Hiep Thi Le

Star of Oliver Stone’’s HEAVEN AND EARTH, Hiep was chosen from thousands of candidates to make her acting debut in the challenging role of Le Ly Hayslip, a woman swept up in the chaos of the Vietnam War. The film would take her close to her roots in a story that closely paralleled her own life. Born in Danang, Central Vietnam, Hiep became one of the “boat people” at age eight in 1979, when her mother was forced to take the children on a dangerous journey across the South China Sea along with 63 other refugees. Hiep was finally reunited with her family many months later after immigrating to California from a refugee camp in Hong Kong. She has since earned her college degree from U.C. Davis and gone on to star in independent films and on television in roles ranging from drama to the far out comedy of TRACEY TAKES ON. She can soon be seen in THE GREEN DRAGON opposite Forrest Whitaker.