Meritorious Artist Mai Chau: A brilliant career, still sharp-minded and noble at U100

Meritorious Artist Mai Chau's real name is Mai Thi Chau, born in 1927 in Vinh city, Nghe An province. She joined the Revolution in August 1945, was a National Salvation Woman, then a self-defense member of Vinh city.

She was the youngest child in a family with a tradition of doing business in Vinh city. The August Revolution in 1945 created a major turning point in the life of the rich young lady Mai Chau. That was when the female artist's family was mobilized by the government to demolish their house in order to implement the policy of "empty garden and empty house", as she said, everything was demolished, even the good bricks were cut in half, leaving nothing for the Westerners.

Meritorious Artist Mai Chau recounted: "At first, the family was still hesitant because the spacious house of several hundred square meters on the most beautiful street in Vinh city took many years to build. But in the end, my parents agreed." The youngest daughter Mai Chau also supported the revolution by action: She ran away from home and jumped on a train to the South with the "Southward advance" army.

"My superiors required me to take a crash course in first aid before sending me to the battlefield, so I volunteered to go to school right away. Back then, as long as I was able to serve on the battlefield, no one was afraid of hardship or suffering," Meritorious Artist Mai Chau shared.

In December 1945, Mai Chau set off to "go South". Having completed her mission, the female artist stayed in the South, became a singer and dancer in the Liberation Army Propaganda Troupe, and served the soldiers in all the battlefields of the South against the French.

In 1947, she was an actress in the Tien Tuyen Drama Troupe. In 1956, she moved to the Vietnam Film Studio (Vietnam Feature Film Studio), dubbing foreign films and then becoming a film actress. After the Vietnam Film School opened its first actor training course, artist Mai Chau and some of her colleagues went to extra classes and had to recite the same lessons as regular students.

Some time later, she participated in the film "Chung mot dong song" (1959) - the first film of Vietnamese Revolutionary cinema, opening a series of roles in many famous films released in the early stages of the industry such as "Co gai cong trang" (1960), "Chi Tu Hau" (1963), "Di buoc nuoc" (1964), especially the main role in the famous work "Cuc chien dau van con tieu tien" (1966).

The 1970s and 1980s were a vibrant period for the country's cinema with the tireless creativity of artists and the Vietnam Feature Film Studio. Together with the actors who graduated from the K1 and K2 Actors Class of the Vietnam Film School, Meritorious Artist Mai Chau played about 30 large and small roles in feature films and videos, typically the films: Construction Girl (as Mother Man), Sister Tu Hau (as Muoi Hoi's wife), The Battle Still Continues (as Le My), August Star (as Mrs. Pho Doan), Sister Dau (as Mrs. Nghi Que), Vu Dai Village on That Day (as Ba Kien's wife), Indochina (as the housekeeper), Hoang Le Nhat Thong Chi (as Queen Mother), La Ngoc Canh Vang (as the mother)...

With her elegant beauty, Meritorious Artist Mai Chau is very suitable for sharp and somewhat formidable roles such as Mrs. Pho Doan (Sao Thang Tam), Mrs. Nghi Que (Chi Dau), Ba Kien's wife (Lang Vu Dai ngay nay), Hoang Thai Hau (Hoang Le Nhat Thong Chi) and the formidable mother in La Ngoc Canh Vang.

For audiences who love old Vietnamese films, characters like Mrs. Nghi Que in the film Chi Dau, Mrs. Pho Doan in Sao Thang Tam, Ba Kien's wife in Lang Vu Dai Ngay Ay or the Queen Mother in the film Dem Hoi Long Tri... are characters that are not easily forgotten in the minds of viewers thanks to the "nailing" of the artist's face, both noble and sharp, Mai Chau.

Playing the role of Mrs. Nghi Que in Tat Den, co-starring with actress Le Van (as Chi Dau), artist Mai Chau said that thanks to her experience living during the French colonial period, she understood the atmosphere and spirit of the character.

Actress Mai Chau got married at the age of 19 while she was in the frontline drama troupe. In addition to acting, she often dubs foreign films, and later became a voice-over director after gaining experience. The resourcefulness and industriousness of the rich young lady Mai Chau is also reflected in the extra work she takes on for radio drama programs of the Voice of Vietnam. She is also the owner of the Mai Chau Wedding Dress brand.

This happened when she went to Saigon to attend a film festival. During her free time, walking around Saigon and looking at the wedding dress rental shops on Dong Khoi Street, she suddenly had the idea of doing business in this way. She went into a few shops, the owners knew she was an actress so they welcomed her very enthusiastically, and also showed her how to import original goods, choose models... And she was determined to pursue this new side job.

She and her two daughters and two daughters-in-law expanded the Mai Chau Wedding Shop system. Thanks to the successful business, her family was able to buy a house in Hang Bong to open a shop. Currently, the shop is still operating well and she handed it over to her eldest daughter to manage.

Because her children were all rich and filial to their mother, her life was very peaceful.

According to her eldest daughter, she can eat and sleep well. At the age of nearly 100, she is still very alert, only slightly hard of hearing so she has to speak loudly to be heard. In addition, the Meritorious Artist still retains her noble and elegant beauty, bright skin, white hands with manicured and stylishly styled nails.

MC Ky Duyen went digging for gold buried in her house after hearing about the wildfire in the US. Minh Lợi15:33:12 11/01/2025Recently, in a livestream, MC Ky Duyen expressed her feelings about the historic wildfire in Los Angeles, California (USA), near where she lives. The female MC had to dig up buried gold before running away.