After crossing an ocean, Hiep Thi Le has made it to college and taken the lead in Heaven and Earth
Vietnamese peasant farmers have always referred to themselves as gao kho,the word for rice chaff, in reference to the impermanence of their lives and the
great disasters that have blown them like the winds from their homes. But Hiep Thi Le, a senior at the U. of California, Davis, has shown that she is made of weightier stuff and that, no matter what winds blow, she has the ability to remain.
Hiep, star of Oliver Stone's upcoming film Heaven and Earth, left Vietnam as a "boat person" in 1979, a 9-year-old fleeing with only her 7-year-old sister. After time in a refugee camp in Hong Kong, she was reunited with her family in 1981 and settled down with them in San Francisco. Maybe it's these early hardships that account for her unassuming manner. Hiep isn't pretentious about her imminent fame. She sees it as a diversion from her college studies.
So how does a 23-year-old physiology major with no acting experience except the standard high school play (which Hiep describes as "a big flop") land a role in an Oliver Stone movie?
"It was really an accident," she says.
At home to relax after midterms, her friends decided to attend one of the open casting calls that director Stone held across the United States. Hiep went on the condition that afterward the group would still go out for the evening in San Jose. She auditioned "just for fun."
When she got back to Davis, Hiep's roommate (in typical roommate fashion) told her that "someone fro m Los Angeles called." Hiep didn't call back. "I don't know anyone in Los Angeles,"
she says. Several days later she received another message with the instructions to call back collect. She finally called, although she thought it was a joke. It wasn't.
She was flown to Los Angeles to audition for Stone. Thinking her first meeting with Stone would be her last, Hiep asked to have her picture taken with him as proof to show her friends. Shortly after Hiep went home, Stone decided she was perfect for the part.
When Hiep began five months of filming in October, she says she felt nervous about her acting ability. But she wasn't nervous at all about working with stars like Joan Chen (Twin Peaks), Tommy Lee Jones (JFK, The Fugitive) and Dr. Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields) because she she didn't realize who they were. "I thought they were all like me - normal people," she says.
Despite Hiep's lack of theatrical training, her background makes her
well suited for her role as Le Ly Hayslip. The movie chronicles the life of Hayslip, a young Vietnamese woman who survives the occupation of her native land, marries an American Marine, moves to the United States and eventually returns in 1986 to the place of her birth to deal with her past. Both Hiep and her character are from the same part of Vietnam and are intimately acquainted with the effects of the war that tore apart their country for nearly 30 years. Since leaving Vietnam, Hayslip has spent her life helping heal the wounds of her country. Hiep has worked with several foundations to organize relief for the refugee camps in Hong Kong, Thailand and the Philippines.
Hiep with Le Ly Nayslip, who inspired Heaven and Earth
For Hiep, returning to her homeland to film was an emotional pilgrimage.
"The day when the producers told me I would be returning to the country where I was born, all I could do was cry and cry. I am still awestruck," she told a reporter in Vietnam.
"I was crawling out of my skin with excitement," Hiep says, remembering when the day came to leave for Vietnam.
Hiep, who was studying to be a nurse, decided to become a physician after seeing the clinics Hayslip founded. Back at Davis, she has resumed her studies in physiology. Surprisingly, dealing with sudden fame has not become a problem. Hiep says no one on campus treats her differently because, simply, "No one knows who I am."
Although Hiep's plans for the future don't include acting, she looks forward to a medical career. "I have always wanted to be something," she says, "as long as I don't disappoint myself."
Hey, isn't that...?
You're standing in line at the dining hall when you see, well, Darlene. If you're smart, you won't make a crack.
For student celebrities like Roseanne's Sara Gilbert, tests and papers are nothing compared to the demands of their high-profile careers.
SARA GILBERT
School: Yale U.
Major: psychology
Age: 18
Known for: playing
Darlene on the sitcom
Roseanne. She also
starred in Poison Ivy.
The powers that be at Roseanne didn't want to lose Gilbert to Yale, so they set up a New York location to film episodes including her character, who's also in college.
"I've really tried to just be a student and my classmates, roommates and professors have all been very respectful of that," she says.
SHAI
School: Howard U.
Majors: music, English,science and political science
Ages: 22-24
Known for: their top 40 singles "If I Ever Fall In Love" and "Baby I'm Yours."
The four members — Carl Martin, Marc Gay, Darnell Van Rensalier and Garfield Bright — hit it big just as they were leaving college.
Gay graduated in 1992, and the other members left Howard as seniors. But the four still consider the campus their favorite haunt. "It's still like home," Martin says. "Sometimes freshmen flip when they find out. But everyone else is like, 'Hey, what's up?' That's why we go there."
CHRIS O'DONNELL School: Boston College Major: business marketing Age: 23
Known for: earning a
Golden Globe nomination for playing opposite Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. This fall, he stars in Disney's The Three Musketeers.
O'Donnell, a senior, says he enjoys his fame. But he's also trying to keep it in perspective.
"I may never be in a position like this for the rest of my life," he says. "In a year, I could be trying to get Circus of the Stars going with David Hasselhoff." Bethany Matsko, The Post, Ohio U.
Matt Hendrickson, The Heights Boston College, also contributed to this report.
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By Shawn Lingo, The California Aggie, U. of California, Davis
U. Magazine
DECEMBER 1993