Meritorious Artist Chi Trung: 'I am one of the first autistic patients in Vietnam'

For the audience who love the showSee you at the end of the year, surely everyone will remember a charming, humorous artist with profound lines - Meritorious Artist Chi Trung. In a conversation with PV at the end of the year, Meritorious Artist Chi Trung shared many thoughts about his career, his life and the factors that created the artist Chi Trung of today.

Meritorious Artist Chi Trung enjoys life after retirement and continues to act in films. (Photo: Ngoc Linh)

There are a few comedians, of which People's Artist Cong Ly is a living example, who are very successful in taking on dramatic roles. Has Meritorious Artist Chi Trung ever thought that one day he would try to take on different types of roles in the dramatic format?

- From 1981-1990, I only played dramatic roles on stage: Romeo, Hamlet, Othello... In Vietnamese films, I also played dramatic roles many times, including the role of King Tran Nhan Tong and Tran Thu Do. But from 1990-1992, when my body started to gain weight and my voice became hoarse, I naturally discovered that I had a talent for comedy. From then until now, no matter how much the director assigned me a dramatic role, as soon as I appeared, the audience would burst out laughing for no reason, so no one dared to assign me dramatic roles.

I also wish to have a role change, a transformation, but it probably requires real research. From demeanor, gestures, and dressing style, everything must change. Mr. Ly has transformed into many different types of roles, from a strict father to a gangster, and has been very successful. Mr. Ly has the advantage of a strict face and body. As for me, if I act harshly now, no one will believe me. If I play a good person, the audience will somehow guess that by episode 2, I am a traitor and a corrupt person.(laugh).

A person with such a kind face on the outside, why does the audience always think of him as a traitor and greedy character every time he appears on screen?

- This is the first time someone told me this. I have confided in many newspapers but no one wrote about it. I think I am a good person, I am also the Director of the Youth Theater, I am loved and respected by people, but why do the directors only see my bad side?

Meritorious Artist Chi Trung: "I am kind but directors always see through my meanness." (Photo: Ngoc Linh)

Audiences have always loved Meritorious Artist Chi Trung both on television and on stage, perhaps because of his natural, profound and penetrating acting in each line. As for you, what do you think has created such a Chi Trung in the acting profession?

- In my opinion, it is the ingredients of life, from social background to family that have shaped each of my words on stage. And another important thing, I am one of the rare artists who read a lot. I read books, stories, newspapers, and follow all the changes in the world. Each role in Tao Quan is drawn from within me. Each word I say seems to contain a whole life.

Meritorious Artist Chi Trung: "It's hard for anyone to succeed me in Tao Quan"

The artists who played Tao Quan with Meritorious Artist Chi Trung such as Xuan Bac and Cong Ly have also gradually retired and found their successors. But now, to find a face to replace him in Tao Quan, who will Meritorious Artist Chi Trung think of?

- It's very difficult! I was lucky to be born and raised in the period of innovation of my country. I witnessed and experienced important events of the whole nation. The flow of history gave me a solid foundation of social knowledge.

My family has had many ups and downs. Since I was 4 years old, I have understood what it means when my parents split up. Sometimes I lived with my father, sometimes with my mother, forming in me an independence in my thinking.

Due to such circumstances, my thoughts on everything in life were very serious and precise, even stoic. If I am not mistaken, I was probably one of the first autistic patients in Vietnam, but at that time people did not know the name of autism.

On the 30th of Tet, Hanoi was cold and drizzling. I walked out onto the street and cried. The rain and tears just blended together. Even now, even though I am a comedian, every time people are happy, I feel sad. Because my life is not full and my whole life has been hard. From my youth to adulthood and still hard now.

In the years 82-83, I worked at the Theater and struggled to earn money. At night I dressed up to play Romeo, and in the morning I went to the flea market to sell motorbikes. I sold rice, electronics, light bulbs... everything. What I experienced created a Chi Trung that is hard for anyone to succeed.

Meritorious Artist Chi Trung has spent 44 years working on the stage. (Photo: Ngoc Linh)

At this age, does Meritorious Artist Chi Trung have any dreams or wishes for himself?

- My biggest dream is to be able to rest and watch movies.(laugh)I will watch all kinds of movies, read all the good books that I haven't read yet.

It seems that for people in their youth, it gets harder and harder, but when they reach a certain middle age, they crave freedom and being able to do what they like?

- I have confided in the press many times. After 44 years of working, 61 years of life, I just discovered that I have forgotten someone. That is myself.

Decades ago, when I was the leader of a troupe that performed in all 63 provinces and cities, I knew every mound of land, every clump of trees, every bush of grass from Ca Mau Cape to Lung Cu. I called every business and every local leader so they could approach the art and sell tickets to the theater. It was a habit for all those years that I went to the theater at 6:30 a.m. to make coffee, and I left at 11 p.m. when the last performance ended and the audience went home. After 44 years like that, when I retired, I discovered that there are still so many things in this life that I have to cherish.

What do you think you need to cherish?

- First is my own health, I just threw myself into work, rolling around all day without valuing my health. When I retired, stepping out of the theater, I looked up at the sky and saw blue, I went to the beach and saw the sea was strangely beautiful, looking at the trees and grass I felt fresh. Because when I retired, I no longer had to think about tickets, no longer had to look at anyone to sell. I found life very easy!

So since I retired, I did not dare to return to my working environment. Returning to my old environment, I looked at my younger siblings and felt so sorry for them. Because this job is so hard. They practiced hard for months in exchange for 200,000 VND for a performance. I told the Director of the Youth Theater Nguyen Si Tien: "When you really need me, call me." Don't call me anymore because I'm so scared! I love my younger siblings very much, but now please let me live a normal life.

Thank you Meritorious Artist Chi Trung for sharing information!