Quyen Linh Real name is Mai Huyen Linh, born on July 28, 1969 in Tien Giang, the eldest brother in a poor farming family with many children. His parents divorced early, he lived with his mother and siblings. Later, his mother remarried, but not long after, his stepfather passed away in a traffic accident. That year, Quyen Linh was only 7 years old, his family’s life was difficult because they did not have a decent house to shelter them from the rain and sun, they had to work hard to earn a living because they were so poor.
Forced by his mother to drop out of school, Quyen Linh begged to continue studying. He made and sold cakes to help his mother earn extra money to support his life. Quyen Linh confided: “Since I was young, I became the pillar of the family, doing all kinds of jobs to earn money. My younger siblings grew up in their mother’s tears and storms. A life of hardship made me a rough, thorny person.”
While studying at Nguyen Dinh Chieu High School, the most famous school in My Tho, Tien Giang. Due to his passion for reformed opera and drama, and his talent for these arts, Quyen Linh was selected to attend a crash course in singing, dancing, music, and drama organized by Stage Art School 2. The course lasted for 2 weeks, after which he was invited to attend a recruitment round conducted by the artist group of Stage Art School 2.
The contest ended, not thinking he would be accepted, Quyen Linh applied to Tien Giang Medical College. Nearing the exam date, he unexpectedly received a notice of admission to the stage acting department of Stage Arts School 2. While waiting for admission, Quyen Linh continued to work to earn extra money. When he earned about 2,000 VND, he spent it on buying a boat to fish, earning a small amount of money for his family and buying new clothes.
Quyen Linh as a student.
The actor said he lost sleep for a month thinking about his new life in Saigon. Before his departure, his mother patched his torn clothes and packed enough pots, pans, and woks… At the age of 19, when he arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Quyen Linh was surprised because the art school was not as glamorous as he had imagined.
He confided that in the countryside, he always thought Saigon was a paradise, but this time he realized that it was not a paradise but even hell. Saigon is a fertile land but also extremely difficult. Easy is very easy, but difficult is also very difficult. For Quyen Linh, those years were extremely difficult, so difficult that he thought he could not stand still in this Saigon land.
Alone, without a home, without a door, without friends, without relatives, without money. There were nights in Saigon when I stayed up all night, not because I couldn’t sleep but because I was so hungry. All night, how would I live tomorrow? There were nights when I counted all the people passing by the streets of Saigon. There were nights when I counted every cup of coffee in Saigon. There were nights when I counted every corner, every alley of Saigon. Because I didn’t know what to do, I just wandered, walked and counted…
Collecting scrap metal and playing funeral trumpets to make a living
Quyen Linh said Saigon at that time was not like now, finding a job was extremely difficult. There was a dance hall that he went to every day, he saw it was splendid, people dressed like angels, princesses, princes. But he could not go in, because as soon as he entered, people chased him out.
Once he went to a white porridge shop, which looked very delicious but he had no money to eat. He just stood there watching people eating porridge and felt hungry, then decided to go in and ask for a bowl of porridge. But the shop owner told him to wait because he had to save the porridge to sell, and if there was any left, he would give it away. Therefore, he waited until 3am and finally, he had to scoop up some burnt porridge at the bottom of the pot to eat. “The burnt porridge was extremely delicious. There were also 2-3 pieces of pickled vegetables in it. It was even more delicious than bird’s nest or delicacies,” the male MC recalled. And then, he became a waiter for the porridge seller, which was one of the Quyen Linh’s first job in Saigon.
To earn a living and pay for his tuition, Quyen Linh also did many different jobs, from parking attendant, waiter, bicycle tire pump, to collecting bottles and duck feathers, including playing the trumpet at funerals – a job he has been doing for 5 years.
Quyen Linh still remembers that time, after school, waiting for his friends to finish drinking water, he would quietly collect empty bottles into a bag, and exchange them for rice or vegetables to eat. He said: “I was so bent over picking them up that I was lucky to get 1kg of rice, but I didn’t have enough money to buy food.”
Even Diem Huong can’t carry Ly Hung’s shoes.
After about 10 years of hardship and suffering while trying to make a living in Saigon, Quyen Linh fell into a dead end, he felt like everything was pushing him to the end of the road. Quyen Linh said: “It was so difficult that Linh thought he could no longer survive in Saigon. All the images of Saigon were almost in Quyen Linh’s mind, all the roads, street corners, people, whoever woke up early in Saigon, Linh knew everything, because Linh stayed up all night with Saigon. But after that, money and work were never available to Linh in Saigon. And Saigon was temporarily far away from Linh, Linh decided to leave Saigon and return to her hometown.
At that time, during the time of Le Cong Tuan Anh, Le Tuan Anh, Diem Huong, Ly Hung, Mong Van, they were too famous and there was no way I could have gotten in. To be honest, if Linh had carried shoes for those people at that time, it would have been impossible. In the past, Linh was nicknamed “Straw Linh”, meaning Linh was as thin as a straw. Linh only needed to be 10 meters away for people to think Linh could steal things, Linh could do something that would affect the group, people would have chased her away, not letting her approach.
However, after 3 months in his hometown, Quyen Linh felt that the future was not better, so he decided to return to Saigon. He said: “The second time I went to Saigon, I had two bags of rice, a bottle of fish sauce, and a jar of fermented bean curd. Linh told his mother that no matter what, I had to stay in Saigon, so that I could change, because I was too poor.
People live in the city of Saigon. But I live in Saigon with a black, dented, cracked pot, which is my mother’s property, a mosquito net so torn that I dare not open it, two sets of clothes with nothing. To Linh, Saigon is very big, but her property is nothing but that pot.”
The second time he set foot in Saigon, Quyen Linh applied for a job as a porter at Cau Muoi market. For 3 months without a salary, he picked up discarded vegetables to make his own meals.
Finally, after so much bitterness, hardship, and humiliation, a turning point happened that brought Quyen Linh’s life to a new page, that was in 1992 when he was lucky enough to be given the main role instead of actor Le Cong Tuan Anh who was suddenly busy. Thanks to this unexpected opportunity, Quyen Linh was able to demonstrate his acting ability, and from then on, the name Quyen Linh gained a foothold in the arts.
After these few roles, Quyen Linh continuously made many impressions when participating in famous films such as Hoa Trinh Nu Vuon Dao Nam That, Dua Con Trai, Dong Tien Xuong Mau, Thoi Dai Cua Dan Ba Con Gai, Nguoi Ha Noi, Nhung Duong Phu Sa… Now after more than 20 years of struggling with his passion, having acted in hundreds of episodes, the reward for Quyen Linh is that when he goes out on the street, the audience often calls him “Engineer Huy” or “Lam” in Hanoi, but few people call him by his real name.
About 10 years ago, the actor took an unexpected turn when he switched to being an MC. From this side job, especially MCing the game show Overcoming Yourself, Quyen Linh has created a wave of love in the hearts of the audience. The reason is probably because Quyen Linh has brought all his understanding and sympathy for poverty, for determination, and for aspirations.
MC Quyen Linh in the program Overcoming Yourself.
Happy with his business wife and two beautiful daughters
Quyen Linh once had a 9-year relationship with runner-up – model Trinh Kim Chi, however the two later announced their breakup.
Quyen Linh once had a 9-year love affair with runner-up Trinh Kim Chi.
In 2005, Quyen Linh married Da Thao, an audience member who has admired him for a long time. Currently, Quyen Linh has a happy family with his wife Da Thao and 2 daughters. Quyen Linh’s wife is a successful businesswoman, highly educated with 2 prestigious university degrees. She is known as the person who helped Quyen Linh change his life from poverty to prosperity.
Wedding of Quyen Linh and his wife Da Thao.
Quyen Linh and his wife currently own large villas like film studios worth about 21 billion VND located in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, Quyen Linh and his wife also own many real estates and expensive cars.
The expensive villa of Quyen Linh and his wife.
The actor once shared that he was born in Tien Giang, and is attached to rice fields and gardens all year round. When buying a villa, no matter how luxurious the interior is, he still likes to have spaces like a garden house so that his family can enjoy the peaceful feeling of the countryside. Knowing her husband’s hobby, businesswoman Da Thao planted many fruit trees and flowers on the terrace and around the house so that her husband has a place to relax after busy working and filming hours.
On the rooftop and in the garden around the villa, Quyen Linh and his wife grow many types of vegetables such as papaya, star fruit, squash, chili, herbs, lemon, tomatoes… Thanks to their hard work, the MC’s family has clean vegetables to eat all year round. When he has free time, the MC likes to stay at home with his wife and children to enjoy the pleasure of taking care of the garden and harvesting fruit.
Quyen Linh often shares pictures of his daily life, moments of taking care of his garden after work. When it’s harvest time, his family picks the fruit and enjoys it right in the garden. Notably, Quyen Linh’s villa is filled with all kinds of foreign roses. The male MC said that his wife Da Thao loves roses, so he and his wife grow many types of flowers, with many colors, creating a beautiful and romantic flower garden around the house. Quyen Linh’s daughters often share moments of showing off their figures in their home rose garden, receiving many compliments from netizens.
At the age of 55, Quyen Linh is satisfied with his current life. The male MC said that recently he has reduced his work to be with his wife and children more. Although he is a famous and wealthy artist, he still maintains a simple, rustic lifestyle, lives frugally, wears sandals, and eats frugally. He also teaches his children to understand and appreciate the present life.
