Maria Tran
| Maria Tran | |
|---|---|
 On the set of "Hit Girls" | |
| Born |
Trần Vũ Hồng Phương 30 January 1985 Brisbane, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | Bachelor of Psychology, University of Western Sydney |
| Known for | Actress, producer, director |
| Awards | 2016 Breakout Female Action Star at Action on Film Fest |
| Website | http://www.mariatran.com |
Maria Tran (born January 30, 1985) is an Australian-born Vietnamese actress, martial artist,[1] producer and director.[2] She is known for developing the martial arts action film genre in Australia[3] via the Asian diaspora communities of Western Sydney[4] through her shorts such as Hit Girls, Gaffa, Enter The Dojo; her contributions on Australian television; Maximum Choppage and movies outside of Australia; Roger Corman's Fist of the Dragon, Death Mist and Vietnamese action blockbuster Tracer. Tran is pivotal to the creative development of the Australian Vietnamese film movement that challenges gender stereotypes and the exploration of "female action".[4]
Early life
Tran was born and raised in Brisbane, Australia. She moved a lot during her childhood years as her migrant parents were looking for work. She went to Dinmore State School, Camira State School and then moved to Sydney and attended Villawood Public School, Fairfield West Public School and attended Westfields Sports High School, Sunnybank High School, Canley Vale High School before graduating in 2002. She studied at the University of Western Sydney and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Psychology in 2007.
While growing up and watching action comedies by Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock and during her university years, she collaborated on a local filmmaker; Timothy Ly and other Western Sydney filmmakers and made Australia’s first kung fu urban action movie “Maximum Choppage: Round 2”.[5][6] Despite being shot on a handy cam and no good sound was recorded, critics have praised it for its fight choreography and comic timing.[6]
Career
Community work
In 2007, Maria enrolled in a free community film making workshop called the Youth Digital Cultures film program[7] through Information & Cultural Exchange (ICE). She completed it and took over the coordinator's role and worked as an educator[8] running programs for at risk young people from culturally diverse backgrounds. She has guest lectured several instances at the Australian National University on filmmaking and digital media.[9][10] In 2013, Tran directed her first theatre production working with students from Fairfield High School and Lurnea High School called "Press Play"; a multimedia and interactive journey of young people from migrant backgrounds.[11]
Maria Tran was elected as vice-president (External Affairs) for the Vietnamese Community of Australia - New South Wales (VCA-NSW) from 2013-2015. She volunteered in various capacities and was invited to speak at the 2014 National Youth Vietnamese Conference held in Melbourne on the issues of Vietnamese-Australians in film, television and the media.
Film making career
In 2008, Maria's documentary-drama Happy Dent won Shortcuts Film Festival for Best Film and Achievement in Directing. This award lead her to a meeting with a TV network executive and she went on to make TV micro series "Downtown Rumble", 6 part kung fu action micro series which aired at the end of that year.
In 2009, Maria was awarded the Metroscreen Multicultural Mentorship Scheme for her short film script "A Little Dream", which was granted seed funding and Maria directed the film with the mentorship by Khoa Do.[12][13]
In 2011, Maria pursued documentary filmmaking with her quirky self transmedia documentary "Quest for Jackie!" which is about a young girl's filmmaking plight as well as meeting her action idol; Jackie Chan. She travel to Brisbane, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Tasmania in 21 days to connect with Jackie Chan fans and stories of the "underdog". With hundreds of hours of footage, this project remains incomplete.[14][15][16] In July, 2016, Screen NSW gave Maria a stunt attachment position on board of Jackie Chan's movie "Bleeding Steel" as it shoots in Sydney.She has been learning from the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and has seen Jackie, but has yet to officially meet him and complete her documentary.[17]
She was also the 2011 NSW State Champion and represented the state at National Film Pitching Competition held at Metroscreen.[18]
In 2012, she directed and produced many short action films with Trung Ly and Adrian Castro with subsequent works such as Enter The Dojo, Gaffa, and award winning action comedy Hit Girls; which she wrote, produced and directed. Maria was also a recipient of the Screen NSW Emerging Producer Placement in the same year.[13]
In 2013, she was approached by Cancer Council and Information & Cultural Exchange (ICE) to produced and directed the movie Change of Our Lives.[19] The film was officially selected for the Viet Film Festival 2014.
Maria worked on Roger Corman's mixed martial arts movie Fist of the Dragon in Nanhai, China as killer assassin "Zhen" as well as fight supervisor for fight choreographer Trung Ly and director Antony Szeto in 2014.
In 2015, Maria flew over to Vietnam to be part of the making of Vietnamese action blockbuster Tracer/ Truy Sat. She played female antagonist "Phuong Lua" and executed spectacular fight sequences against Vietnam's leading actress Truong Ngoc Anh.[20]
Currently she is writing an original screenplay for a Vietnamese historical epic The Drums of Me Linh as well as action comedy Fury of the Far East; combining martial arts expertise and the supernatural, was awarded seed funding from ICE's Produce Perfect program to be developed into a proof of concept for television.[21]
Maria occasionally teaches at AFTRS via the Open Program in Stage Combat/ Fight Choreography and the holiday filmmaking programs and run workshops in regional NSW.[22]
Acting career
- 2016 - Maria is one of the stars in Truy Sat/ Tracer .
- 2015 - She had minor roles on ABC shows "How Not to Behave" and a role of a Vietnamese mother; "Hoang" on Channel 9's Love Child; Season 3.
- 2014- She is the antagonist in “Fist of the Dragon”, playing Zhen,
- 2013 She played Charlie Vu in award-winning short film "Hit Girls".
- 2012 - Maria was also in short film "Enter The Dojo" and "Gaffa"
- 2009 - She play "Mai Le" in logie winner ABC TV's "My Place"
Filmography
| Year | Title | Alternative title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | "Downtown Rumble" (ABC-JTV Series) | Aprentice | Directed by Ryan Peters,
Produced by Maria Tran | |
| 2009 | "My Place" (ABC TV series) | Mai Le | Directed by Saun Seet | |
| 2012 | "Enter The Dojo" | Fighter | Directed my Adrian Castro, Produced by Maria Tran. | |
| 2012 | "Hit Girls" (Action Comedy) | 《职业女杀手》 | Charlie Vu (Lead role) | Co-directed by Adrian Castro and Maria Tran |
| 2013 | "Fist of the Dragon" (Action) | 《猛龍追擊8小時》 | Zhen | Produced by Roger Corman, Directed by Antony Szeto |
| 2015 | "How Not To Behave" (ABC TV series) | Beach Girl | Directed by Craig Anderson | |
| 2015 | "Cybersquad" (Short) | Trang | Directed by Nick Hanson, Produced by Ben Maclaine | |
| 2015 | "Maximum Choppage" (ABC TV series) | Stunt double for "Petal" | Directed by Craig Melville, Associate Produced by Maria Tran. Production Company Matchbox Pictures | |
| 2015 | "The Challenge Letter" | 《挑戰書》 | Jennifer | Directed by Robert Chen
Produced by Nathan Colquhoun |
| 2016 | Tracer | Truy Sát | Phuong Lua | Produced by Truong Ngoc Anh, Directed by Cuong Ngo |
Awards
- Maria Tran was nominated and won the Breakout Female Action Star (Feature Film Category) at the 2016 Action on Film International Festival for her role "Zhen" in Roger Corman's Fist of the Dragon.
- Maria Tran won the Breakout Action Actress award at the 2013 Action on Film International Festival for her portrayal of the character Charlie Vu in the female assassin comedy, Hit Girls[17]. This award was also shared with actress Juju Chan.
- Short film "Happy Dent", which Maria directed won Best Film and Achievement in Directing at the 2008 Shortcuts Film Festival.[23]
- Short film "Gaffa", which Maria produced won the HOYTS People's Choice Awards at the 2009 Joyhouse Film Festival.
- She is the People's Choice and Runners Up for "Dreamgirls" multicultural pageant in 2014[24][25][26]
- Maria has been selected as part of the 2016 Ones to Watch Producers in Australia.[27]
References
- ↑ "Maria Tran". Martial Arts Entertainment. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
- ↑ "Maria Tran". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
- ↑ Wah, Annette Shun. "Urban Action forum - Performance4a". www.performance4a.org.au. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
- 1 2 Khoo, Olivia; Smaill, Belinda; Yue, Audrey (2013-03-08). Transnational Australian Cinema: Ethics in the Asian Diasporas. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739173251.
- ↑ "Suburban kung-fu film direct from Cabramatta". if.com.au. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
- 1 2 "Indie Kick! Review: Maximum Choppage Round 2 (2008)". Kiai-Kick!. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
- ↑ Dreher, Tanja (2012). "A partial promise of voice: digital storytelling and the limit of listening". Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy. 142: 157–166. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
- ↑ ArtsHub. "Maria Tran, actor, filmmaker & educator". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
- ↑ School, Head of. "Vietlish! New media of the Vietnamese Diaspora - School of Archaeology and Anthropology - ANU - School of Archaeology and Anthropology - ANU". archanth.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
- ↑ Salazar, Juan Francisco (2010-08-01). "Digital stories and emerging citizens' media practices by migrant youth in Western Sydney". Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.
- ↑ "CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAM 2012". Fairfield High School School Newsletter.
- ↑ "Multicultural Mentorship Films Screening-WHATS ON-Activities/Hobbies-PADDINGTON". www.manlyclassifieds.com.au. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
- 1 2 "Screen NSW". www.screen.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
- ↑ ArtsHub. "Maria Tran, actor, filmmaker & educator". Retrieved 2016-06-28.
- ↑ "SPEAKERS". 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
- ↑ "Maria Tran - on the search for Jackie Chan". ABC Brisbane. 2010-09-13. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
- ↑ "Screen NSW". www.screen.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2016-07-28.
- ↑ "Metro Screen announces NSW filmmaking champion: Maria Tran". ins1.if.com.au. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
- ↑ Caines, Kimberley (2013-07-23). "Change Our Lives film breaks new ground in hepatitis fight". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
- ↑ "Maria Tran brings out the big guns in Tracer's Australian premiere". if.com.au. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
- ↑ Stone, Lucy (2016-06-30). "Following in the footsteps of Jackie Chan". Retrieved 2016-06-30.
- ↑ STANFORD, LAUREN (2014-01-19). "Young movie makers get a taste of the real thing". Retrieved 2016-06-28.
- ↑ Tseen (2008-04-10). "PRESS RELEASE - Youth Week Shortcut's Film Festival Winner (Fairfield Powerhouse, NSW)". Asian Australian Studies News. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
- ↑ Mat, Nguyen (2014-08-01). "Sen Trắng: MARIA TRẦN - Carramar girl in running to be Bollywood star!". Sen Trắng. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
- ↑ Perez, Bianca. "Bollywood is the next target for Maria Tran". Fairfield City Champion. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
- ↑ "Maria Tran and her journey to DreamGirls 2014". SBS Your Language. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
- ↑ "Ones To Watch » Screen Producers Australia". screenproducers.org.au. Retrieved 2016-05-24.