing. In addition to the love between husband and wife, there is also the love between them, comrades in arms and also teammates.

People's Artist Thu Hien's husband is Armed Forces Hero Vu Ngoc Dinh.

People's Artist Thu Hien said that these days she sings less, mainly spending her time teaching vocal music. Regarding the job of inspiring her students, she shared: "I perform to ease my longing for the profession, because I love singing so much. When I satisfy my longing for the profession, I return to the young people, bringing the passion of the profession to the younger generation."