From an early age, Khanh Trieu has toed the limelight and enjoyed moments in the spotlight as a violinist in the Warwick Community Youth Orchestra (from age 6 to 14) and as an actor in Warwick West Primary School’s productions of The Nutcracker, Alice in Wonderland, Swan Lake and The Pirates of Penzance (from age 10 to 13). Trieu’s childhood exposure to performance enchanted him; music, television and motion pictures captivated him.
The adult Trieu studied acting at the Australian Academy of Dramatic Arts just three years after graduating from law school at the behest of his father, who would have preferred his son pursue a less-risky career path.
Drawing on his skillset that also includes over 18 years of martial arts training Trieu gained on set experience and financial reward working on high profile TV commercials for Peugeot, Panasonic, Uncle Ben’s Sauces, Mother Energy Drink, Wild Turkey and Nissan Australia.
He won the Make Your Mark NYE X film competition in 2010 and a talent scholarship to the New York Film Academy for 2010 which spurred him onto greater things.
Television roles in Australian series “Headland”, starring Rachael Taylor, and SBS’s “Housos” have made him a familiar face in the local entertainment industry. Other prominent Australian actors Trieu has worked with include Daniel Henshall, Patrick Brammell, Matthew Moore and Justin Smith in Tropfest film “Bars and Tone”.
In Australia’s Next Top Model 2011, a reality show hosted by Sarah Murdoch, his role as fight choreographer brought together his passion of martial arts and modeling, with Trieu instructing contestants on choreography he designed.
In “Convenience”, Trieu co-starred with actor David Field in a performance which garnered an official selection invitation to the Busan International Film Festival 2012 and had its world premiere at the festival in October 2012.
His foray into feature films include major Kollywood film “Thalaivaa” and independent films “Butterfly Crush”, “The System” and “Love Socks” (Official Selection at New York City International Film Festival 2015, premiering on 4th May 2015).
Other prominent roles include Opera Australia’s “Madama Butterfly”, Sydney Tallships’ “Attack of the Pirates” and Paul Fenech’s “Fat Pizza vs Housos”, which affirmed his status as a professional actor.
With an array of life experiences Trieu has a profound well of feelings to draw inspiration from and his career ambitions are motivated by his desire to entertain people and tell funny and exciting stories via film, tv and theatre.