Artist Thoại Miêu joins livestream group to earn extra money, receives 'disdainful' comments from netizens

Recently, on the channel What's in Vietnamese Showbiz, People's Artist Thoại Miêu shared about her current life at the age of 72 and opened up after Meritorious Artist Thoại Mỹ cried bitterly on livestream after reading the comment: "Artists are out of date so they have to sell products online".

She said: "It's so difficult to sing these days, I have to do a second job. That's why my two sisters (Meritorious Artist Thoai My) opened an online store. But reading that comment, I was shocked. I thought I didn't do anything bad, I also live streamed, sang one song after another to serve the audience, just like me singing.

After that, I held back my emotions and apologized to the audience for crying because Thoại Mỹ was so upset. After that time, Thoại Mỹ told me that I worked to support my family, to earn a living, not to cheat and cheat, so there was nothing to be afraid of. Therefore, my sister and I calmed down and continued our online sales work. Now, if we keep listening to public opinion, how can we live? What will we have to live on?

Even when I sang on shows, I felt very self-conscious. I told myself, I have never sung on shows like this before, why am I singing like this now? But then I thought about it and realized, I am singing to serve the audience, not doing anything bad. I still have a decent job, singing to serve the audience and earn money, not doing anything bad that I should feel self-conscious about.

Before, I felt very self-conscious about singing on shows, but then I saw artists like Le Thuy, Chau Thanh, Minh Vuong... all singing on shows. Everyone is doing it for a living and still bringing their songs to serve the people, so I do the same, there's nothing to be ashamed of.

I also work very hard singing shows like that, every night I don't get home until 1 or 2 am. Not to mention, if I go singing far away, I don't get home until 4 or 5 am. The money I receive is also my sweat and tears, not free, I have to exchange to get money.

Selling online is just as difficult. I had to think for 2 years before deciding to sell online. When I first started selling, I was still able to sell, but then there were too many people selling, everyone was selling online so I sold less, and I didn't make much profit."

People's Artist Thoai Mieu is one of the few exceptional actresses. While other artists became famous for their leading roles, People's Artist Thoai Mieu achieved great success thanks to her secondary roles.

People's Artist Thoại Miêu's hometown is in Quảng Nam - Đà Nẵng, but she was born (in 1953) and grew up in Saigon. People's Artist Thoại Miêu's real name is Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Hoa, people often call her Ngọc Hoa. In the family, there are 12 siblings (5 boys, 7 girls) but only the older sister (fifth) and the youngest sister, Meritorious Artist Thoại Mỹ, follow cải lương. Since childhood, Ngọc Hoa loved cải lương but her family was poor so she did not have the conditions to go to the theater. At that time, her adoptive grandmother's family was quite wealthy, so Ngọc Hoa asked her parents to let her live with her adoptive grandmother.

The female artist went to school and helped her grandmother with housework so that on Saturday nights, her grandmother would take her to the theater to watch cải lương. Having seen performances at the Da Ly Huong, Thanh Minh - Thanh Nga troupes, Ngoc Hoa idolized Thanh Nga and My Chau. When she got home, Ngoc Hoa often hummed. Having loved cải lương, when she heard Ngoc Hoa sing, her grandmother realized that her singing voice had potential. Her grandmother took Ngoc Hoa to the musician Muoi Phu to learn traditional singing and cải lương for nearly 3 years. During this time, Ngoc Hoa practiced by following teacher Muoi Phu to sing at the musician's shop or at traditional singing parties, so her breath, voice, and rhythm were stable.

In 1969, Ngoc Hoa was specially admitted to the Saigon National School of Music and Drama, Department of Cai Luong Actors. Ngoc Hoa studied in the same class as Do Quyen and Tai Luong (sisters of People's Artists Tai Linh and Chi Linh) and this class only had 3 students. All 3 were taught by famous Cai Luong masters such as People's Artist Nguyen Thanh Chau, People's Artist Phung Ha, Artist Duy Lan, Artist Kim Cuc, Artist Bich Thuan, Artist Mai Thanh, so later, all 3 artists became famous. At the end of 1971, when graduating from school, Ngoc Hoa was already firmly established in singing and acting.

During her time at school, Ngoc Hoa was invited by the Drama Troupe of artist Chin Som and artist Duy Chuc to collaborate on Saigon Radio. She remembers that at that time, she, Ngoc Dan Thanh (who was living abroad) and artists Tu Trinh and Mai Thanh were famous on Saigon Radio with the radio opera Tran Minh Kho Chuoi by composer Duy Lan.

In addition, Mr. Nam Chau established the Nu Ban group for the school's students to practice their profession. Ngoc Hoa also became famous with the trio in the play Truong Han: Ngoc Hoa as Duong Quy Phi, Do Quyen as An Loc Son and Tai Luong as Duong Minh Hoang. When the trio officially graduated, Do Quyen and Tai Luong were accepted by the troupe manager to sing; Ngoc Hoa was also invited by the troupe manager but was not allowed to sing... Because, Ngoc Hoa's adoptive grandmother, although she loved Cai Luong, considered Cai Luong "a lowly singer". At that time, Ngoc Hoa was sad and often cried secretly because her dream did not come true.

After the play The Tyrant was the play The Durian Tree Blossoms by composer Hoai Linh, which was very popular at that time and was performed from the South to the North. In this play, People's Artist Le Thuy sang the main role, and Artist Huong Lan sang the second role, Tuyet Mai. Artist Huong Lan sang for about a year then asked for leave to rest and recuperate. The management board brought in a sympathetic actress to replace Huong Lan, but she was unsuccessful in her first performance. After that, Artist Huu Phuoc suggested Thoai Mieu replace this role.

After the role of Tuyet Mai, she continued to play the role of Ngoc Ha, also the second actress in Tam su Ngoc Han by playwright Le Duy Hanh. At this time, People's Artist Le Thuy left the Liberation Art Troupe (HCMC), Artist Huu Phuoc and Huong Lan settled in France, Meritorious Artist My Chau and Artist Tuan Thanh returned to sing the main songs.

After the resounding success of the two second-place actresses: Tuyet Mai and Ngoc Ha, the third second-place actress of People's Artist Thoai Mieu left another mark on the audience as Thien Huong in Muon Dam Vi Chong by writer - playwright Ngoc Linh. The fourth second-place actress was also successful and loved by the audience, that was the role of Hong Anh in Nang Hai Ben Nghe by writer - playwright Ngoc Linh.

Hong in the play Doc Suong Mu by playwright Le Duy Hanh is the fifth second leading role of People's Artist Thoai Mieu, winning the Gold Medal at the National Professional Theater Festival - 1985.

People's Artist Thoại Miêu shared: "Moving from the role of the main female lead to the role of the female lead means having to change the singing and acting style, separating from the lyrical, smooth, youthful qualities of the character and my personal style. That is, the breath and voice must be more restrained in the low tones than the high tones, not clear but deeper; the spoken language in conversation is also calmer, the intonation is slower;...".

Thoại Miêu: Thoại Mỹ's sister, used to live in a 2,300 m2 villa, lost her husband and became a nun, practicing Buddhism Minh Lợi17:48:12 25/04/2025People's Artist Thoại Miêu's hometown is in Quảng Nam - Đà Nẵng, but she was born (in 1953) and raised in Saigon. People's Artist Thoại Miêu's real name is Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Hoa, people often call her Ngọc Hoa.