Anh Thư

The pinnacle of career

She started her career while still in high school. In 2000, she won the runner-up prize of Miss Nguyễn Hiền High School. In the same year, the school sent her to participate in the Giọt mực tím dễ thương (Cute purple ink drops) organized by the City Youth Union and the Youth Cultural House and won the "Giọt mực tím dễ thương thứ ba" prize (i.e. the second Runner-up) and the Miss Hazeline award from the sponsor, becoming the representative face of Hazeline.^[8]

After that, she participated in Miss Vietnam 2000 organized by Tiền Phong newspaper and reached the top 22.^[9] A year later, she participated in the Miss Vietnam Photogenic 2001 contest organized by Women's World newspaper and reached the top 10, along with award: Most Favorite Beauty award voted and Miss Civic White, and also became the representative model of the Vera brand.

Anh Thư first ventured into acting when director Hồ Ngọc Xum invited her to star in his TV series "Sương gió biên thùy" (2002), which received a nomination in the Golden Kite category for TV dramas in 2002.^[10]

In 2002, modeling in Vietnam was still new and prejudiced, not yet recognized as a profession by the Ministry of Culture and was only considered a supporting role in art programs, such as Charming Vietnam Gala, Huế Festival, Anh Thư became the first Vietnamese female model and the second model in history to appear in a national television commercial (TVC) officially when she was chosen as the main advertising model for Ajinomoto and then became an ambassador for many other brands and programs. Even before that, in 1999, she and Ngô Thanh Vân co-starred in a TVC for the campaign to launch the Sirius line of motorbikes in the Vietnamese market of the Yamaha brand, but at that time, Thanh Vân was working as a singer and had not yet worked as a model, so she was the first model to be recorded in a nationally televised commercial. By 2003, Anh Thư continued to participate in advertising campaigns and TVCs for Acecook and Enchanteur. Her influence along with other big names in the fashion industry such as designers Minh Hạnh, Sỹ Hoàng, Đức Hùng, ... models Trương Ngọc Ánh, Vũ Cẩm Nhung, Ngô Mỹ Uyên, Ngọc Thúy, ... created conditions for the establishment of official catwalks dedicated to models, such as: Vietnam Fashion Week, Fashion and Life, Fashion and Passion, Đẹp Fashion Show.^[11][12]

After 3 years of successful activities and making her mark as a pioneering commercial model in the modeling industry, along with the formation of mainstream fashion shows, Anh Thư began to focus on developing a high fashion career. She appeared more and more on major domestic shows, and reached her peak when she took on the lead role in the movie "Long-legged Girls" (2004).^[13]

On November 7, 2004, Long-Legged Girls won the Silver Lotus Award at the 14th Vietnam Film Festival, which was also the first time a film by a private company participated in the Vietnam Film Festival and won an award. A resounding commercial success, the film became a milestone that brought Anh Thư's name to the spotlight, recognized as the most successful and highest-paid model of the 2000s. She appeared frequently in many famous major magazines such as Cinema Theater, Marketing and Family, Fine Arts, Beauty, Women's World, Women's World, Sports World and Men.^[b][14]

On January 29, 2005, Anh Thư won Golden Apricot Award 2004 for Actress in Film and Television, becoming the first Vietnamese female model in history to be honored at a national film award.^[15] Her success consolidated and created a great influence on the movement of models acting in films later on, followed by faces such as Bằng Lăng, Ngô Thanh Vân, Trương Ngọc Ánh, Thanh Hằng, Trang Trần. Two days later, at the Model of the Year awards ceremony organized by Thanh Niên Fashion Club, she received two awards for best model and most favorite model voted by fashion enthusiasts and audiences nationwide, bringing her a hat-trick of awards with the fastest record of being awarded, in just 3 days, until it was broken by singer Mỹ Tâm with 3 consecutive music awards at the 2011 Green Wawe Awards, however, as a female model and actress in particular, she is still the only one holding this record until now.^[16][17]

During the golden age of her career, Anh Thư's image was not only covered in newspapers, magazines, and fashion shows, but also on banners, advertising campaigns, and major TVCs at that time. She was a pioneer in opening the era of exclusive advertising between models and brands that developed strongly in Vietnam.^[18][19] She was often considered one of the iconic fashion models invited to appear in the first generation of advertisements. Anh Thư works as a brand ambassador for all three famous cosmetics and skin care brands belonging to the multinational Unilever system: Pond's, Lux, Sunsilk, participating in Lux's cross-Southeast Asia trade promotion advertising campaign with Thai supermodel Marsha Vadhanapanich, and is also the representative face for Pepsi, Anlene, Yamaha, Ajinomoto,... Her family's model management company, Professional Look, is also the agency with the largest number of exclusive models in the country, leading in the number of exclusive contracts at that time.^[20][21]

After the "Long-legged Girls", Anh Thư accepted the invitation to star alongside actor Bình Minh in the short film called "Nửa phía bên kia" by veteran director Le Hoàng Hoa.^[22] The completed film is considered the premise for his favorite project, "The Ghost of Hui Family Returns", a follow-up to the success of the hit film "The Ghost of Hui Family" (1973) from decades ago. However, he died while the project was still in its gestation stage.^[23][24]

In 2006, the Golden Rose Awards were held to honor the achievements of young women in the fields of culture and arts including literature, cinema, theater, music and fashion. Anh Thư won the Best Model category. In the same year, she starred in two works: the movie Truong Ba's Soul, Butcher's Skin (2006) by Nguyễn Quang Dũng and the TV series Tropical Snow (2006) by Vũ Ngọc Đãng.^[25] Rooted in a muddy, stagnant land and exploited in the direction of idol dramas with the main inspiration of fairy tales of love in everyday life, "Tropical Snow" has attracted many audiences from young to old and has become one of the small screen fever phenomena in 2006, bringing M&T Pictures a Silver Kite in the category of long-running dramas organized by the Vietnam Cinema Association VCA for the 5th time. At the same time, Anh Thư received two nominations in the category of film and television actress of the year at the Mai Vang Awards and the category of most favorite leading actress at the HTV Awards. Having worked closely with the director of the film "Mouse" (Chuột) through two famous films recognized by the academic community, Anh Thư is often called the first muse of Vũ Ngọc Đãng.^[26]

In 2007, Anh Thư returned to the big screen with the classic "Muoi: The Legend of a Portrait", co-starring with Bình Minh and Hồng Ánh. This was the first horror film in Vietnam after 1975, and was the first shot that opened the horror film movement in Vietnam later on. In the film, she played the female ghost Muoi, a haunting image that made her known as one of the most typical female horror ghosts of Vietnamese cinema at that time. In 2008, she starred in "Bird of Paradise" after a period of absence from the small screen, the film won the 7th Silver Kite Award.^[27]

Reduce activities

At the peak of her career, she gradually reduced her activities to take care of her family. During her ten years of absence, a new name appeared and became the second "Vietnam's photogenic queen" Thanh Hằng.^[28]

In 2012, Anh Thư accepted an invitation to participate in the Dancing with the Stars contest – a reality TV show jointly produced by Vietnam Television and Cát Tiên Sa Company and won the final Bronze Prize.

In 2017, Anh Thư made a brief return to the stage with 10 closing shows and a guest role in "Tháng năm rực rỡ" by director Nguyễn Quang Dũng. Despite creating a strong impact on the public and being sought after at the time of its premiere, she did not choose to continue her career.^[29]

In 2021, she participated in the movie "Sám hối". Then she was a judge of Miss Grand Vietnam 2022. In 2023, she participated in the movie "Flower King" of VieOn, she caused a surprise effect when participating in the movie "Muoi: The Curse Returns", during this time she appeared continuously on fashion shows. She was a coach at the program The Face Vietnam with Vũ Thu Phương, Kỳ Duyên and Minh Triệu, in final walk her contestant Huỳnh Tú Anh winner.^[30][31]

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Music video

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Judger/Contestant

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