Committed to acting

People's Artist Ngoc Giau told the story of working on the cai luong stage, wearing several huge crowns that stuck to her head and neck, and each performance wearing a costume weighing more than 10 kg with flat beads, stones, and glitter, performing and singing... After each performance, her whole body ached. "Then, transforming into a role, I needed to lose weight, so fasting and not sleeping were normal. It's my job, I have to accept it" - People's Artist Ngoc Giau said.

Trade success for health

Circus brothers Quoc Co and Quoc Nghiep have set a Guinness World Record for balancing on their heads up 90 stairs at Girona Cathedral in just 52 seconds. To achieve this feat, they had to train and accept many sacrifices in their daily lives. The images performed by Quoc Co and Quoc Nghiep have moved everyone. This couple is also known as the "Circus Princes" of Vietnam. Having been in the profession for 20 years, they have faced countless injuries and accidents. Recently, the news that circus artist Quoc Nghiep suffered a serious neck injury, which could lead to paralysis of his arm, has made many colleagues and audiences extremely worried.

The water puppet artists have to soak their bodies for hours every day from practice to performance, sacrificing their health to create the shimmering puppets on the water.

Circus artists who breathe fire in magic scenes, due to the amount of gasoline they inhale every day, their throats are affected, their vocal cords are atrophied, making their voices no longer the same as before. Meritorious Artist Thanh Loc, while performing at a circus, in order to achieve the effect of the scene where the character had to fly at high altitudes, fell and injured his spine, had to rest for a long time before returning to the stage.

Recently, a famous actress had to lose weight for a movie. She decided to take fast-acting weight loss pills and as a result, she developed acute hepatitis.

People who sacrificed for a role, from changing their appearance to affecting their health, causing later consequences, must mention Meritorious Artist Chi Linh. He played the role of Ta Ton (in the play "The Dragon Saber Girl"). To portray the character's blind eyes, he had to practice looking straight into the sunlight, after the role his eyes became blurred.

Body deformation is just a small matter

Actor Quang Tuan, who plays Tu Dap in the film "Tunnel: Sun in the Dark" directed by Bui Thac Chuyen, confided: "I think it will not be easy to find a role that is so historical and requires such high immersion. The film not only recounts a heroic battle of our ancestors in Cu Chi but also contributes to introducing an important historical relic to domestic and international audiences. Therefore, even if I have to sacrifice my body, I still accept it." To fit the character as required by the director, Quang Tuan lost weight extremely harshly. He lost from 77 kg to 63 kg within 2 months. During this process, Quang Tuan had to take photos to report his body measurements and weight to the director every week.

In addition to the process of changing his appearance, Quang Tuan especially researched and focused on expressing the character's eyes. "The soldiers of that time in deprived circumstances did not require material things or personal pleasures, they only focused all their spirit on fighting. That made them have bright, sharp and determined eyes. Therefore, in addition to changing my appearance, I also had to focus on expressing the spirit of war - an important factor in a historical film" - Quang Tuan added.

Quang Tuan lost weight from 77 kg to 63 kg for the role of Tu Dap in the movie "Tunnel: Sun in the Dark". (Photo provided by the character)

Artist Quyen Linh also lost a lot of weight to fit the character of Mr. Hai in the movie "Hai Muoi" by director - Meritorious Artist Vu Thanh Vinh, released in 2024. "The director asked me to have a body suitable for the role, and at that time I weighed nearly 100 kg. Therefore, I had to make an effort to lose weight. With the support of my wife and 2 daughters, over the course of 5 months I lost nearly 30 kg. At that time, I ate only vegetables, all kinds of steamed, boiled... I switched to small bowls of rice, and gradually ate only spoonfuls" - artist Quyen Linh said.

He added that losing weight also affected his health, especially the conflict when filming a TV show. The TV show crew was afraid he would faint so they told him to eat more, but the film crew was worried he would gain weight again so they told him to try to eat less, eat vegetables and not meat.

Actor Kieu Minh Tuan had to gain 13 kg for the role of Mr. Hoa in the movie "The Bride of a Rich Family" by director Vu Ngoc Dang. The movie will be released in 2024. Initially, he wanted the character of Mr. Hoa to be very thin, but after losing weight, he looked in the mirror and found it unsuitable. He chose a different direction, which was to gain weight, and was supported by director Vu Ngoc Dang after discussing the character again.

"When discussing, I didn't think Mr. Dang would agree so quickly. Thanks to his support, the passion for my job increased by 200%. So, even though I gained weight and was tired, I still felt happy and loved the character Mr. Hoa" - Kieu Minh Tuan shared. To gain 13 kg, Kieu Minh Tuan needed 1 month and 10 days to change his gym routine, eat 7 times a day, the last time of the day was 1 kg of pig's feet and then go to bed right away.

After the film was finished, Kieu Minh Tuan quickly lost 13 kg in 2 months and maintained his weight at 64 kg by eating moderately and combining it with gym workouts. Gaining and losing a large amount of weight in such a short period of time is extremely difficult.

Kieu Minh Tuan said that in the first week he gained 7 kg but in the second week it stopped. Under pressure, he stuffed himself with food, which led to stomach pain and fever all night. Eating a lot for a long time caused him to have intestinal disorders, he forgot as soon as he was full and continued to eat more. The same was true when losing weight, the first 7 kg went down quickly but it took a long time to reach the 10 kg mark, then 13 kg.

In 2022, actor Thuan Nguyen, when playing the role of Ken in the movie "Sweet Trap" by director Dinh Ha Uyen Thu, also lost weight from 92 kg to 70 kg to fit the character's appearance and then returned to his weight for the scenes when the character was healthy and muscular. Thuan Nguyen said he felt really "terrible" looking back on that journey, because there were times when he couldn't sit up or eat anything.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/dan-than-vi-nghiep-dien-19625041519482944.htm